With a hard-fought victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Porsche has again lived up to its role as the most successful manufacturer in the history of the long distance classic in Florida.

On the Daytona International Speedway, David Donohue (USA), Darren Law (USA), Buddy Rice (USA) and Antonio Garcia (Spain) won the 47th running of the time-honoured Grand-Am Series season-opener with the Porsche-Riley of Brumos Racing. After a nerve-wracking finale, they secured the 21st overall victory for Porsche by an extremely slim margin of just 0.167 seconds. In the GT class, Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Patrick Long (USA), Andy Lally (USA), RJ Valentine (USA) and Justin Marks (USA) won with their TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and, with this, rounded off the successful start of the new motorsport season for Porsche.

“This is an amazing result for Porsche and the best confirmation of our customer racing programme and the intensive technical support that we give our teams at the race track,” said Porsche head of motorsport, Hartmut Kristen. “The last Daytona victory for Porsche was six years ago and it’s quite remarkable that then principally the same 911 engine was powering the winning car that is now in the Daytona Prototype of Brumos Racing. There’s nothing like a six-cylinder boxer engine.”

Manning the second Porsche-Riley fielded by Brumos Racing, Hurley Haywood (USA), Terry Borcheller (USA), Joao Barbosa (Portugal) and JC France (USA) secured third place. However, the Grand-Am premiere for Penske Racing and Porsche did not run as successfully. Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) and Ryan Briscoe (Australia) finished sixth after a strong performance. Their start showed promise: After narrowly missing out on pole position in qualifying, Timo Bernhard didn’t hesitate in planting his vehicle at the front after just two laps.

In the first third of the race, the Penske and Brumos prototypes dominated, leading 207 of 261 laps. After eight hours, Brumos-pilot Joao Barbosa headed the field in the #59 Porsche-Riley. During the night, the Porsche pit crews didn’t have much to do: Tyre change and refuel – complete routine for the well-trained mechanics. After 16 hours, the front-running Penske pilot Ryan Briscoe handed his car over to Romain Dumas. But strong competition from the many big-names from the American IndyCar Series and NASCAR scene upped the pressure. At 8.55am on Sunday morning, the quiet was shattered in the Penske pits: The #16 Porsche-Riley had to be pushed into the garage with a broken drive-shaft. Repairs took 26 minutes and cost 15 laps. But it was not the last setback on this sunny Sunday in Florida: A gearbox change threw Romain Dumas even further back into the field.

“We took off from the first row, drove the fastest lap and led for most of the laps,” said Timo Bernhard, winner of the 2003 race. “Still, it’s disappointing that it wasn’t enough to win today. But with regard to the championship, our sixth place is worth a lot.” Romain Dumas added: “We know that we can match the pace of the regular front-runners. That’s the most important thing.”

After the retirement of the #16 vehicle, hopes of many Porsche fans lining the Daytona International Speedway were now resting on the Brumos Racing prototypes. After a few years without much success, the Jackonsville-based Brumos team, run by one of America’s oldest Porsche dealerships and supported by Hurley Haywood as one of the world’s most successful long distance pilots, lived up to all expectations at their home race. In a thrilling and dramatic final phase, pole-setter David Donohue in the #58 Porsche-Riley, first overtook Juan-Pablo Montoya in a Lexus-Riley of Team Ganassi and successfully fended off all attacks from the ex-Formula 1 pilot. At the finish line, Donohue could not hold back the tears: 40 years after his father Mark’s win here, he could now celebrate his Daytona 24 Hour success.

“We did our home work, we completed 3,000 miles of testing in Daytona and really did all preparation to be able to win this race,” said David Donohue. “We were far off any big wins over the last years but our team never gave up. Our goal was to win. That we reached this goal against such strong competition from Penske and Ganassi makes this victory even sweeter. It’s a huge day for Brumos and Porsche.”

Porsche also proved unbeatable in the GT class, with the 911 GT3 Cup claiming a clear triple victory. “Right at the start of the race we landed two laps behind through no fault of our own, but were able to catch up again,” said Joerg Bergmeister after claiming the third Daytona win of his career. Team mate Patrick Long added: “We didn’t experience one technical problem over the entire race. I’m sure that was a crucial factor in winning.”

In the second TRG-run 911 GT3 Cup, Emmanuel Collard (France), Richard Lietz (Austria), Ted Ballou (USA), Tim George (USA) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) occupied second place. “We had a clean race without any collisions and any repairs. That’s the only way to reach the podium,” said Richard Lietz. Emmanuel Collard believed: “Our car was really simple and comfortable to drive. The positions were settled early on in the race. Double victory for TRG – it hardly gets better than this.” Sascha Maassen (Germany), Patrick Pilet (France), Phillip Martien (France) and BJ Zacharias (USA) took the chequered flag third with the 911 GT3 Cup of Wright Motorsports. “Our car ran perfectly. I’ve never worked with this team before and still we secured a podium – this is a result to be proud of,” said Patrick Pilet. Sascha Maassen was also satisfied with third place. “Our goal prior to the race was to reach the flag. That we climbed the podium is due to the fact that no-one in our team made a single mistake.”

Hartmut Kristen was not only delighted with the superb results for Porsche, but also with the brilliant performance of his drivers. “This weekend,” said the Porsche motorsport boss, “without exception, all nine works drivers as well as our two juniors did a world-class job.”

Statistics: 1st of 12 races of the Grand-Am Series in Daytona, Florida

Race result
1. Law/Donohue/Rice/Garcia (USA/USA/USA/E), Porsche-Riley (DP), 735 laps
2. Montoya/Pruett/Rojas/Dixon (COL/USA/MEX/USA), Lexus-Riley (DP), 735
3. France/Barbosa/Borcheller/Haywood (USA/USA/P/USA), Porsche-Riley (DP), 735
4. Taylor/Angelelli/Friselle/Lamy (USA/I/USA/P), Ford-Dallara (DP), 735
5. Dixon/Franchitti/Lloyd/Pruett (USA/GB/USA/USA), Lexus-Riley (DP) 731
6. Bernhard/Dumas/Briscoe (D/F/AUS), Porsche-Riley (DP), 717
7. Fogarty/Gurney/Vasser/Johnson (USA/USA/USA/USA), Pontiac-Riley (DP), 714
8. Wallace/Finley/Patrick/Mears (GB/USA/USA/USA), Pontiac-Crawford (DP), 702
9. Bergmeister/Long/Marks/Lally/Valentine (D/USA/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 (GT), 695
10. Collard/Lietz/Pumpelly/George/Ballou (F/A/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 (GT), 694

Result GT class
1. Bergmeister/Long/Marks/Lally/Valentine (D/USA/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 695
2. Collard/Lietz/Pumpelly/George/Ballou (F/A/USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 694
3. Maassen/Pilet/Zacharias/Martien (D/F/USA/F), Porsche 911 GT3 Gup 691

The 2nd round of the Grand-Am Series takes place on 26th April in Alton, Virginia.

Facts and Figures

This is the Grand American Sports Car Series

In the year 2000, the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series (abbr.: Grand-Am Series) replaced the United States Road Racing Championships. For the 2009 season, twelve races are contested in the USA and Canada. A traditional highlight of the season is the 24 Hours of Daytona. Most races run over a distance of 250 miles.

The grid is made up of two different vehicle categories: Daytona Prototypes and GT vehicles. With one exception, both categories race together but are separately classified.

Daytona Prototypes (DP): Special manufacturers, like Riley, supply the vehicle chassis. To ensure equal chances for all, large manufacturers are not permitted to enter their own team, but may supply engines. Two Porsche teams, Penske Racing and Brumos Racing, compete with the Porsche 3.99-litre six-cylinder fitted in a Riley chassis. In the Daytona Prototype specification, the engine delivers ca. 510 hp. Minimum weight of the vehicle is 1,021 kilograms.

Grand Touring (GT): The GT class is similar to the FIA GT3 class, where the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is one of the most successful contenders. Equality of chances is attained through tyre size, rev limitations and weight. The minimum weight is between 1,043 and 1,270 kilograms.

A balanced starter field ensures thrilling racing with tough fights for positions and many overtaking manoeuvres. Porsche has won the GT championship seven times in nine years, most recently in 2007 with Dirk Werner at the wheel of a Farnbacher Loles Racing 911 GT3 Cup, and with this is one of the most successful manufacturers in the Grand-Am Series. Porsche works driver Joerg Bergmeister claimed the Prototype class title in 2006.

Post from: NELSON WADE Magazine

Porsche wins 24 hour thriller in Daytona

Everyone has passion…

Everyone has that one particular interest in life that they enjoy. Too much of it is just never enough.

Unfortunately for most people, that isn’t how the bills get paid. The pursuit of personal interests is best reserved for the weekends.  On the weekends, we play – during the week, we work.

But what happens if passion meets vocation? Ah, a life long goal achieved.

While most of us to go to work every morning, Geoff Escalette President of Stuttgart Performance, goes to his shop each morning to continue to develop and enjoy his passion.

Walking into Stuttgart Performance, you’ll see the retail portion of the shop where Porsche owners can purchase a variety of aftermarket high performance products for their street cars.

“Customers come to us to enhance the suspension for better performance, enhance the exhaust for additional power, enhance the car’s software to boost horsepower, among other services that we provide,” he explains.

For cars for the racetrack, Geoff offers, “We can build safety equipment that fits seamlessly into the Porsche. For example; a roll cage, 6 point seat belts, fire extinguishers, and other modifications”.  Stuttgart Performance also provides manufacturing and engineering OEM services for other companies as well.

Geoff’s done quite a bit of racing himself. He’s raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona. In his office you’ll notice an assortment of trophies and plaques on display as evidence of his dedication and success in the sport. From the age of 5, Geoff remembers seeing photos of race cars that his mother showed him which peaked his interest. He bought his first Porsche in 1996, and then in 1999 he bought another one that was a racing addition. It came complete with an aero package. The dealership that he bought it from invited him to a Track Day to drive his car. That was (the proverbial) “it”.

For about 2 years afterward, every other weekend, Geoff was at the track practicing to be able to compete at the pro level in the Grand Am Series. To help him train, he took private driving lessons from Craig Stanton, who’s been Grand Am Champion; he’s won the American La Mans, and in Geoff’s opinion is among the best coaches in racing.

With a passion for racing and a prolific business sense, Geoff came up with a new offering for all those looking to experience some g-force; Stuttgart Performance rents race cars. Cars are available for drivers of varying levels; everything from 200hp racing Boxsters, 320hp Porsche 911s, and 420hp Porsche Cup cars. Stuttgart Performance provides training to help drivers learn how to drive at race speeds. Additionally, they offer side by side coaching, track support, and track events are held a few times a year where customers can bring their own Ferrari’s and Porsche’s (and other sports cars) and run their cars in a safe environment. This education is helpful to drivers in controlling their cars in day to day driving situations as well.

Geoff has a collection of amazing cars, but his most prized possession is probably his Porsche 959.  He tells the story of obtaining the car; “Porsche made 200 comfort models and 30 S models. These S models were made to be imported to the United States. They had roll cages and racing seat belts. They were not to be driven on US highways. These models were designated for racetrack use only. Porsche hadn’t done their DOT testing on the cars. But there was significant enough demand coming from the American market and they felt it was necessary to address it. So they built these 30 cars. I have the last one made – Number 30!”

Geoff continues, “This particular car was brought into Los Angeles, while the others were brought into the east coast. DOT told Porsche to take back all of the cars or they’d be destroyed here in the US. So the cars were shipped back to Germany and converted back to the European spec and sold throughout Europe. This one here though was allowed to reside in a private museum in Los Angeles from 1988 – 2005, which is when I bought the car. So, this one is truly the only S Model 959 that was ever US legal, and designed to US spec.”

This, my friends, defines passion.

I need a weekend!

Source Information and Photos courtesy of Stuttgart Performance.

Post from: NELSON WADE Magazine

Passion for Performance…