Porsche Motorsport Weekly Event Notes: Monday, July 1, 2019

This Week.

• Four Straight. Porsche Earns Fourth IMSA Win of Year at Watkins Glen. • Canada Day. Porsche Works and Customers Stream Across the Border for IMSA Weekend. • Porsche at the Peak. German Marque Adds Two To Pikes Peak Tally of Wins. • Competitive Factor. The Porsche Powertrain for Formula E. • Oh Canada. Pfaff Porsche Sets Production Car Track Record at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Porsche Profile.

Event Story Lines.

Four Straight. Porsche Earns Fourth IMSA Win of Year at Watkins Glen.

The Porsche GT Team claimed its fourth straight GTLM class victory in the first five races of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Sharing the cockpit of the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR, Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) took their second win of the season in the hotly-contested Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Their factory driver colleagues Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) – who scored the two other team victories of in 2019 – finished in sixth-place in the identical No. 912 at Watkins Glen International in New York.

Porsche has extended its lead in the manufacturers’ point standings and the factory squad has moved to the top spot in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Challenge (IMEC) championship within a championship. The IMEC crowns the greatest endurance racers each IMSA season by virtue of success in the series’ longest races: the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Six Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. In the drivers’ classification, Pilet/Tandy now rank first ahead of Bamber/Vanthoor.

The success at the storied racetrack was thanks to perfect teamwork, well-executed strategies and flawless performances from the works drivers. After starting from the fourth grid row of the all-factory team GTLM field, the two Porsche 911 RSR race cars systematically worked their way up the ranks during the first half of the race. A pit stop near the race’s midpoint was the moment that separated the team and set the No. 911 on the course to its second win of the season. The pit crew completed their work 2.6-seconds faster than their nearest competition and took the lead. In the last 30-minutes of the race, Bamber initially held the top spot in the No. 912 ahead of Tandy, but due to pit stop sequencing, the New Zealander had to make a late fuel stop to make the final run to the flag. The stop would drop the winners of two events this season to sixth-place.

In the overall classification, Porsche has further extended its lead in the Manufacturers’ classification by 18 points. In the Team and Drivers’ championships, the crews of the number 911 and 912 cars occupy the first two places. In the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, the Porsche GT Team is now the sole leader.

In the GTD class, Porsche development driver Lars Kern (Germany) as well as the two Canadians Scott Hargrove and Zacharie Robichon launched an impressive charge through the field in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. However, a puncture and a drive-through penalty threw the team back to last place. They would fight back to be the highest finishing Porsche customer team in sixth-place. Works driver Dirk Werner (Germany) and his teammates Marc Miller (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and Marco Seefried (Germany) brought home a tenth-place in the identical model fielded by Black Swan Racing. The Porsche 911 GT3 R campaigned by Park Place Motorsports, with works driver Patrick Long (Manhattan Beach, California) shared driving duties with FIA World Endurance Championship LMGTE-Am Champion Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, California) and Nicholas Boulle (Dallas, Texas), retired early.

The Porsche factory and customer teams will have little rest before round six of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Back-to-back races on the schedule take four cars – two each in the GTLM and GTD classes – to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada for a two-hour, 40-minute race on Sunday, July 7.

Pascal Zurlinden, Director GT Factory Motorsport.

“We’ve won four out of the five races so far this season. We’re leading all classifications and we’re now alone at the top of the Endurance Cup. It’s been a wonderful season so far. I feel for the No. 912 car. The yellow flag simply came out at the wrong time. In the drivers’ championship, both crews occupy the first two positions, so we now have two irons in the fire. The racetracks at the upcoming events over the next few weeks should suit our 911 RSR.”

Steffen Höllwarth, Program Manager IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“First and foremost, I’d like to thank the whole team. The work over the last weeks at the IMSA series races, the successful Le Mans outing and today’s long-distance race at Watkins Glen have been really tough. Victory is the just rewards for the entire crew. Our drivers didn’t have the fastest car in the field, but through consistent and completely flawless drives, we’ve now come out on top. That was a real textbook example of teamwork.”

Patrick Pilet, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“The fact that we won this race is simply incredible. Our car wasn’t running perfectly on Friday, and we experienced some problems in the warm-up before the race. Even on the grid our engineers did everything they could to fix the car for the race. They did a sensational job. Precisely this work, even during the pit stops and in making the right strategic decisions, was the key to victory. Plus, we drivers didn’t make any mistakes.”

Nick Tandy, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“We certainly didn’t have the fastest car today, but perfect teamwork secured the victory for us. The pit stops were perfect, the strategies were simply good, and with absolutely consistent and immaculate driving, the drivers brought our Porsche 911 RSR to the finish line. Not everything went smoothly at the beginning of the race weekend, but when it came to the crunch we were 100 percent there. This is a fantastic and very valuable win for me.”

Earl Bamber, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“We simply hit a bit of bad luck with the yellow flag today. Okay, the car wasn’t the fastest in our class, but we made up for that with consistency and good teamwork. All in all, it was a successful day for Porsche. I’m looking forward to the upcoming races. It’s one great racetrack after the other for us drivers now.”

Laurens Vanthoor, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“For me personally, I’m disappointed, but for the Porsche GT Team I’m thrilled. We [the No. 912 team] could have won this race, but in this case we lacked that necessary bit of luck. We’re still well on course in the championship – that’s the most important thing. Now we’re off to Mosport.”

Canada Day. Porsche Works and Customers Stream Across the Border for IMSA Weekend.

After four straight wins, the Porsche GT Team travels to Round Six of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada as the leader of the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ Championships. At the only Canadian event of the year, the North American works team will field two Porsche 911 RSR in the GTLM class on the 2.459-mile Canadian Tire Motorsport Park circuit. In the Pro-Am style GTD class, the customer teams Pfaff Motorsports and Park Place Motorsports will each field a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the July 7 Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at the track historically known as “Mosport”. It is the home event for Pfaff which is owned by Pfaff Porsche, the largest Porsche dealership in Canada.

In the driver’s seat of the factory cars, the winners of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Six Hours of The Glen races, Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain), will share the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR. The pair currently ranks first in the Drivers’ Championship. Their works driver colleagues in the No. 912 sister car, Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), are just one point behind the leaders after their victories at Long Beach and Mid-Ohio. Pilet and Tandy won the race in a Porsche 911 RSR in 2015.

In the GTD class, two 500+hp Porsche 911 GT3 Rs will compete. The customer team Pfaff Motorsports (No. 9) tackles its home round with the Canadian drivers Scott Hargrove and Zacharie Robichon. The two racers have split the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama championship three of the last four years with Porsche Selected Driver Hargrove taking the title in 2015 and 2017 while Robichon won the series – which exclusively uses the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car – in 2018.

Porsche works driver Patrick Long (Manhattan Beach, California) will share the cockpit of the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with 2018/2019 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGTE-Am class champion Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, California) in Bowmanville. Long is a two-time winner of the race with Porsche having taken the top step of the podium in 2005 and 2010.

The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) opened in 1961 near the metropolis of Toronto. The flowing layout with many crests, dips and ten corners allows a high average speed and is one of the fastest tracks on the IMSA schedule. Porsche has a long tradition at this racetrack in the Sportscar Grand Prix, previously known as the Grand Prix of Mosport. The German marque won the first sports car race held at the track in 1961 with Canadian motorsports legend Ludwig Heimrath, Sr. behind the wheel of a Porsche 718 RS60. Racing icon and Porsche spokesperson Hurley Haywood (St. Augustine, Florida) won the first IMSA race held at the track in 1975 driving a Porsche 911 RSR with G.W. Dickinson. To honor that first race, and win, at the Canadian track, the Porsche GT Teams will run a final event in the red, white and blue Brumos Racing-inspired retro livery at CTMP. In four races already run under the familiar colors, the No. 911 works teams has won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Pilet, Tandy and Frédéric Makowiecki (France) driving and last weekend at Watkins Glen with Pilet and Tandy sharing the car. The colors also ran at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time finishing third in the LMGTE-Pro class with Pilet, Tandy and Bamber.

Pascal Zurlinden, Director GT Factory Motorsport.

“We’re riding on the crest of a wave with our successes in the IMSA series after four victories in a row. We’d like to continue this streak at Mosport to consolidate our position in the championship and ideally extend our lead further. Our Porsche 911 RSR should again be one of the hot favorites to win the GTLM class on the fast, tradition-steeped course in Canada.”

Steffen Höllwarth, Program Manager IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“Our busy weeks continue without a break. After the Le Mans race we had only a few days to prepare the two Porsche 911 RSR for Watkins Glen. We won there. For this reason, I’m certain that our experienced team will do another perfect job in the tight lead-up to the race at Mosport. We’re heading to Canada as the leaders and we want to be in the same position when we leave.”

Patrick Pilet, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“In the 2015 season, Nick and I won the race in Canada; last year we narrowly missed out on another victory. One thing is certain: Porsche always performs strongly on this very special racetrack. Most of the drivers love the circuit because it feels like a rollercoaster – incredible fast and demanding. Since overtaking is very difficult here, it’s particularly important to qualify well. We want to start from the front of the grid and stay at the front.”

Nick Tandy, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“This track is high on my list of personal favorites. We were really quick here last year and this time we are determined to win. Our Watkins Glen victory underlined that we’re back in IMSA mode after the strenuous Le Mans race. This bodes well for the race at Mosport.”

Earl Bamber, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“The Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a favorite amongst all drivers. Our Porsche 911 RSR will definitely be strong there. The upcoming weeks in the North American IMSA series will be intense with many races within a short timeframe. We’re well placed in the championship and we want to earn maximum points in Canada.”

Laurens Vanthoor, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR.

“After our somewhat disappointing result at Watkins Glen it’s good that the next race is scheduled just one week later. The track layout is fantastic. We’ll have a good chance of further success there with our Porsche 911 RSR.”

Patrick Long, Driver, No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“The only foray to neighboring Canada is always a great pleasure for us every year. The track, which still goes by the historic name of Mosport among the fans, is one of the quickest and most traditional in the whole world. The teams and drivers come under huge stress, you need a car with a lot of downforce and you have to have complete trust in it. We’ll try to qualify as far up the grid as possible, because there are very few places to overtake here.”

Zacharie Robichon, Driver, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“The race will be very special for us, as it’s the only home event of the year for Pfaff Motorsports. The racetrack is only about an hour’s drive from our team headquarters. We expect huge support from the fans. Scott and I are very familiar with our Canadian racetrack, so we should have a good chance in front of home crowds.”

Porsche at the Peak. German Marque Adds Two To Pikes Peak Tally of Wins.

Porsche added two class victories to its “lifetime total” at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday, June 30. The German sports car maker first appeared at “America’s Mountain” in 1958, won its class for the first time in 1961 and has since left its mark on the “Race to the Clouds” capturing 27 class victories and twice turning the quickest time for the overall win. At the 97th running of one of motorsports truly unique events this past weekend, Porsche was represented in four different divisions with 10 different cars on an ever-changing track that saw sun, rain, sleet and snow over the 12.42-mile race course. France’s Raphael Astier earned the Time Attack 1 Division title for Porsche while adventure sports legend Travis Pastrana added a second-consecutive win in the one-make Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama class.

Taking top honors in a specially modified Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car – outfitted with a turbocharger to maximize performance in the high elevations – Astier won Time Attack 1 and finished second-overall against 77 other competitors. The Pikes Peak veteran raced the conditions and the clock to a time of nine-minutes, 23.721 seconds up the 156-turn Pikes Peak race course in Colorado to take the class win. His Time Attack 1 division was the largest group on the entry list with 24 cars running in the category that allows extensive modifications to street-based machines.

Previous Pikes Peak class winner and record setter David Donohue, a 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and 24 Hours of Daytona overall winner, finished second in the Pikes Peak Open class, fourth overall, in a modified 911 GT3 R race car.

In the one-make Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama, 2018 class winner Pastrana, a three-time AMA Motocross and Supercross Champion, X-Game winner and stunt performer repeated his performance of a year ago. The Davidsonville, Maryland-resident won the class which uses the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport as its only eligible entry. With no modifications allowed to competitors, the Porsche Motorsport North America-monitored class had six entries – five 2016 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport race cars and a single 2019 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport balanced in performance. Pastrana took his second consecutive title with a time of 11-minutes, 24.287-seconds. He led Pikes Peak rookie Phil Bloom (Nantucket, Massachusetts) by over four-seconds and veteran sports car racer but novice on the Colorado mountain Marc Bunting (Monkton, Maryland) by nine-seconds.

Competitive Factor. The Porsche Powertrain for Formula E.

The development of the powertrain for the first Porsche Formula E car is entering the final phase. The German sports car manufacturer will enter the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in November. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) will perform the homologation this summer. Once homologated, no further changes may be made to the drive components for the sixth season of the open wheel all-electric car championship.

The development of the powertrain is central to the Porsche factory entry and is a decisive competitive factor. In an effort to help entrants control costs, a standard chassis and battery are part of the Formula E series’ strategy, whereas all drive components are the manufacturers’ individual concepts. This gives Porsche the opportunity to pursue its own path when in developing key technologies. These include the electric engine, inverter, brake-by-wire system, transmission, differential, driveshafts and the suspension components attached to the rear-axle, as well as the cooling system and control unit.

Malte Huneke, Technical Project Leader.

“Since building the Porsche Formula E car in January, we have made major progress in both development and testing. We can continue to optimize its components up until the homologation to ensure that we are perfectly prepared for our maiden Formula E season. The simulation work is particularly helpful in, say, optimizing energy management. However, the actual conditions only prevail at a racetrack. For example, it is not possible to simulate driving over curbs completely accurately in the simulator or on the test bench. Tire management and braking behavior are also best researched at the racetrack. We are right on schedule: with extensive test drives at the racetracks, continuous work in the simulator and tests on the test bench. We gain important data and insights for the development of the Porsche powertrain with the combination of all these available sources.”

Oh Canada. Pfaff Porsche Sets Production Car Track Record at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Pfaff Porsche, Canada’s largest Porsche dealership, and Porsche further added to their collective legacies at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) on Monday, July 1 when, in celebration of Canada Day and the upcoming Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix IMSA race, Pfaff Motorsport endurance racer and Porsche Development Driver Lars Kern (Germany) set a new production car lap record in a stock Porsche 911 GT2 RS. Kern lapped the legendary 2.459-mile circuit with a time of one-minute, 22.36-seconds. The 911 GT2 RS was fully street-compliant.

This is the fourth production car track record set by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS at famous race venues around the world including Kern’s lap of 6:47.25 around the 12.94-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife in September 2017. Other North American records set with the car include Road Atlanta where, last March, Rolex 24-Hour winner Randy Pobst lapped the 2.52-mile circuit in 1:24.88. 24 Hours of Le Mans and Daytona winner David Donohue bested the existing Road America production car time when he covered the 4-mile distance in 2:15.17.

All three of the North American tracks are on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar with the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at CTMP scheduled for Sunday, July 7, Road America set for August 4 and Road Atlanta, home of the season-closing Petit Le Mans, on October 12.

Social Media.

Porsche. @Porsche

Porsche GT Team (North America). @PorscheNARacing

Porsche Motorsport – GT Cars. @PorscheRaces

Porsche Racing. @PorscheTeam

Porsche Motorsport North America. @PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica (Instagram)

Porsche Formula E. @PorscheFormulaE (Twitter)

@porsche.formulae (Instagram) Porsche Newsroom. @PorscheNewsroom (Twitter)

@porschenewsroom (Instagram)

Model Hashtags.

Porsche 911 RSR. #911RSR

Porsche 911 GT3 R. #911GT3R

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. #911Cup

Event.

Mobil 1 Sports Car Grand Prix #CTMPLife

Series Hashtags and Handles.

GT3 Cup Challenge USA. #GT3USA

GT3 Cup Challenge Canada. #GT3Canada

Pirelli Trophy West USA. @PirelliTrophy (Twitter)

@PirelliTrophyWestUSA (Instagram) IMSA @IMSA

SRO America @SROAmerica

Blancpain GT World Challenge America. #GTWorldCh

SRO GT4 America #GT4America

FIA World Endurance Championship. @FIAWEC

Intercontinental GT Challenge. @IntercontGTC