Racing with Professionals/Performance is our Passion/Enjoy our Professional Race World!
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| Porsche Intelligent Performance Bernhard, Dumas and Rockenfeller pilot Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid Stuttgart. Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) return to the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) as teammates. The pair join forces on the “Road Atlanta” race track for the season final on 2 October to pilot the innovative Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, which features two electric motors at the front axle each developing 60 kilowatts to supplement the 480 horsepower normally-aspirated rear-engine. The third driver is former Porsche-Junior and current Audi factory pilot Mike Rockenfeller (Germany). Together, the trio won the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. In January, Rockenfeller claimed victory in a Porsche-powered Daytona Prototype at the Daytona 24 hour race. At the 1,000 mile race on the outskirts of the US city of Atlanta, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will not be eligible for points, as hybrid technology is not yet included in the GT regulations. “Our priorities are to further develop the hybrid technology and to optimise the fuel consumption under racing conditions. Nevertheless, I’m very interested to see how we compare to the GT2 cars,” says Timo Bernhard. “Nowhere is the competition in the GT segment as hard as it is here in the USA,” adds Dumas. As a driver pairing, Bernhard and Dumas have already notched up many historical victories, including the ALMS title in the LMP2 prototype class in 2007 and 2008, the overall win at the 2008 Sebring 12 Hours, as well as three overall victories at the Nürburgring 24 hour race from 2007 to 2009. The Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, that demonstrated the potential of its groundbreaking technology over 22 hours and 15 minutes at this year’s Nürburgring 24 hour race and led the overall classification for more than eight hours, expressly typifies the philosophy of “Porsche Intelligent Performance”. Under braking, the 911 GT3 R Hybrid converts kinetic energy into electrical energy and stores it in a flywheel. During acceleration, this energy is automatically delivered to the front wheels, supporting the combustion engine. This leads to a reduction in fuel consumption and increases the cruising range. Moreover, drivers can manually utilise the stored energy with a boost-paddle on the steering wheel for overtaking. |
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| Porsche works drivers Packed calendar for Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas Stuttgart. A diverse second half of the season awaits Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France). Internationally, the 2007 and 2008 ALMS champions and reigning Le Mans winners compete in various categories. After his successful comeback to the American Le Mans Series last weekend at the wheel of the Porsche RS Spyder, where he secured second place with Klaus Graf (Germany) for the Muscle Milk Team Cytosport in Elkhart Lake, Timo Bernhard now pilots an Audi R15 TDI with Dindo Capello (Italy) at the season final of the Le Mans Series in Silverstone on 12 September. “I certainly can’t complain about a lack of variety in my 2010 season,” says Bernhard. “My racing calendar consists of one motorsport highlight after another.” Romain Dumas teams up with Klaus Graf in the cockpit of the RS Spyder this coming weekend at the penultimate round of the ALMS season in Mosport (Canada), and will pilot the Audi R15 with Capello at the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in Zhuhai (China) on 7 November. “I very much look forward to racing the cars in which I celebrated my greatest achievements in prototype sport,” says Dumas. In addition to their diverse schedule on the race track, a new rally challenge awaits the two world class pilots. Timo Bernhard will test Matthias Kahle’s Skoda Fabia S2000 at the shakedown of the ADAC Saarland Rally, a round of the German Rally Championship. For several years, Bernhard has driven a VW Golf Kitcar in his spare time, and has already won a number of regional rallies. Romain Dumas’s calendar also includes some testing in rally cars. Several weeks ago he began to assemble a new Porsche 911 GT3 RS which will replace the 911 GT3 RS (996) that he has driven to now. Dumas has also climbed to the top of the podium at several rallies in France. |
