The UPS-Porsche Juniors Martin Ragginger (Austria) and Marco Holzer (Germany) tackle the German Motorsport Association’s 250 mile race on the Nürburgring on 11th October. For 20-year-old Holzer, this marks his debut in a racing sports car on the legendary Nordschleife.
Special challenges of this sort have long been a part of the UPS-Porsche Junior team training programme. Martin Ragginger, now in his second year of the UPS and Porsche junior advancement programme, contested his maiden race in the American Le Mans Series at the end of August, where he raced a Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on the Belle Isle Street Circuit in Detroit. Sharing driving duties with Lonnie Pechnik (USA), Ragginger secured fourth and celebrated a successful debut in the race series with the world’s fastest sports cars. At his first Nürburgring 24 hour race in May, Ragginger claimed fifth overall at the wheel of a Porsche GT3 Cup. Continue reading ‘Ragginger and Holzer team up for the Nordschleife’
GT2 Podium: Johannes van Overbeek, Patrick Pilet, Jörg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler, Jamie Melo, Mika SaloThe Porsche 911 GT3 RSR celebrated a clear double victory at the ninth round of the American Le Mans Series in Detroit. Notching up their fourth win of the season, Jörg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler from Germany increased their lead in the GT2 class of the championship. With the sports prototypes, Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) secured fourth with the Porsche RS Spyder and defended their points’ lead. With two races left on the ALMS calendar in Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca, their chances look good to successfully defend the title. Continue reading ‘ALMS: Double victory for Porsche 911 GT3 RSR’
Wow! What a finish in today’s qualifying for the 2008 Detroit Sports Car Challenge. Everyone in GT2 was flying and out doing each other one after another. To take this point even further… Only one GT1 car was faster then the GT2 class. The #3 Corvette went 1:24:477 to Henzler’s 1:24:941. The #4 Corvette came 3 cars later with a 1:25:501. With Farnbacher Loles not at Detroit, we were hoping Vici would be up front to help in the point race.
Wolf Henzler put the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche on the GT2 pole for Saturday’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge, with a lap time of 1:24.941. In the No. 46 Porsche, teammate Patrick Pilet was fourth, and in the No. 44 Martin Ragginger was seventh. Continue reading ‘ALMS: Flying Lizard No. 45 on the Pole for Detroit’
What a race! Down to the wire, last fumes of gas or in the Flying Lizards case a Ferrari banging in the last turns with the Ferrari getting by.
Wolf Henzler and Joerg Bergmeister celebrate a 3rd place podium and points lead.Not this time. Both were warned in the remaining laps to ease up but it was clear that the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari had the speed but couldn’t get by at the end of a straight. Joerg Bergmeister was clean. Dirk Mueller in the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari forces his way into the corner and forces Joerg wide and into grass. It was completely uncalled for and avoidable. Continue reading ‘ALMS: Flying Lizard 3rd, 7th and 9th at Mosport’
RS Spyder, Penske Racing: Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas Romain Dumas (France) posted the fastest time in the LMP2 class at the 8th round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) on the Mosport International Raceway in Canada. Dumas, who with his team mate Timo Bernhard (Germany) currently leads the championship in the Porsche RS Spyder fielded by Penske Racing, improved on last year’s top time by 1.6 seconds. With this, Dumas/Bernhard take up the race from the second row directly behind two Audi R10 which generate over 200 hp more and have a better power-to-weight ratio. Continue reading ‘ALMS: Top time goes to Porsche RS Spyder’
Flying Lizard is in Canada this week for the eighth round of the American Le Mans Series season: the Grand Prix of Mosport, to be held on Sunday, August 24. The fast, 2.459-mile course, located in the rolling hills of southwestern Ontario, is one of the most challenging tracks on the ALMS circuit. The team tested here earlier this week and No. 46 driver Patrick Pilet had his first experience on the track. “Mosport is a very difficult track. It is fast and definitely takes some time to learn. It’s a lot of fun to drive but it’s tough to be confident here because of the high speed turns — many of which are fifth and fourth gear turns — and the complexity. I’m really looking forward to the race. The pressure is on — it’s a critical point in the championship for all of the drivers and teams and you should see some exciting racing this weekend.” Continue reading ‘ALMS: Flying Lizard Mosport Preview’
Le Mans Series, round 4 on the Nürburgring, Race report
The German debut of the Porsche RS Spyder concluded with a fourth victory at the fourth race of the season. Jos Verstappen and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) won the 1,000 kilometre race on the Nürburgring, the penultimate of the 2008 Le Mans Series (LMS). With his third win of the season, ex-Formula 1 driver Verstappen also claimed an early title win in the LMP2 class with Van Merksteijn Motorsport (Netherlands) securing the team championship. In the manufacturers classification as well, Porsche ranks an uncatchable first. Both Danish pilots of the Essex team, Casper Elgaard and John Nielsen, rounded off the Porsche customer teams’ success with third. In the GT2 class, drivers of the 911 GT3 RSR celebrated podium positions with second and third. A total of 22,000 spectators travelled to the Eifel to witness the German LMS round. Continue reading ‘Le Mans Series: Porsche secures early championship title’
Le Mans Series, round 4 on the Nürburgring, Preview
It is kinda odd that both both Audi and Porsche will be racing their prototypes in Germany for the first time.
After securing wins in Spain, Italy and Belgium, the Porsche RS Spyder now races on home ground for the first time. At the fourth of five rounds of the European Le Mans Series (LMS) three of the 476 hp sports prototypes, developed and built in Weissach, take up the race for LMP2 class honours from 15th to 17th August on the Nürburgring. The RS Spyder, fielded by Porsche customer teams Van Merksteijn Motorsport (Netherlands), Essex (Denmark) and Horag Racing (Switzerland), rekindle memories of Porsche’s great tradition on the Eifel track. Fascinating motorsport is guaranteed at the 1,000 kilometre race – alone considering the entry list of almost 50 race cars on the 5.148 kilometre Grand Prix circuit. Porsche is also represented in the GT2 class for near-standard sports cars with six 911 GT3 RSR vehicles. Continue reading ‘Porsche RS Spyder makes race debut in Germany’
In the GT2 class for slightly modified standard sports cars, Dirk Werner (Germany), Richard Westbrook (Great Britain) and Bryce Miller (USA) secured their maiden ALMS win with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by Farnbacher Loles Racing. Continue reading ‘ALMS: Farnbacher Loles Racing takes GT2 win’
Dirk Werner: ‘There is a very high level of competition here - there are great drivers and the cars are a lot of fun to drive.’
The age-old axiom of first finishing before you can finish first has never sounded truer in the ears of Farnbacher Loles Racing. Performance hasn’t been an issue in the first four rounds of the American Le Mans Series season. Results on the other hand have been a bit hard to come by for the team in the midst of its first full season of Series competition. Continue reading ‘Dirk Werner: Hoping for results in second half of the American Le Mans Series’
