American Le Mans Series, round 4 in Salt Lake City, USA
In Salt Lake City, Porsche celebrated one of its greatest successes in the American Le Mans Series: With the 476 hp RS Spyder, Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) secured their second overall victory at a gripping and dramatic fourth round of the season. Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) clinched second overall, making the double victory of the sports prototype from Weissach perfect. Porsche also underlined its top position with a double victory in the GT2 class for slightly modified standard sports cars: At the wheel of a 911 GT3 RSR, Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Wolf Henzler (Germany) brought home a convincing flag-to-flag win.
“We put on a fantastic show for the fans, with everything that makes this sport so fascinating. The super performance of our team and an excellent race strategy was pivotal to our success,” said Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche motorsport. “I’m particularly thrilled about the double victory of our 911 GT3.”
At Miller Motorsports Park with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, Timo Bernhard started from pole position in his #7 RS Spyder. On the long finish straight, however, he was unable to defend his position against his more powerful opponents and fell back. “We had already anticipated that the pole position wouldn’t really help on this circuit,” he said, “so it was no surprise. I tried as best as I could to fight my way back up from fifth, but there was a great deal of sand on the track and it wasn’t easy finding a decent rhythm.” Putting in a spirited drive, the title defender maintained contact to the front-runners, and even led for a short time, only to constantly lose a large amount of time lapping slower vehicles. Subsequently, his team called him into the pits prematurely during the second caution phase to refuel and change wheels – a clever move. “Afterwards I had a free run and overtook everyone in front. This pit stop was the key to our success.”
His team mate Romain Dumas, with whom he won the Sebring 12 hour race earlier this season, took the wheel of the RS Spyder one hour before the flag. After just several laps he moved into the lead position and confidently fended off all attacks. Well worth seeing was the relentless duel against the 200 hp stronger and from a power-to-weight ratio substantially superior Audi R10, which he also managed to hold at bay. “That was a tough fight but it was great fun. It was really tight in some of the corners, we didn’t give an inch but I had a fantastic car,” he said. “As I began my stint I treated the car with care and tried to conserve fuel without compromising speed. Actually, I didn’t want to be caught at the next yellow flag. Then when I realised that our strategy was working and the petrol would last the distance I put my foot down and drove to victory.”
This coming weekend at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard have the next victory firmly in sight. The pair competes at the wheel of a 911 GT3 RSR as title defenders.
In the second Penske Racing RS Spyder with starting number 6, last year’s winners Sascha Maassen and Patrick Long made Porsche’s double success at the Great Salt Lake perfect in a gripping finale. The Porsche-supported US customer team, Dyson Racing, also repeated its strong qualifying performance in the race: At the wheel of the #20 RS Spyder, Butch Leitzinger (USA) and Marino Franchitti (Great Britain) clinched fourth place, with their team mates in the #16 car, Chris Dyson (USA) and Guy Smith (Great Britain) taking the chequered flag in sixth. “My complements for this huge achievement,” said Hartmut Kristen. “The team did a great job.”
One double victory and four RS Spyder in the top six – with this, Porsche has impressively confirmed its top position in the American Le Mans Series and has further increased its lead in the championship.
The GT2 class for slightly modified standard sports cars was again fiercely disputed in Salt Lake City. At the finish, Porsche pilots had the winners’ rostrum almost to themselves: Sebring winners Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler celebrated their second win of the season with the Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR ahead of their team mates Johannes van Overbeek (USA) and Patrick Pilet (France).
“Even the warm-up was perfect. At that point we knew we had a great car for the race,” said Wolf Henzler. “And that’s how it was. I quickly pulled away from the others. We were always in the lead, our pit stops ran without a hitch. It was a perfect day.”
Statistics: 4th of 11 races of the American Le Mans Series in Salt Lake City, Utah
Race result
1. Bernhard/Dumas (D/F), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 96 laps
2. Maassen/Long (D/USA), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 96
3. de Ferran/Pagenaud (BRA/F), Acura ARX-01B (LMP2), 96
4. Leitzinger/Franchitti (USA/GB), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 96
5. Fernandez/Diaz (MEX/MEX), Acura ARX-01B (LMP2), 96
6. Dyson/Smith (USA/GB), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 95
7. Werner/Luhr (D/D), Audi R10 (LMP1), 95
8. Herta/Fittipaldi (USA/BRA), Acura ARX-01B (LMP2), 94
9. Devlin/Bonilla (GB/USA), Lola B07/46 Mazda (LMP2), 93
10. Magnussen/O’Connell (DK/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, 88
LMP2 class result
1. Bernhard/Dumas (D/F), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 96 laps
2. Maassen/Long (D/USA), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 96
3. de Ferran/Pagenaud (BRA/F), Acura ARX-01B (LMP2), 96
4. Leitzinger/Franchitti (USA/GB), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 96
5. Fernandez/Diaz (MEX/MEX), Acura ARX-01B (LMP2), 96
6. Dyson/Smith (USA/GB), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2), 95
Further class winners
GT2: Bergmeister/Henzler (D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
Points’ standings
Drivers LMP2 class
1. Timo Bernhard,Porsche, 86
Romain Dumas, Porsche, 86
2. David Brabham, Acura, 58
Scott Sharp, Acura, 58
3. Butch Leitzinger, Porsche, 46
Marino Franchitti, Porsche, 46
4. Chris Dyson, Porsche, 43
Guy Smith, Porsche, 43
5. Sascha Maassen, Porsche, 39
Patrick Long, Porsche, 39
Manufacturer LMP2 class – Engine
1. Porsche, 86
2. Acura, 69
Manufacturer LMP2 class – Chassis
1. Porsche, 86
2. Acura, 69
Teams LMP2 class
1. Penske Racing, Porsche, 86
2. Highcroft Racing, Acura, 58
3. Dyson Racing, Porsche, 54
Drivers GT2 class
1. Jörg Bergmeister, Porsche, 68
Wolf Henzler, Porsche, 68
2. Dominik Farnbacher, Ferrari, 67
Dirk Müller, Ferrari, 67
3. Johannes van Overbeek, Porsche, 58
Patrick Pilet, Porsche, 58
Manufacturers GT2 class
1. Porsche, 82
2. Ferrari, 75
Teams GT2 class
1. Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche, 82
2. Tafel Racing, Ferrari, 73
The 5th round of the American Le Mans Series takes place on 12th July 2008 at Lime Rock in the US state of Connecticut.
- Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG Press Database
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