Audi Domination

Photo : Pascal SAIVET - Vision Sport Cars

Audi dominated both practice sessions on Thursday at Spa-Francorchamps. The second session was stopped early, after a collision between a Peugeot and Honda. The second round of the 2011 ILMC will be held on Saturday from 14:05.

For its first race on the beautiful Belgian circuit, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup is fortunate with the weather, which is particularly mild and rain is not expected until the end of the race on Saturday night.

It was to the delight of drivers who expressed their pleasure of being in Belgium, like Sebastien Bourdais who said at a press conference: "I won here last year, it's a circuit that I love racing on but Le Mans is even more special. "

The first practice session began in sunshine on the morning of Thursday, 5th May. A session disrupted by the incident of the Audi R18 #2 being driven by Benoit Treluyer. The Frenchman left the track in the 'virage de Fagnes' but without serious damage to the car. That did not stop Audi dominating practice with the two fastest times achieved by Dindo Capello at the wheel of the #3 iin 2'03''844 and #1 (Bernhard / Dumas / Rockenfeller) with 2 '04''054. The first Peugeot was that of Lamy / Bourdais / Pagenaud three-tenths off the best German time. "We have the two best of the session," Romain Dumas recounted at noon, "but that does not mean much because the gap to Peugeot is very small". In GTE category this morning saw complete domination of Ferrari F458 Italia with six cars in the first eight places, the fastest machine being that Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarolo Fisichella.

The contest resumed without delay during the second free practice session in the afternoon. At half-time Andre Lotterer (Audi #2) posted the best time of the day (2'03''124). Although of German nationality, he is very attached to Belgium where he spent his childhood. A little revenge for a boy who made his debut for Audi at the 1000km 2010 where he spun in the warm up lap. Shortly after this performance, the practice session was disrupted twice: first because of the incident of the Lola-Toyota and Jean-Christophe Boullion in Raidillon then, after only a few minutes, following the contact between the Peugeot 908 of Pedro Lamy and Mike Newton's Honda LM P2. An accident that caused the abadonment of the rest of the session. No improvement in GTE during the afternoon, Rob Bell (Ferrari F458 Italia) producing the fastest time (2'21''446). The competitors of 1000 Km of Spa-Francoirchamps resume the track Friday, 6thMay for a third free practice session (11:50-12:50) and qualification (15:50-16:40).

Eurosport goes all out!

The 1000 Km of Spa-Francorchamps will benefit from an exceptional television coverage. Eurosport has decided to aler its schedule to broadcast the event in its entirety. The early hours will be seen live on Eurosport 2 from 14h00 (starting at 14h05) at 17 h after 30 and will be broadcast on Eurosport and until the end of this race will be judged at 20 h 05 very precisely .

Info: Lemans.org
Photo: CIRCUIT SPA-Francorchamps (Belgium), 1000 KM OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, 5th May, 2011. With Andre Lotterer driving, the Audi #3 was the fastest of the first day of testing.

New FIA GT3 Season Gets Underway in Portugal

EVENT PREVIEW: New FIA GT3 Season Gets Underway in Portugal

2011 marks the sixth year of the FIA GT3 European Championship which has continued to attract teams and drivers from across the world resulting in large grids and action packed racing. The 2011 season gets underway here in Portugal with two 60-minute races on the 4.7km circuit on the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.

The FIA GT3 European Championship is for the latest generation of sportscar; with few modifications allowed from the road-going models, their performance is balanced using the techniques developed and proven in FIA GT and its successor the FIA GT1 World Championship. Each model should be represented by a minimum of 2 cars and a maximum of 6 cars, entered by two car teams.

Last year, in the penultimate round of the 2010 season, a titanic battle ensued in Portugal between the Callaway Competition Corvette of Daniel Keilwitz and Christian Hohenadel and the Prospeed Competition Porsche of Marco Holzer and Paul Van Splunteren, with the Porsche finishing ahead of the Corvette in the first race only for the roles to be reversed in the second. As a result Hohenadel and Keilwitz secured the 2010 FIA GT3 European Drivers Championship, while a good result at the final races for Holzer and Van Splunteren in Zolder secured the Team Championship for Prospeed.

Eight manufacturers will be represented on the grid in 2011, including the new Mercedes-Benz SLS and Ferrari 458, with cars from Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ford, Lamborghini and Porsche.

For 2011 the Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R returns with 2011 GT3 Vice Champion Paul van Splunteren returning, partnered by Belgian driver Maxime Soulet in the car carrying, as reigning Team Champions, the all important ‘number 1’ on the door panels. Prospeed will be running a second car in Portugal, the only team to be racing the race winning Porsche.

Race winner Mike Parisy will return in 2011 with French outfit Graff Racing, but will swap the Corvette Z06R for the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. In total six of the new cars are entered for the season with a second entry from Graff Racing alongside a pair of cars for Gravity Charouz Racing from the Czech Republic and German team Heico Motorsport.

United Autosports return with their pair of Audi R8 LMS, with Zak Brown and Matt Bell securing their first FIA GT3 podium in Portugal last season. The line up has one change from last year with Mark Patterson being joined by GT4 European Cup Champion Joe Osborne in the nr22 Audi. Sainteloc Racing also return for another season with the Audi R8 and Belgian Audi Club have also entered a pair of cars, one for the Belgian pairing of Enzo Ide and Greg Franchi.

Two teams will run the new Ferrari 458 Italia, including former FIA GT2 Champions AF Corse. The Italian team will run two cars, one for Italian pairing, former British and Italian F3 racer Francesco Castellacci and Federico Leo and British GT front runners Dan Brown and Glynn Geddie. The British MTECH team is the second outfit to run the new Ferrari, with Ireland’s Matt Griffin and Britain’s Duncan Cameron in the nr20 car.

LMP Motorsport will be the only team to run the championship winning Aston Martin DBRS9, with the French team boasting three former GT3 race winners – Dimitri Enjalbert, Gael Lesoudier and Maxime Martin, who is also a GT1 World Championship race winner.

The Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport team returns for a second season with the race winning BMW Z4 GT3, with an almost unchanged driver line up. Claudia Huertgen and Csaba Walter made GT3 history last year by becoming the first car to win with Dunlop tyres at Jarama in Spain, with Huertgen also becoming the first female driver to win an FIA GT3 race. The second car features race winner Edward Sandstroem, who will be joined by Saudi Arabian driver Abdulaziz Al Faisal. The second BMW team is the Dutch Faster Racing by DB Motorsport team, who will feature an all Dutch driver line up including GT1 driver Nicky Catsburg.

German team Fischer Racing return with their race winning Ford GT, with Denmark’s Christoffer Nygaard and Finland’s Mikko Eskelinen looking to build on the strong performances they had together in 2010. Fellow German team Reiter Engineering will run a pair of Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 with reigning ADAC GT Masters Champion and FIA GT3 race winner Albert von Thurn und Taxis being joined by Austrian driver Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof in 2011.

Points will be awarded to the top 10 drivers in each race with 25 points for the winner down to 1 point for 10th, the same as the FIA GT1 World Championship. In a change for 2011 success ballast, which has been a feature of the FIA GT3 European Championship since 2009, has been replaced with Compensation Times. Instead of the top three cars and drivers being awarded +20kg, +15kg and +10kg in each race, they will receive a time of +15 seconds for 1st place, +10 seconds for second place and +5 seconds for 3rd, which will be added to the minimum pit stop duration set for the following race in the Championship.

There will be live television coverage of every round of the FIA GT3 European Championship in many parts of the world, with a full rundown of the TV channels on the official championship website, www.gt3europe.com, where the races will also be streamed live and the latest championship news, results and other information will be available immediately after each race.

fiagt3europe.com

Audi R18 TDI: Advantage through LED technology

Audi R18 TDI: Advantage through LED
technology

• Five weeks before the 24 Hours of Le Mans
• Full LED headlights for the new LMP1 sportscar
• Audi with clear advantage in LED technology

Ingolstadt, May 5, 2011 – Always be at least one step ahead of the opposition –
this is Audi’s motto. This is exactly how the Four Rings brand presented the Audi
R18 TDI – the first Le Mans sports car featuring headlights comprising entirely of
light emitting diodes. As a result, the Audi drivers have a significant advantage at
night during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Audi is regarded as a pioneer in the development of LED technology and leads the
competition by a large margin in this field. The twelve-cylinder Audi A8 was the first
car in the world to go into production with LED daytime driving lights. The Audi R8 is
credited with having the first full LED headlights worldwide. Slowly but surely an
increasing number of Audi models are offered with full LEDs as an option, as is the
new Audi A6.
Audi also forces the new headlight technology in motorsport. The Audi R10 TDI was
the first race car with LED daytime driving lights in 2006. The Audi R15 TDI, which
broke the 39 year old distance record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, was
equipped with a combination of Xenon headlights and LEDs.
Audi goes a step further with the innovative Audi R18 TDI: the new LMP1 is the first
Le Mans sports car with full LED headlights. Combined with sophisticated reflectorlens
modules, eight high-power light emitting diodes per side provide unique
illumination of the race track at night.
“When you’ve driven once with full LED headlights you don’t want to have anything
else,” raves Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen. “The light is stronger and
vibrates less than a normal headlight – this is a clear advantage and particularly at
Le Mans, a track that has many dark braking points in the night.”


However, not only the greater illumination is an advantage of LED technology. Light
emitting diodes are maintenance free and extremely reliable. “The vulnerability to
failures is extremely low,” explains Dr. Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Technology at
Audi Sport. “To date, we haven’t had a single LED failure.”
Thanks to intensive development of the technology, full LED headlights now also
represent a weight saving compared to common headlights – particularly as Audi
Sport managed to eliminate the electrical cooling of the light emitting diodes still
required in street cars and also found last year in the R15 TDI.
The LEDs in the R18 TDI are cooled by the airflow and still supply enough light even
if the cooling airflow is completely cut by dimming themselves automatically. “Our
colleagues in production car development are very interested to see how we
implement this,” says Christopher Reinke, Technical Project Leader for the Audi R18
TDI. “However, we have the advantage in motorsport that the car spends less time
at a standstill. On the highway, the lights mustn’t go out even if the car is in a traffic
jam.”
Audi Sport worked closely with the AUDI AG “Light and Sight” section during
development of the full LED headlights. The light tunnel in the Technical
Development (TE) is available for tests. The Audi R18 TDI is credited with a record: It
has the brightest diodes currently in use. These LEDs are currently not registered for
road use.
To a limited extent LED technology also requires a completely new approach. The
R18 TDI prototype’s main beam, which is comprised of five LEDs per side, is not
brighter than the normal low beam. Three extra LEDs create the effect of a high
beam by illuminating the track additionally through an individual position of the
various reflectors.
Audi is the first automobile manufacturer to also use the diverse possibilities of
light emitting diodes as design element. In the R18 TDI the daytime driving light in
the left headlight forms a number “1” which is mirrored on the right side. With this,
Audi aims to express its position as number one in LED technology. It goes without
saying that the knowledge Audi Sport gains at Le Mans with the latest generation
full LED headlights flows automatically into production car development – so that
the advantage through LED technology remains.

Audi Communications Motorsport

Nicolas Lapierre : “It’s up to us to make the case.”

Nicolas Lapierre : “It’s up to us to make the case.”

Nicolas, what are your thoughts going into the 1000km of Spa?
“We are arriving in Belgium at the top of the ILMC standings, so with a certain amount of calm. We know that Spa will likely be even more difficult than Sebring, with six factory prototypes that are more developed. We saw at the Test Day that the Audi R18 and Peugeot 908 have evolved quite a bit. On our side, we can count on a very good car, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, with reliability that has proven itself.”

Is this “only” a preparation race?
“Not for the drivers at least! (laughs) We want a good result. The best way to prepare for Le Mans would be to win! We will be in the same position as Sebring and at Le Mans: stay quick to keep touch with the leaders and jump on any opportunities that present themselves.”

Does last year’s shortened race change your approach?
“No, not really. We didn’t really do well at Spa in 2009 and 2010. That said, it wasn’t really our doing. In contrast, Sebring brought a lot of confidence to the whole team. This puts us in a good position to take on this race. We know that we aren’t the fastest, but we have things to prove. It’s up to us to make the case.”

Oreca Team Press.

Young Driver AMR aims for podium in Portugal

Young Driver AMR aims for podium in Portugal
GT1-World Championship travels all the way down to Portugal

Paderborn, 03.05.2011 [GT1 World Championship]

The GT1-World Championship travels all the way down to Portugal this weekend for the third round of the season in Portimão at the Algarve coast. After a good performance in the first two rounds and the first podium finish of the season in the last race in Belgium, Young Driver AMR hopes for more podium joy in Portugal. Alex Müller (GER) and Tomas Enge (CZE) aim for their second consecutive podium finish in the #7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9, while Stefan Mücke (GER) and Darren Turner (GBR) want to execute their brilliant speed into a good amount of championship points. With the German round of the GT1-World Championship at the Sachsenring scheduled only seven days later, the Portugal event is the start of a very busy week for Young Driver AMR.

„We showed a good speed in the two opening rounds of the championship in Abu Dhabi and Zolder, on two very different tracks“, Young Driver AMR team principal Hardy Fischer says. „So I see no reason why we shouldn’t be quick in Portugal. Last year, we were running in second position, when we had some tires issues. I hope that we will have two trouble free races in Portugal. Alex and Tomas showed a very good performance at Zolder and Darren and Stefan had one of the quickest cars in the opening two rounds, but had bad luck in the race. I hope our Aston Martin will have two trouble free races, then we have a good chance for further improvement in the championship rankings.“

During the first visit of the GT1 World Championship in Portimão last year, Young Driver AMR was en route to a podium finish, when tire issues prevented Darren Turner und Tomas Enge from scoring a top result. Due to the earlier date of the event and the cooler ambient temperatures, it’s expected that this will not be an issue like last year.

Once the Portuguese round is finished, the Young Driver AMR team will busy load the trucks and head to back to Germany for the „home race“ of Young Driver AMR. The scenic Sachsenring near Chemnitz will host the GT1 World Championship for the first time only seven days after the Portugal event.

Driver quotes before the race:

Alex Müller (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Portimão will certainly be a very hot race. The track is amazing, it’s a bit like the Nordschleife in Germany and I’m always very happy to race at Portimão. Tire wear will be an issue there, the key for a success in the race is to have a consistent tire performance. I expect that we will have a good speed there. A podium finish is our goal.“

Tomáš Enge (#7 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Our Aston Martin showed a very good performance in the first two races of the season, so I see no point why we shouldn’t be competitive in Portimão. Before the Zolder event I would have been cautious to say something like this, but we were on the pace there and so I expect us to be on the pace also for the remaining tracks this season. But nevertheless it will be hard, although it will be not as warm as last year due to the earlier date. This will be helpful for the tire performance and also help our aero. I don’t expect a drop in the tire performance like we had last year, because this season we have two sets of tires more for the free practise, that helps our tire strategy for the two races.“

Stefan Mücke (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „Portimão is a great track, though one which not necessarily favours the Aston Martin. The track is very hard on tires and the key will be to find a set up, which is consistent and not hard on tires. Considering the performance we had in the two opening rounds, a podium finish will not be easy, but should be possible.“

Darren Turner (#8 Young Driver-Aston Martin DBR9): „I’m really looking forward to Portimão, it’s a very challenging circuit and I love this track. Last year we were ok in Portugal and this season we were ok in the first rounds, so I’m quite optimistic for Portimão. In the first two round of the championship, we had a good pace. If we will have a weekend without any issue, I’m confident we can grab a big bag of points.“

###

Two pictures for editorial use in the attachment, copyright Markus Berns

Follow GT1 World:

Both races and the qualifying are streamed live in the internet with English commentary at www.gt1world.com/gt1tv

Timetable Zolder:
(all times local, MESZ = local time -1h)

Friday 6. May
09:30 - 10:50 FIA GT1 World Championship Free Practice
14:25 - 15:45 FIA GT1 World Championship Pre-Qualifying

Saturday 7. May
11:15 - 12:15 FIA GT1 World Championship Qualifying
17:15 - 18:15 FIA GT1 World Championship Qualifying Race

Sunday 8. May
09:00 - 09:30 FIA GT1 World Championship Warm Up
15:15 - 16:15 FIA GT1 World Championship Championship Race

Young Driver is on Twitter

Follow all the action @YoungDriverAMR

Schedule GT1-World 2011

24. – 25. March Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi (VAE)
08. – 10. April Zolder (B)
06. – 08. May Algarve, Portimão (P)
13. – 15. May Sachsenring (D)
03. – 05. June Silverstone Supercar 2011 (GB)
01. – 03. July Navarra (E)
15. – 17. July HTTT Paul Ricard, Le Castellet (F)
02. – 04. September Ordos (CN)
21. – 23. Oktober Curitiba (BR)
05. – 06. November San Luis (ARG)

About Young Driver AMR

Young Driver AMR was founded by Hardy Fischer and his friend and long-time associate Jan Struve in late 2009 and is representing Aston Martin as one of only two teams in the FIA GT1 World Championship with two Aston Martin DBR9. The abbreviation AMR in the team name stands for Aston Martin Racing, Young Driver AMR is the only official German partner team of Aston Martin Racing. Young Driver AMR is a sister-team of Fischer Racing and based in Paderborn. In it’s first racing season 2010, Young Driver AMR took three victories in the FIA GT1 World Championship and finished on the class podium in it’s first ever outing in the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans in France.

Info: Young Driver AMR Media.

Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW on the podium

At the 36th DMV 4 Hour Race, Chris Mamerow (Castrop-Rauxel/ Germany) and Armin Hahne (Wimbach/ Germany) were able to celebrate the first Mercedes Benz victory of the 2011 season. After 28 race laps, the two race drivers in the SLS AMG GT3 had achieved an advance of 33.604 seconds ahead of second placed Timo Bernhard (Dittweiler/ Germany), Lucas Luhr and Romain Dumas (both from Switzerland) in the Porsche 911 GT3 R of the team Manthey-Racing. Into top three finished also the crew of BMW Motorsport. Dirk Müller (Switzerland), Dirk Werner (Würzburg/ Germany) and Dirk Adorf (Michelbach/ Germany) driving a BMW M3 GT completed the podium with the razor-thin gap of 0.614 seconds ahead of Lance David Arnold (Duisburg/ Germany), Christopher Brück (Cologne/ Germany) and Christian Frankenhout (Netherlands) in the SLS AMG GT3 entered by Heico-Motorsport. The team into fourth place however scored fastest race lap with 8:18.927 minutes. The sun was shining when the total of 203 race cars took the start of the DMV 4 Hour Race organised by the Renngemeinschaft Düren. For former DTM driver Armin Hahne, this result represented the first victory at a VLN race ever and it was the 38th success for a race car of the make Mercedes-Benz. A 30 minutes summary of the season launch will be shown in channel Sport1 on 5 May at 6 p.m.

Before the race already it was clear that anyone wishing to win would first have to beat the Mamerow team. With 8:13.730 minutes, Chris Mamerow set fastest time in practice. The SLS AMG GT3 started the race from pole position and dominated the race. “Even though it might have looked easy – that was not a relaxed victory”, said Mamerow. “We had to push very hard each moment during the four hours race time because our aim is to score victories.” His experienced team mate Hahne added: “Our efforts in the team have paid out. We have completed a six hour test on Friday and made great progress regarding suspension and brakes.”

After the fail of the Manthey spearhead at the VLN opening round, Bernhard was reasonably satisfied with position two: “That was a good race for us today. It was very important that we did not encounter any problem at all in the four hours. It was not simply possible to beat Manthey today.” Adorf was more than happy after his second stint: “I was extremely happy to be able to defend my position in the last lap when the Heico SLS was attacking. I had to push very hard in the last laps to secure our result on the podium.” The second BMW M3 GT with drivers Jörg Müller (Monaco), Augusto Farfus (Brazil) and Pedro Lamy (Portugal) took the chequered flag in place five. The fastest Audi R8 LMS was driven by Phoenix-Piloten Marc Basseng (Leutenbach/ Germany), Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel/ Germany) and Marcel Fässler (Switzerland) of the Phoenix team and finished into position six.

Hans-Joachim Stuck finished his first race in a team with his two sons Johannes and Ferdinand (all from Austria) as well as Frank Kechele (Laufen/ Germany) in 28th place. “For us, priority was given to gain experience”, said the ex-champion. “We did therefore not really attack today.” The family Stuck completed 26 laps in a Lamborghini Gallardo entered by Reiter Engineering. The new Golf24 of Volkswagen, too, completed the first test successfully. Fredrik Ekblom (Sweden), Peter Terting (Börwang/ Germany) and Franck Mailleux (France) finally finished 20th overall. “We have been able to collect first experience under race conditions”, informed Terting. “We will now carry on with the test sessions in preparation of the 24 Hour Race.”

Successful race debut for the further-developed Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, too: ‘Version 2.0’ of the innovative Hybrid race car from Weissach with the driver team made up of Porsche works driver Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld/ Germany), Marco Holzer (Lochau/ Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) became eleventh. “We’ve made good progress with the version 2011”, said Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “We will collect further valuable data at another race of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring.”

With is second win in the very strong class of VLN Specials up to 2000cc cubic capacity with turbo engines, Maik Rosenberg (Attendorn/ Germany) has now moved into the Championship lead. He was driving the Volkswagen Scirocco of the team LMS Engineering together with Peter Terting. Into second championship position after two of ten races are Carsten Knechtges (Mayen/ Germany), Manuel Metzger (Rickenbach-Hütten/ Germany) and Tim Scheerbarth (Dormagen/ Germany), who on their part dominated the class of VLN standard production cars up to 3000cc cylinder capacity with their BMW Z4 of Black Falcon for the second time now.

With the 42nd Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy race in two weeks time, the first of two 6 Hour Races of the season is on the calendar. So on 14th May, the successful story of the most popular endurance racing championship will continue.

VLN.de

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, round 1 at the Formula 1 race in Istanbul/Turkey

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, round 1 at the Formula 1 race in Istanbul/Turkey

Heading into the new season with 21 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup

Stuttgart. The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup kicks off the new season on 8 May on the Formula 1 circuit in Istanbul Park. After the cancellation of the two season-opening rounds in Bahrain, drivers and teams are now looking forward to the belated start. “The break was long enough,” says title defender René Rast (Germany). “It’s high time that it finally gets underway.”

All systems are go for the popular one-make race series which has run as support to the Formula 1 races since 1993. In Istanbul Park, 21 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars line up to start, fielded by nine teams. With this, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup again enjoys a strong turn out this year. “We have top class entries from teams and drivers,” says Jonas Krauss, who joined Porsche Motorsport in March as the new manager of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Krauss is extremely pleased with the great potpourri of seasoned campaigners and talented youngsters. “The best drivers and teams from last year are back again this season. That just shows how popular this series is.”

At the wheel of the #1 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, René Rast leads the field into the new season on the 5.338 kilometre Grand Prix circuit at the Bosphorus. This season, the title defender drives for the newly-formed VELTINS Lechner Racing Team with Austria’s Norbert Siedler. His arch rival Nick Tandy (Great Britain), reigning vice-champion after three victories and winner of the BBS rookie classification, is back and again competes for Konrad Motorsport. One of the most serious aspirants for the title is Jeroen Bleekemolen. The double Supercup champion from the Netherlands has switched to the Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, where he joins forces with another very strong contender, Britain’s Sean Edwards. Supercup record winner Patrick Huisman (Netherlands) races for Team Bleekemolen for the first time and is keen to secure his 25th Supercup win this season. His compatriot and teammate Sebastiaan Bleekemolen made a promising start to the motorsport season at the Sebring 12 Hours: At the endurance classic in Florida, he won the GTC class with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

The most prominent newcomer to the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is Mathias Lauda (Austria). The son of racing legend Niki Lauda drove the VIP car as a guest of Porsche AG last year in Hockenheim – and now the former DTM pilot competes in the season-opener in Istanbul with Konrad Motorsport Austria. Also new to the series this season is the Attempto Racing team, who won the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title last year with Frenchman Nicolas Armindo. This season the squad enters two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup manned by Robert Lukas (Poland) and Supercup-rookie Kévin Estre (France).

The race in Istanbul on 8 May is broadcast live by TV stations Eurosport 2 (11.45 hrs) and Sky (11.40 hrs). Additionally, Eurosport televises race highlights on Sunday at 18.15 hrs in its programme “Motorsport Weekend Magazin”.


Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup – Calendar 2011*

08 May: Istanbul, Turkey
22 May: Barcelona, Spain
29 May: Monte Carlo, Monaco
25 June: Nürburgring-Nordschleife, Germany
10 July: Silverstone, Great Britain
24 July: Nürburgring, Germany
31 July: Budapest, Hungary
28 August: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
11 September: Monza, Italy

* It has not yet been decided if and when the cancelled Formula 1 race and Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup double-header in Bahrain will be followed up with a replacement.



Public Relations and Media
Motor and Sports Press
Oliver Hilger