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Porsche wins manufacturers’ title and environmental award

Stuttgart. Porsche claimed the first championship title in the American Le Mans Series already before the season final at Laguna Seca: At the spectacular 1,000 mile race of Petit Le Mans on the Road Atlanta circuit, Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler and Dirk Werner (both Germany) clinched third in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to secure the fiercely-contested GT2 manufacturers’ title for the Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer. Porsche also won the “Michelin Green X Challenge” environmental award.

Halfway through the ten-hour event in the US state of Georgia, the race was stopped due to torrential rain and was not restarted. “We really couldn’t compete under these conditions. Water was everywhere on the track. It’s a shame, because we were doing so well,” said Wolf Henzler, who early on led the race at times in his 911 GT3 RSR run by Farnbacher Loles Racing. “But we are happy with our podium result and that we were able to contribute to Porsche winning the title with our performance.”

The drivers’ classification will only be decided at the final. However, Porsche works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) travel to the last race as the clear points’ leaders after claiming fifth with their Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR. “We didn’t really want it to be so exciting and would have preferred to secure the championship right here,” said title defender Joerg Bergmeister. “Our speed was very good and we sat in the top three most of the time. It would have been hard to catch the leading Ferrari, but still the red flag came out at exactly the wrong time for us.”

Indeed - shortly before the race was stopped, Patrick Long ranked third, but lost two positions in the pits while changing over to rain tyres. Marc Lieb (Germany), who supported his works driver colleagues for this race, had profited before from the fast work of his Flying Lizard pit crew and at times led the race. “Had the heavy rain started at that point, Joerg and Patrick would be champions now,” he said. “Today it was very difficult to find the right strategy. Nobody knew how long it would stay dry and when the rain would come. The Ferrari boys risked a lot and went for rain tyres when the others were still on slicks but they had the luck that eluded us today.”

As well as securing the manufacturers’ championship before the end of the season, Porsche celebrated another success at Road Atlanta. The second Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR of Americans Darren Law, Seth Neiman and Johannes van Overbeek finished seventh and won the “Michelin Green X Challenge”. This environmental award goes to the race car with the best overall efficiency in the ratio of lap times and fuel consumption.

In the LMP2 class, the Porsche RS Spyder continued its successful comeback in the American Le Mans Series. Supported by Porsche factory pilot Sascha Maassen (Germany), Klaus Graf (Germany) and Greg Pickett (USA) finished in position three and climbed the podium for the third straight time.

“Today it was difficult not to make a mistake,” said Klaus Graf, who spun off the wet track in the opening phase of the race with the Weissach sports prototype fielded by Cytosport. But the ensuing 37-lap stop in the pits had nothing to do with this excursion off the track. The reason for this lengthy hold-up was water in the fuel. “We have no idea how this happened,” said Sascha Maassen, “but without this problem we would have had a good chance to finish even further up the ranks. We were on a very good way.” The Cytosport pilots were unable to finish their promising charge: After an interruption of almost four hours due to the rain the race control decided against continuing the penultimate round of the season.

Round 10 of the American Le Mans Series takes place on 10 October at Laguna Seca in the US state of California.


Statistics: 9th of 10 races of the American Le Mans Series at Road Atlanta, GA

Result GT2 class
1. Melo/Kaffer/Salo (BRA/D/SF), Ferrari F430 GT, 170 laps
2. Müller/Milner/Müller (D/USA/D), BMW E92 M3, 169
3. Henzler/Werner (D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 169
4. Berretta/Gavin/Fässler (MC/GB/CH), Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 169
5. Bergmeister/Long/Lieb (D/USA/D), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 169
6. Magnussen/O’Connell/Garcia (DK/USA/E), Chevrolet Corvette C6.R, 168
7. Law/Neiman/van Overbeek (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 162

Points’ standings GT2 class
Drivers
1. Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Porsche, 156 points
2. Jamie Melo, Pierre Kaffer, Ferrari, 137
3. Dirk Müller, Tommy Milner, BMW, 89
4. Wolf Henzler, Porsche, 84
5. Dominik Farnbacher, Ian James, Panoz, 80
6. Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell, Chevrolet, 65
7. Seth Neiman, Porsche, 63

Manufacturers
1. Porsche 163 points
2. Ferrari 137
3. BMW 107

Teams
1. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche, 156 points
2. Risi Competizione, Ferrari, 137
3. BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team, 104



Facts and Figures

This is the American Le Mans Series

The American Le Mans Series was created in 1999 for sports prototypes and GT vehicles. The regulations correspond to those of the Le Mans 24 hour race. Ten races in the USA and Canada make up this year’s calendar. Traditional highlights are the Sebring 12 hour race and the 1,000 mile “Petit Le Mans” at Road Atlanta. Most races run over 2:45 hours.

The starter field is made up of two different race car categories: Sports prototypes and standard sports cars. These are divided into four classes:
LMP1 class: Sports prototypes with up to 750 hp and a minimum weight of 900 kilograms. Power to weight ratio: ca. 1.2 kg/hp.
LMP2 class: Sports prototypes with around 440 hp (normally aspirated engine) and an 825 kilogram minimum weight. Power to weight ratio: ca. 1.8 kg/hp.
GT1 class: Heavily modified standard sports cars with up to 650 hp and a minimum weight of 1,125 to 1,325 kilograms.
GT2 class: Slightly modified standard sports cars with approx. 450 hp and a minimum weight of 1,125 – 1,325 kilograms (e.g. Porsche 911 GT3 RSR).

All race cars start together but are classified separately. Points are awarded only for placings in each class. After 2006 and 2007, Porsche again won the championship titles in the LMP2 class last year for Drivers (Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas) as well as for Chassis and Engine Manufacturer and for Teams (Penske Racing) with the RS Spyder. In the GT2 class, Porsche secured the championship titles for Drivers (Joerg Bergmeister/Wolf Henzler) as well as for Manufacturers and Teams (Flying Lizard Motorsports) in 2008 with the 911 GT3 RSR.