Porsche: "...continue in the same vein"
Porsche enters the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship with optimism after a strong victory for Team Felbermayr-Proton in LM GTE Am at the 12 Hours of Sebring, coupled with second place for the team's second car in LM GTE Pro.
The German marque go to a circuit that was the scene of one of the fastest runs of the history of endurance racing, the 1971 1000 km of Spa 1971, was won by Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver in a Porsche 917 at 249 km/h average speed.
Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport: “The new World Endurance Championship began very well in Sebring for our Felbermayr-Proton team. The Spa-Francorchamps race track is closely tied to historic Porsche endurance racing successes. It’s a very demanding challenge that our works drivers Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz have already mastered extremely well with class victories in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the past years.”
Marc Lieb: “Aside from the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, the Spa circuit is my absolute favourite. The track is flowing and very challenging, not to mention the fantastic corners. It’s simply great fun to drive the 911 GT3 RSR there. We made a great start to the season in Sebring and now we want to continue in the same vein. I’m feeling very confident that we’ll manage it.”
Richard Lietz: “I really like the circuit and Marc is one of the Spa specialists, so for that reason alone I’m feeling very optimistic about this race. We know we can be fast with the new 911 GT3 RSR. Our second place in Sebring has put us in a good position for the rest of the season. The race in Spa runs over six hours, in Sebring we led for six hours – perhaps that’s a good omen.”
As at Sebring, Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz will drive the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche in LM GTE Pro (#77). Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti, winners in LM GTE Am in Florida, will be in the #88.
The start of the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps WEC will be on the 5th May at 14h30 local time.
Jean-Philippe Doret
(Source: Porsche press information)
Photo : SEBRING (FLORIDA USA), SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, SEBRING 12 HOURS, RACE, 17th MARCH 2012. Winners in LM GTE Am, Paolo Ruberti, Christian Ried and Gianluca Roda gave Porsche their 68th class victory at Sebring.