Daytona 24 Hours Best Porsche finishes fifth in the fuel gamble at Daytona

Daytona 24 Hours

Best Porsche finishes fifth in the fuel gamble at Daytona

Stuttgart. The sprint to the finish of the Daytona 24 hour race turned into a gripping game of fuel poker in the fiercely contested GT class. In the last laps, the teams put all their eggs in one basket with their strategies, waived an additional time-consuming fuel stop so that they had a winning chance at the prestigious sports car classic in Florida. For Porsche works driver Richard Lietz this did not work out: Last year’s winner from Austria, who had held the lead position over long stretches in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and was on course for a podium result in the final laps, had to save fuel and was hence unable to utilise the full potential of the car. With his Magnus Racing teammates Nicolas Armindo (France), Andy Lally (USA) and John Potter (USA) he finally finished in fifth – ahead of his works driver colleague Marco Holzer (Germany) who shared driving duties in the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands), Damien Faulkner (Ireland) and Cooper MacNeil (USA). The six best placed of the 34 GT vehicles crossed the finish line inside one lap.

“As title defender we had anticipated a better result than fifth of course, still we can be satisfied with our performance,” said Richard Lietz. “Right up until fifteen minutes before the flag everything was running to plan, unfortunately our strategy didn’t quite work. But we didn’t have a choice. We did everything we could but it wasn’t quite enough.” He led the field with his number 44 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup over a total of 43 laps – far more than any of his opponents. Marco Holzer said: “It was a tough race for us. We managed the distance well despite some problems but had to ease off the throttle in the last laps to save fuel. We took the gamble and didn’t want to refuel at the end. Sadly this plan didn’t quite succeed.”

“That was certainly one of the most exciting 24 hour races,” said Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “Our customer teams were right up there in the fight for victory. Last year we came home with a triple victory, this time others climbed the podium.”

The first leader on the Daytona International Speedway was Nick Tandy. At his debut race as a Porsche works driver, the Briton from Konrad Motorsport/Orbit snatched the lead from pole position. His perfect start, however, was not a good omen: After about eight laps and many incidents, he had to park his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup trackside with suspension damage. This also proved to be a bitter experience for his teammate Michael Christensen, the Porsche junior from Denmark who contested his first ever 24 hour race. For the second Porsche junior, however, Daytona yielded success: Austria’s Klaus Bachler, who contests the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup this year with Michael Christensen, finished eleventh in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Snow Racing/Wright Motorsports after putting in a commendable performance. “We had a few problems during the night but all in all everything went well,” he commented. “That was my first 24 hour race and I learned a great deal.”

At the wheel of his Porsche Cayman, the 2009 overall winner from America David Donohue won the GX class with his compatriots Nelson Canache, Shane Lewis and Jim Norman. With this, he earned Porsche, the most successful manufacturer in the history of the race, the 75th class victory in Daytona.

Race result
GT class

1. Albuquerque/Jarvis/Mortara/von Moltke (MEX/GB/MEX/USA), Audi R8, 678 laps
2. Bass/Basseng/Rast/Stippler (USA/D/D/D), Audi R8, 678
3. Wilkens/Assentato/Cosmo/Lazzaro (USA/USA/USA/USA), Ferrari 458, 678
4. Balzan/Frezza/Pier Guidi (I/I/I/), Ferrari 458, 678
5. Lietz/Lally/Armindo/Potter (A/USA/F/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 678
6. Holzer/Bleekemolen/Faulkner/MacNeil (D/NL/IRL/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 678
10. Farnbacher/Baldwin/Burtin/Ragginger/Renauer (D/USA/USA/A/D), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 671
11. Bachler/Maassen/Seefried/Snow/Snow (A/D/D/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 668
13. Lieb/Sellers/Davis/Keen (D/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 663

GX class
1. Donohue/Canache/Lewis/Norman (USA/USA/USA/USA), Porsche Cayman, 635 laps

Communication Porsche AG
Motorsport Press
Oliver Hilger

Audi on third row of the grid at Daytona

·         Filipe Albuquerque with Alex Job Racing is best Audi driver

·         Teams are mainly focused on race preparation

·         All four Audi R8 GRAND-AM cars are thoroughly prepared

Ingolstadt, January 24, 2013 - The best Audi R8 GRAND-AM will be starting into the 24-hour race at Daytona (Florida) from the third row. The fastest driver of the Audi customer teams in qualifying was Filipe Albuquerque.

Following several warm-up laps, the Audi factory driver managed to make a perfect landing. After the tire pressure had reached the planned optimum level, Albuquerque drove a flawless lap on the high-speed track in Florida. His time of 1m 48.282s earned him and Team Alex Job Racing grid position six in the GT class, making Audi the third-best brand in the field of the eight manufacturers.

René Rast achieved the second-best time of an Audi driver. The German from Team APR Motorsport took grid position eleven (1m 48.581s). Markus Winkelhock in the Audi R8 GRAND-AM qualified in the front half of the field of 34 GT vehicles as well. The Audi from Rum Bum Racing will start from position 16 (1m 48.865s) on Saturday. The American Matt Bell from APR Motorsport achieved grid position 27 in another R8 GRAND-AM.

The main focus of all the teams was and continues to be placed on preparing for the 24-hour race. All teams are using the remaining night practice on Thursday and a final practice on Friday to further refine the set-up of the customer race sports car. The race will start at 15:30 local time on Saturday.

Selected quotes

Romolo Liebchen (Head of Audi Sport customer racing): "In qualifying, there were no surprises. We concentrated on preparing for the race. It was important not to take any risks today. Together with the preparation in the tests at the end of last year and in the beginning of January, we’re tackling the race with a clear conscience. The drivers are giving us feedback confirming that we’re running with a set-up that provides very good drivability."

Filipe Albuquerque (Audi R8 GRAND-AM #24/Alex Job Racing): "I’m very happy with my lap. I kept my cool because I knew that the first three laps are nothing special. I knew when I’d be able to attack. The tire pressure was developing according to plan and then I only needed a single lap. Everything was right on the dot. There was no more traffic and I made no mistakes. Afterward, the tires were used up. Things couldn’t have gone any better today. And in the other practice sessions we want to improve our car a little bit more. I’m looking forward to the race."

Qualifying results

1 Nick Tandy (Porsche) 1m 47.631s
2 Andy Lally (Porsche) 1m 47.828s
3 Sean Edwards (Porsche) 1m 48.007s
4 Patrick Long (Porsche) 1m 48.137s
5 Alessandro Balzan (Ferrari) 1m 48.260s
6 Filipe Albuquerque (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 48.282s
7 Marco Seefried (Porsche) 1m 48.319s
8 Robin Liddell (Camaro) 1m 48.330s
9 Daniel Serra (Ferrari) 1m 48.521s
10 Anthony Lazzaro (Ferrari) 1m 48.577s
11 René Rast (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 48.581s
16 Markus Winkelhock (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 48.865s
27 Matt Bell (Audi R8 GRAND-AM) 1m 49.937s

Audi Sport.

Daytona 24 Hours: Four Porsche on the first four grid spots

Daytona 24 Hours

Four Porsche on the first four grid spots

Stuttgart. Good starting position for Porsche at the Daytona 24 hour race: In qualifying for the sports car classic in Florida, Porsche pilots locked out the first four grid spots in a field of 36 vehicles entered in the GT class. Pole position went to Nick Tandy in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Konrad Motorsport/Orbit. Daytona marks the first race for the Briton as a Porsche works driver. One of his teammates is Porsche Junior Michael Christensen (Denmark), who contests his first 24 hour race on Saturday.

“Pole position in Daytona shouldn’t be underestimated, even if the race runs over 24 hours,” said Nick Tandy. “Starting from the front allows you to avoid getting caught up in any skirmishes and that’s certainly an advantage. Our car ran perfectly and that gives us a good feeling for the race.”

In last year’s winning car with the starting number 44, Andy Lally (USA) set the second quickest qualifying time. Sharing the cockpit of the Magnus Racing 911 GT3 Cup is Porsche works driver Richard Lietz from Austria. Third in qualifying in the fiercely competitive qualifying session on the Daytona International Speedway, in which the eleven top placed cars are all within just one second, went to Sean Edwards (MOMO/NGT) from Great Britain ahead Porsche factory pilot Patrick Long (USA) competing for the Park Place Motorsports squad.

“We won the race last year. Second on the grid is an excellent starting position to repeat this success,” said Richard Lietz. Porsche works driver Patrick Pilet (France), one of Sean Edwards’ teammates, was also feeling optimistic. “Sean did an excellent job. After this great qualifying result we are all looking forward to the race. Our goal is to finish on the podium.”

The Daytona 24 Hours starts on Saturday at 15.30 hrs local time (21.30 hrs CET).

Result GT qualifying

1. Nick Tandy (GB), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 1:47.631 minutes
2. Andy Lally (USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, + 0.197 seconds
3. Sean Edwards (GB), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, + 0.376
4. Patrick Long (USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, + 0.506
5. Alessandro Balzan (I), Ferrari 458, + 0.629
6. Felipe Albuquerque (MEX), Audi R8, + 0.651
7. Marco Seefried (D), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, + 0.688
8. Robin Liddell (GB), Camaro GT.R, + 0.699

Communication Porsche AG
Motorsport Press
Oliver Hilger

Blancpain Endurance Series gets set for 2013

Blancpain Endurance Series gets set for 2013
Europe’s most subscribed GT competition, the Blancpain Endurance Series, is back for a third season of exciting, multi-class racing in 2013. The key ingredients of passion, commitment and professionalism have been consistently associated with the series and these core values are set to continue and prosper further this season. Upwards of 40-car grids are again expected, with some of the world’s iconic brands to be represented in the five-event series. Aston-Martin, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Nissan and Porsche will do battle on legendary F1-standard circuits like Monza, Silverstone and Paul Ricard to fight for the series crown, which again is supported by prestigious watchmaker, Blancpain. As well as the above-mentioned events, the jewel in the global GT crown will again take place over the final weekend of July, as the 24 Hours of Spa continues to be a key fixture in the motorsport calendar. Last season, the 24 Hours of Spa saw 70,000 spectators flock to the beautiful Belgian circuit to watch an enthralling race, but also to savour the festival of entertainment off the track too. This approach to making it one of the favourite sporting events in mainland Europe will continue in 2013 with yet more variety and spectacle. The final race of the year takes place in Germany, with the historic Nürburgring 1000kms fixture. This will be the first time that the Blancpain Endurance Series races under the famous 1000kms billing and it is set to be a fantastic finale to another spectacular season of competition. Established fan favourites and series regular entrants will be joined by some new faces and new cars in 2013. The majority of these will be announced in the coming weeks in the build-up to the first round of the series at Monza. The entry list currently sees 27 cars already registered for the full Blancpain Endurance Series. Among those that have committed so far are: ART Grand Prix, Auto Sport Promotion/SOFREV, Beechdean Motorsport, Flex Box (formerly Insight Racing),  Haribo Racing, Hexis Racing, Gulf Racing, Preci-Spark and TDS Racing. Another noticeable change for the 2013 season will be the welcome addition of Pirelli to the Blancpain Endurance Series. One of the most prominent technical suppliers in world motorsport, the tyre manufacturer will add more excitement and competitiveness both on and off the track in 2013. Consolidating upon the hugely successful 2012 season, the Blancpain Endurance Series will again set the benchmark in multi-class GT racing. Last year saw average grids of 54 cars, with 12 major automotive brands represented and an astonishing 66 cars lined up to take the start of the famous 24 Hour race at Spa. 2013 indicates already that these figures are likely to be beaten this season enabling further important steps in the growth of the Blancpain Endurance Series. SRO Motorsport CEO and Founder, Stephane Ratel, commented: “Large grids, close racing and multiple winners is a very sound basis for any series but especially so, for one that has just single class of car – GT3. That is why the Blancpain Endurance Series continues to attract the best GT teams and drivers to race on some of the best tracks and at some of the most iconic events in motorsport. 2013 promises to be another excellent year of competition. I would like to thank our friends at Blancpain for their continuing commitment to the series concept and also to welcome Pirelli. They wanted to be part of the Blancpain Endurance Series action which indicates a very healthy championship going forward in to a third exciting year.” About Blancpain: Over 275 years of tradition in motion Founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, the watch brand bearing his name is the oldest in the world. Blancpain is currently engaged in a long-term commitment to the renewal of mechanical watchmaking and to passing on exceptional expertise from one generation to the next through constant investment in human resources, production facilities and research. From the creation of components through to watch design, Blancpain is distinguished by its ability to develop exceptional movements. Over the past seven years, the Manufacture in Le Brassus has indeed developed no less than 22 new calibres. Through its various models, Blancpain preserves its heritage of precision and elegance, while also displaying an innovative and occasionally provocative spirit. Its range encompasses the daring L-evolution line, the high complication from Le Brassus, the legendary Fifty Fathoms diver’s watch, as well as the classic Villeret collection and the Blancpain Women models. The sports enthusiasts’ watch: Chronographe Flyback à Rattrapante Grande Date While remaining loyal to its fundamental values, Blancpain quite naturally associates with the world of fine automotive mechanical engineering, since the key values of precision, reliability and sturdiness are required and shared by both cars and watches. For more information on Blancpain please click on to: www.blancpain.com www.blancpain.com/blogpost/raceweekends How to follow the Blancpain Endurance Series finale: Live streaming of each race with live text commentary from the circuit on www.blancpain-endurance-series.com Get extra content from inside the Blancpain Endurance Series paddock at www.twitter.com/BES_GT Facebook: Blancpain-Endurance-Series-OFFICIEL
Sam Smith Head of Communications

EUROPE – THE BEST RALLY DRIVERS AND CO-DRIVERS FOR EACH EUROPEAN COUNTRY – YEAR 2012

EUROPE – THE BEST RALLY DRIVERS AND CO-DRIVERS FOR EACH EUROPEAN COUNTRY – YEAR 2012

In Europe 44  are the FIA - Motor Sport Club Members Countries, but only the Rally Drivers and Co-Drivers from 31 European countries in the 2012  have obtained results needed to become part of the  World Rally Ranking - WRR promoted by the IRDA (International Rally Drivers Association). 776 Rally Drivers and 822 Rally Co-drivers from 31 European countries, after the running all international rallies in the FIA calendar 2012, have scored the necessary results to enter the World Rally Ranking. Following the best Rally Drivers and Co-drivers for each European country:  

Country	Driver		Codriver
Austria	Andreas Aigner	(Followed from 17 drivers)	Ilka Minor-Petrasko	(Followed from 15 codrivers)
Belarus	Anatoliy Shimakovskiy		Alexey Krektun
Belgium	Thierry Neuville	(Followed from 19 drivers)	Nicolas Gilsoul	(Followed from 25 codrivers)
Bulgaria	Ekaterina Stratieva	(Followed from 27 drivers)	Dimitar Spasov	(Followed from 26 codrivers)
Croatia	Jurai Sebalj	(Followed from 15 drivers)	Toni Klinc	(Followed from 15 codrivers)
Czech Republic	Jan Kopecky	(Followed from 76 drivers)	Pavel Dresler	(Followed from 77 codrivers)
Estonia	Ott Tanak	(Followed from 4 drivers)	Kuldar Sikk	(Followed from 5 codrivers)
Finland	Mikko Hirvonen	(Followed from 17 drivers)	Jarmo Lehtinen	(Followed from 19 codrivers)
France	Sebastien Loeb	(Followed from 46 drivers)	Julien Ingrassia	(Followed from 47 codrivers)
Germany	Sepp Wiegand	(Followed from 5 drivers)	Timo Gottschalk	(Followed from 7 codrivers)
Great Britain	Harry Hunt	(Followed from 32 drivers)	Christoper Patterson	(Followed from 46 codrivers)
Greece	Vasilis Gatsos	(Followed from 5 drivers)	Maria Amarantidou	(Followed from 6 codrivers)
Hungary	Laszlo Vizin	(Followed from 16 drivers)	Gabor Zsiros	(Followed from 15 codrivers)
Ireland	Craig Breen	(Followed from 51 drivers)	David Moynihan	(Followed from 49 codrivers)
Italy	Giandomenico Basso	(Followed from 189 drivers)	Giovanni Bernacchini	(Followed from 206 codrivers)
Latvia	Osian Pryce	(Followed from 1 driver)	Peteris Dzirkals
Lithuania	Benedictas Vanagas		Kestutis Buzius	(Followed from 2 codrivers)
Monaco	/   /   /		Daniel Elena
Netherlands	Peter Van Merksteijn	(Followed from 7 drivers)	Pascal Meijs	(Followed from 2 codrivers)
Norway	Andreas Mikkelsen	(Followed from 7 drivers)	Ola Floene	(Followed from 6 codrivers)
Poland	Michal Solowow	(Followed from 27 drivers)	Maciej Baran	(Followed from 27 codrivers)
Portugal	Armindo Araujo	(Followed from 31 drivers)	Miguel Ramalho	(Followed from 33 codrivers)
Romania	Marco Tempestini	(Followed from 16 drivers)	Carmen Poenaru	(Followed from 16 codrivers)
Russia	Evgeny Novikov	(Followed from 4 drivers)	Sergey Larens	(Followed from 3 codrivers)
San Marino	Giovanni Zonzini	(Followed from 2 drivers)	Silvio Stefanelli	(Followed from 3 codrivers)
Slovakia	Jaroslav Melicharek	(Followed from 13 drivers)	Blaz Selan	(Followed from 6 codrivers)
Slovenia	Aleks Humar	(Followed from 18 drivers)	Lukas Zamecnik	(Followed from 27 codrivers)
Spain	Daniel Sordo Castillo	(Followed from 30 drivers)	Carlos Del Barrio	(Followed from 33 codrivers)
Sweden	Peter-Gunnar Andersson	(Followed from 8 drivers)	Jonas Andersson	(Followed from 7 codrivers)
Switzerland	Francesco Parli	(Followed from 41 drivers)	Stéphane Rey	(Followed from 42 codrivers)
Ukraine	Valeriy Gorban	(Followed from 22 drivers)	Andrey Nikolaev	(Followed from 26 codrivers)

The Rally Drivers or Co-drivers of 13 European countries weren’t be able to score the results necessary to become part of the World Rally Ranking. The European countries not included in the WRR are Albania, Andorra, Bosnia – Herzegovina , Denmark, Vatican State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia.

World Rally Ranking is calculated through a points system, based on the importance, the sporting difficulty and the results obtained by drivers and co-drivers from around the world participating only in the rallies included in the FIA International Sporting Calendar.
The ranking is an objective and "impartial" standing, where rally driver of all nations see their value, the value of their victories and their results recognized as a whole, something that the current classification systems obviously do not allow, being based on standings for individual championships without a unique world classification.
Besides the overall ranking for drivers there is also one for co-drivers, and other partial rankings (by nation, by car, by manufacturer, by category, by surface).
The World Rally Ranking, just like other sports' rankings, is based on a computing system which assigns a base score, depending on the overall position obtained, then corrected through a system of coefficients to reflect the relevance, the importance, the difficulty and length of each rally, and therefore the importance of the result: the first factor is the validity of the rally, e.g. a World Rally Championship event has coeff. 15, a Middle East Rally Championship event has coeff. 9 etc etc .
All with maximum transparency: all the criteria can easily be verified in the IRDA Regulations on the www.worldrallyranking.com website.
Alongside the Rankings visible to all (the first 40 positions for each type of ranking) on the www.worldrallyranking.com website it is possible to access the complete rankings and to have the possibility to create customized rankings by registering with the form provided, by simply entering name and email address.
In short, a revolution for all the protagonists of the rally world, drivers, teams, journalists and fans.
All the results from January 1st 2010 to date of all the drivers and co-drivers of all nations in all the worldwide events in the FIA International Sporting Calendar have been included in the IRDA database.

www.worldrallyranking.com

The 2014 McLaren P1: The Next F1

Author
Tamara Warren

The McLaren P1 Concept made its first stop in New York City for a private viewing in December, a few months after it was first unveiled with much fanfare at the Paris Motor Show last fall.

Photos of the McLaren P1 design study don’t quite do justice to the detail on this carbon-fiber heavy super car concept. It’s porous, sculptural, flamboyant and inspired by a cheetah. McLaren’s head designer Frank Stephenson studied the physique and mannerisms of the cheetah while developing the P1 strategy.

The design study is actually quite close to reality down to its secretive interior, according to McLaren sales manager Marcus Korbach, who said it is “This is a 97 percent production car.” He pointed out differentiations on the front bumper and the rear vents as areas that would be modified on the final production car. The 2014 Mclaren P1 will be officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March as the rightful successor to the F1. That’s also when the engine specs, interior details will be shown. Orders are already in for the millon-dollar plus model.

24 Hours of Daytona Eight Porsche works driver contest sports car classic in Florida

24 Hours of Daytona

Eight Porsche works driver contest sports car classic in Florida

Stuttgart. Competing with a strong contingent, title defender Porsche tackles the 51st running of the Daytona 24 hour race on 26 January. In the particularly competitive GT class, eight Porsche factory pilots and two Porsche juniors contest the race with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, amongst them last year’s winner Richard Lietz (Austria). With 22 overall and 73 class victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in the history of this sports car classic, which lures the best pilots from many different worldwide racing series to Florida each year.

The race
Alongside the Le Mans 24 Hours, Daytona is the second great long distance classic. Taking their places on the winner’s list are legendary Porsche pilots like Hans Herrmann, Rolf Stommelen, Hurley Haywood and Bob Wollek as well as Formula 1 World Champions Phil Hill and Mario Andretti. The Daytona International Speedway is regarded as one of the most famous race tracks in the world. The 24 hour race is run on the 5.729 kilometre course configuration utilising the oval with its steeply banked corners and the infield.

The Porsche drivers
Driving the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, eight Porsche factory pilots compete for various teams in the best supported GT class: Title defender Richard Lietz (Magnus Racing), Joerg Bergmeister (Germany/TRG), Romain Dumas (France/TRG), Marc Lieb (Germany/Brumos Racing), Marco Holzer (Germany/Alex Job Racing), Patrick Pilet (France/MOMO/NGT Motorsport), Patrick Long (USA/Park Place Motorsports) as well as Britain’s Nick Tandy (Konrad Motorsport/Orbit), who contests his first race as a Porsche works driver. For the two Porsche juniors Michael Christensen (Denmark/Konrad Motorsport/Orbit) and Klaus Bachler (Austria/Snow Racing/Wright Motorsports) this marks their first ever 24 hour race of their careers. In the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, the pair gave convincing performances and this year will contest the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.

Porsche successes
The first of until now 22 overall victories claimed by Porsche went to Vic Elford, Jochen Neerpasch, Rolf Stommelen, Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann in 1968 with the Porsche 907. The most recent overall win in 2010 went to Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, Ryan Dalziel and Mike Rockenfeller with the Porsche-Riley. In previous years Porsche scored two wins in the hotly-contested GT class – in 2011 with Wolf Henzler and 2012 with Richard Lietz. All in all, Porsche has notched up 73 class victories at Daytona.

The schedule
The 24 hour race in Daytona starts on Saturday, 26 January, at 15.30 hours local time (21.30 hours CET).

Quotes before the race
Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport: “The season takes off in Daytona with the toughest demands on man and machine. With 18 vehicles, Porsche is again strongly represented in the GT class. I’m especially interested to see how our two juniors perform at their Daytona debut. This is a unique opportunity for young drivers to pit themselves against opposition from all series and all corners of the world.”
Joerg Bergmeister: “Daytona is a tough fight from the start to the finish and it’s a great way to start the new season after the long winter break. The last time I won here was in 2009 – so I think it must be my turn again.”
Marc Lieb: “The Daytona 24 hour race is always a cool event. It is something very special to be able to compete at the wheel of the number 59 car for such a well established and successful team like Brumos Racing.”
Marco Holzer: “It’s a fabulous challenge to kick off the season with a classic like Daytona. I’m looking forward to competing with the Alex Job Racing squad and my strong teammates. We think our chances look good.”
Richard Lietz: “To race in Daytona as the title defender is a dream. We have another good car this year and we think we have a realistic chance to finish at the front again.”
Patrick Long: “With the 36 entries alone in the GT class it’s a huge challenge every year – for the drivers as much as for the teams.”
Patrick Pilet: “This race is legendary. With all the best pilots from various race series competing, the fight for victory is often open right to the last lap. But that’s what makes Daytona so exciting.”
Nick Tandy: “Daytona is my first race as a Porsche works driver. I’m going to enjoy every kilometre.”
Romain Dumas: “Daytona is not just a very tough race, especially in our GT class, but I also like how we measure ourselves against the pilots from other race series. That is always a very interesting comparison.”
Klaus Bachler: “This is all new for me. My first time in Daytona was when we went testing – actually it was my first time ever in the USA. Now I’m looking forward to my first 24 hour race. It’ll certainly be a fantastic experience.”
Michael Christensen: “I can hardly wait. To be given the chance to contest my first 24 hour race in Daytona is simply awesome. Even testing on this legendary race track was an unbelievable experience.”


Communication Porsche AG
Motorsport Press
Oliver Hilger