Porsche Motorsport Weekly Event Notes: Monday, February 22, 2021

This Week.
•Lining-Up. Porsche Carrera Cup North America Teams Start Announcing Plans. • On-Time Delivery. Porsche Carrera Cup North America Teams Receive New 911 GT3 Cup Car. • Double-Play. Rogers Scores First Two-Win Weekend of 2021 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Season. • Formula E Opener. TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Heads to Season-Opener Confident. • The Car. The Porsche 99X Electric. • Formula E Q & A. Porsche Motorsport Answers Questions Entering 2021. • Formula E Media. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Media Guide.

Lining-Up. Porsche Carrera Cup North America Teams Start Announcing Plans.
Two significant players in Porsche customer racing are among the first to announce their plans for the inaugural season of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America. One, Molitor Racing Systems (MRS), is a longtime entrant in international Porsche one-make racing but new to the North American market. The second, 311RS Motorsport, is a United States-based relative newcomer to the sport which already has multiple wins with the brand. The two teams join Team Hardpoint EBM – who announced the first Porsche Carrera Cup North America entry on October 16, 2020, just weeks following the formation of the series – to make a formal announcement of participation.

In a February 15 release, Molitor announced the purchase of two new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars to compete in the debut season of the top one-make racing category on the continent: Porsche Carrera Cup North America. The driver lineup for the program is yet to be finalized.

Founded in 1993 and with 18 years of competition experience in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and Carrera Cup, MRS GT-Racing is based in Lonsee-Luizhausen, Germany. Managed by founder and team principal Karsten Molitor, MRS GT-Racing has won multiple Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup races as well as the Porsche Carrera Cup since 2003. In addition to Porsche Carrera Cup North America, the team is also exploring participation in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America as well as other Porsche-related North American efforts.

A few days after the MRS declaration, the second team announcement of the week came from 311RS Motorsport. The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based operation will take the step from a single-car entry in the SRO GT America GT2 championship into a two-car Porsche Carrera Cup North America program led by 2009 GRAND-AM Rolex GT Sports Car Champion Leh Keen (Dublin, Georgia) and 2020 SRO GT America GT2 champ Ryan Gates (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Keen is a popular veteran of the sport making his return to the competitive cockpit of a Porsche in 2021 while Gates earned an impressive sweep of victories in the SRO GT2 category last year. Keen has become closely tied to the Porsche brand over the years. Working with Porsche Cars North America, he entered the Guinness Worlds Records by driving a Porsche Taycan Turbo S to the fastest top-speed (102.65 mph) ever recorded indoors. The Georgian has 13 IMSA series victories including GRAND-AM and GTC class championship driving Porsche privateer race cars.

Teams will have their first on-track taste of the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car on March 8 – 9 at Sebring International Raceway for an open test managed by Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA). The first season launches on March 18 – 19 at Sebring.

Ryan Gates, Driver, No. 11 311RS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“This is exciting, simple as that. The prospect of racing with a team built around a group of my best friends in the inaugural season of Porsche Carrera Cup North America is unreal. As a young team we enter the world of professional racing with humility. We will be up against some of the best in the world, a challenge that motivates us all. We are here to compete."

Leh Keen, Driver, No. 12 311 RS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“I am so happy Porsche has decided to bring Carrera Cup to the States. It's a great opportunity for my career to come back to professional racing with my friends at 311RS Motorsport and in the Porsche GT3 Cup platform. There are a lot of familiar pieces to this program for me so I expect to hit the ground running. 311RS Motorsport has a nice history with the 911 GT3 platform and it's awesome to see them step up to another level fresh off their success in SRO last year.”

Jeff Majkrzak, Team Principal, 311RS Motorsport.
“Definitely a bucket list year for me! I get to share the inaugural Porsche Carrera Cup North America grid with my 992 GT3 Cup teammates of Leh Keen and Ryan Gates. I will consider it a win if I don’t get lapped by these guys!”

Bruce Gates, Team Principal, 311RS Motorsport.
“We are honored to be racing in the inaugural Porsche Carrera Cup North America series.”

Karsten Molitor, Team Principal, Molitor Racing Systems.
“We´re working hard on everything. We decided to take the harder way as we want to install MRS here in the US and we are not doing any kind of collaboration. We need to take care of all the details by ourselves. That includes truck and trailer transport for the race cars, the workshop, finding local employees, building up the MRS administration and most importantly, finding the right drivers. It was an ambitious plan from the very beginning. To establish the original MRS team here in the U.S., we're ready to go the extra mile, ready to work a lot for it. We´re coming to stay and we´re coming to have the most possible success. I'm personally looking very much forward to our very first competition here, we are putting in the effort to make this debut as successful as possible. I hope we´ll see lots of good racing this year."

On-Time Delivery. Porsche Carrera Cup North America Teams Receive New 911 GT3 Cup Car.
North American customers have taken delivery of the first 23 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars. The nearly two-dozen machines are the first cars based on the latest generation of the iconic sports car produced by the German marque. Teams began taking delivery of the cars, all of which will compete in the inaugural season of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, on Friday, February 19. Deliveries were scheduled to be completed on Monday, February 22. Teams received the cars, once they had cleared United States Customs, at a facility near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.

The first round of teams to take delivery of the new 510-hp one-make machine include Porsche stalwarts Kelly-Moss Road & Race, Wright Motorsports, JDX Racing, BGB, Black Swan Racing, ACI Motorsports, Moorespeed, EBM-Team Hardpoint, Goldcrest Motorsports, MRS, Topp Racing, 311RS Motorsports and TPC Racing. Teams will have two full weeks to prepare the naturally aspirated, flat-six engined cars for a Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) organized “open test” at Sebring International Raceway, March 8 – 9. The first weekend of competition will accompany the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, March 17 – 19 at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn facility in central Florida.

Porsche Carrera Cup North America takes its place as the pinnacle of one-make cup championships on the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid in North America. The 2021 season is scheduled to host 16-rounds at eight venues. Each 45-minute race will count toward a season long driver and team championship in each of three classes: Pro, Pro-Am and Pro-Am 991. All drivers can contend for Pro class victories but must utilize the newest Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car to do so. The Pro-Am class is eligible for “Gentlemen” drivers – a driver who does not make a primary profession of automobile racing. With the production run of the seventh-generation 911 GT3 Cup racer limited and all available cars allocated on a first come-first serve basis, the Pro-Am 991 class will grandfather in the previous generation “Cup car” – the type 991.2 – for one season to help Porsche meet demand by teams to participate in the series.

All drivers age 23 and under enjoy the additional benefit of inclusion in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Junior program. As a Junior, drivers receive valuable training tools for those wishing to make a career of professional motorsport. A driver will be selected from the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Junior program to represent the region in the annual Porsche Junior Shootout in Germany at the end of the year.

Leh Keen, Driver, No. 12 311 RS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“The inaugural Porsche Carrera Cup North America calendar looks amazing with some of the best tracks in North America. It looks like Porsche has taken the new [type] 992 GT3 Cup to a new level. I can't wait to see the new car in the flesh and go wheel to wheel with 20+ of them soon!”

Double-Play. Rogers Scores First Two-Win Weekend of 2021 Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup Season.
First-place in the sprint and a lucky winner of the main race, Joshua Rogers (Australia) took a giant leap forward in the fight for the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup (PESC) at the simulated Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. After five of ten rounds this season, the Australian has pulled away considerably from his pursuers. Title defender Sebastian Job (United Kingdom) experienced a February 20 race day to forget in the in the virtual race series. Mitchell deJong (Temecula, California), held onto second-place in the season-long drivers’ standings, lost the chance to win the main race just a few yards from the finish line. Second-place went to Norway’s Tommy Östgaard ahead of Kevin Ellis Jr. (Great Britain). The PESC with the digital version of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – 991.2 generation – race car is run on the iRacing simulation platform.

Scoring the first double victory of the current PESC season with wins in both the spring and main event, Roberts further expanded his lead in the points’ standings. After five of ten rounds, he has pulled clear of his pursuers now holding 348 points. DeJong was able to defend second-place with 259 points.

This coming Saturday, February 27, the Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup takes off into the second half of the season visiting Canada’s Montreal. The Formula 1 city circuit is located on the Île Notre-Dame and partly uses roads which are open to the public traffic. The tight right-left chicane leading into the main straight is regarded as one of the most famous passages of the 2.71-mile (4.361-km) Grand Prix circuit. Even famous race drivers had to bury their dreams of victory after hitting the wall at the outside of this corner, which has consequently been dubbed the “Wall of Champions”. The sim racers tackle a ten-lap sprint on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the main race goes over double this distance.

Joshua Rogers, Driver, Virtual Racing School.
“We expected it would get difficult on the last lap. We were all very quick, especially in qualifying. Slipstream plays a huge role in such entertaining races. That’s why it was important to be in the right place at the right time. At first, I wanted to take the lead on the penultimate lap, then I tried to position myself optimally for the final lap. In the penultimate corner things got pretty tight between me and Kevin Ellis, but I managed to squeeze next to him.”

Formula E Opener. TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Heads to Season-Opener Confident.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship enjoys a novel start to the new season. In Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, two night races will be contested on February 26 – 27 for the first time in the history of the innovative electric racing series. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team travels to the season-opening doubleheader event with fond memories. In November 2019, the squad celebrated a successful Formula E debut on the street circuit not far from Riyadh, with André Lotterer (Germany) scoring a second-place finish with the Porsche 99X Electric race car. His new teammate, Pascal Wehrlein (Germany), contests his maiden race as a Porsche factory driver in Diriyah this weekend as well. The Formula E season was originally scheduled to start in Santiago de Chile in January, however it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and relocated to Saudi Arabia.

Porsche tackles its second season in the series with a very clear commitment to Formula E. The sports car manufacturer uses the fully electric single-seater sport for systematic development work and to expand its expertise in the field of battery-electric drives. After the successful debut season of the Porsche 99X Electric racer, the engineers in Weissach, Germany – motorsport headquarters for the German marque – have made extensive improvements to the powertrain. The team has also been restructured. Martin Füchtner takes over the role of Technical Project Leader Formula E. Malte Huneke, who held this position since the launch of the Porsche Formula E program, is now responsible for the overall vehicle development of all Porsche Motorsport racing vehicles.

The Diriyah E-Prix is contested on a 1.55-mile (2.494-kilometer) street circuit featuring 21 corners, which runs past old fortifications and traditional houses made of clay.

With 16 partners, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team again heads into its second season with an extraordinary partner portfolio. Eight are represented on the Porsche 99X Electric as on-car partners. TAG Heuer is at the forefront as the title and timing partner. Porsche and the Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches can look back on many successful collaborations in motor racing. The simulation software specialist ANSYS is the technology partner. Vodafone joins the team as the official communications partner. In addition to its role as title sponsor of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the Swiss energy and automation technology group ABB appears on the Porsche racing vehicles. With its Mobil brand, ExxonMobil was closely involved in the development of the Porsche 99X Electric as a technology partner. The fashion company Hugo Boss is the global clothing partner of Porsche Motorsport and the team’s outfitter. As a technical partner for fireproof racing overalls as well as shoes and luggage, the squad is equipped by the sports lifestyle company Puma. The tire manufacturer Michelin, a long-standing partner of Porsche Motorsport, is also involved in Formula E. Other partners of the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team are TRILUX (lights), C. & A. VELTINS (brewery), Humbel Gear Technology (gear technology), Kärcher (cleaning technology), Hazet (tool supplier), Red Bull (energy drinks), Stilo (helmets) and SACRED Coffee (coffee and tea).

With twelve teams and 24 drivers, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship boasts another strong line-up in its seventh season. Ten automobile manufacturers are represented – more than in any other international motor racing series.

Formula E is the world’s first fully-electric road racing series bringing thrilling motorsport to people living in major cities. As an accelerator for innovative and sustainable technologies of mobility, it promotes the worldwide acceptance of electric vehicles with the aim to counteract climate change. The format is compact: practice, qualifying and race all take place on one day. Each race is contested over 45-minutes plus one lap. Formula E, which features a team and driver world championship for the first time this year, has attracted more automobile manufacturers than any other racing series. This makes for interesting and hotly contested races. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team tackles its second season running the Porsche 99X Electric in 2021.

André Lotterer, Driver, No. 36 TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric.
“It’s a real driver’s track, very demanding. In the first 14 corners you go only left, right, uphill, downhill, fast, slow. As a driver, you don’t have the time to check your energy use. Only after turn 14 can you look at the steering wheel. The difficulty is to set up your car so that it runs well in different situations. It’s also tricky to find a good rhythm. And the wind blows sand from the desert onto the track, which can make it very slippery.”

The Car. The Porsche 99X Electric.
Campaigning the Porsche 99X Electric race car, Porsche returned to open-wheel single-seater racing after more than 30 years and celebrated a successful debut scoring a second-place finish at the season-opener in Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah. The fully-electric racing car sporting the Weissach-developed Porsche E Performance Powertrain also serves as a development platform for the sports car manufacturer’s fully-electric production models. Hence, the 800-Volt technology which Porsche utilizes in Formula E is also found in the Taycan as the first fully-electric production sports car from Porsche.

Energy management and efficiency are important factors of success in Formula E and in the development of production cars. The 99X Electric has a maximum output of 250 kW (340 hp) in qualification mode and 200 kW (270 hp) in normal race mode. Attack Mode boosts the output to 235 kW (320 hp), with Fanboost increasing the performance to 250 kW (340 hp). Maximum recuperation is 250 kW; the usable battery capacity is 52 Kilowatt hours.

Formula E Q & A. Porsche Motorsport Answers Questions Entering 2021.
Amiel Lindesay, Head of Operations Formula E.
Q. Waiting for the season to get underway was a real test of patience. Are you and your team excited to start in Diriyah?
A. “We can hardly wait to finally get racing again after the long break. The start of a new season is always exciting, especially for us. This time, we’re much better prepared and we’re also starting with higher expectations compared to last season. Because of the pandemic, the season was very short. For us as a rookie team, that proved to be a major handicap because we didn’t get the critical track experience due to the cancelled races. Now we’re all hoping for a full and, for us, successful 2021 season.”

Q. How difficult has it been to maintain motivation within the team over the last months – and how important is a successful start to the season?
A. “That was quite a challenge. We’re a racing team and we want to race. The lockdown had a profound impact – despite all the virtual opportunities that we could utilize for the further development of the Porsche 99X Electric. Then came the cancellation of the season-opening round in Chile. However, we’re used to reacting quickly to new developments. Flexibility is part of our everyday life. We’ve always had the team spirit and solidarity, so we’re heading into the 2021 year feeling highly motivated. Obviously, a successful start to the season would help. However, it’s much more important to start with a perfectly prepared car and to always give 100 percent. We’ve been working on this over the past few months. Everything else will then fall into place.”

Q. What is different now compared to when you started Formula E a year ago, and what are your goals for the second season?
A. “Our rookie season was a rollercoaster. We simply lacked the consistency you need to be among the frontrunners at the end. But that’s pretty normal in the first year. Now we have to take the next step. Taking the experiences from our debut season, we can now focus on our track performance and on making our car faster. If we can achieve this, we’ll also achieve our goals: We want to win races and be world champions.”

André Lotterer, Driver, No. 36 TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric.
Q. You started your first Formula E season with Porsche with second-place finish in Diriyah. What’s the big challenge for you this time?
A. “Formula E is a really difficult championship. To be successful, everything has to come together. You have to qualify as far up the field as possible, get through the race without any problems and have a good strategy when it comes to energy management. And you also need a well-balanced car. The big challenge for us will be to be well prepared for every eventuality so that we can respond quickly if something doesn’t go according to plan. That’s the key to success. We grew together as a team with these challenges and we’ve taken major development steps compared to last season. But now we have to implement them, especially in critical situations.”

Q. Has this also changed the goals for the season?
A. “Of all the teams, we’re facing the steepest learning curve. Expect a good performance. We learned a lot during our debut season. During our test drives, as well, we saw that our engineers did a great job in developing the Porsche 99X Electric. So, yes, this has changed our objectives. In our first season, our goal was to finish on the podium, and we achieved that. Now we want to win. Obviously, this increases the pressure, but I’m sure we can handle it.”

Q. You suddenly had a lot of free time after the cancellation of the season-opener in Santiago de Chile. How did you use it?
A. “That was an unexpected change of plan, but I quickly adapted to the new situation. I improved my sports program and added other disciplines: for instance, I took up kick boxing. And I also spent time in the simulator.”

Pascal Wehrlein, Driver, No. 99 TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric.
Q. For you, the break from racing was particularly long. Are you looking forward to the start of the season?
A. “I can’t wait. The break was extremely long for me. My last race was almost a year ago in Marrakesh. Of course, we tested in between and made good progress, but that doesn’t replace racing. Everyone in the team is eager to use what we learned from the tests in the race. I’m hoping for a successful start to the season in Diriyah and for the rest of the season to go as planned.”

Q. You contest your first race for Porsche in Diriyah. Is that something special for you, and what’s possible this season?
A. “It’s definitely something special. After all, Porsche is one of the most successful automobile manufacturers in motorsport. For me, it’s a great honor and a great motivation to be part of the Porsche Motorsport family. I’m pretty familiar with Formula E and I know what’s important in this racing series. We tested extensively to prepare for the new season and we’re well equipped for the challenges that lie ahead. We have everything it takes to win races – and that’s precisely our goal.”

Q. Are night races particularly challenging?
A. “I really enjoy driving at night. The atmosphere is very special. Everything seems a lot faster. The track will be brightly lit. Still, as a driver, you have to really concentrate because you have a smaller field of vision and it’s harder to spot the reference points. At least we won’t be blinded by the sun.”

Formula E Media. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Media Guide.
As a supplement and expansion of its classic media guide, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team now presents interesting content on Porsche’s involvement in Formula E that offers excellent added value to the media. Initially, the focus is on the Porsche 99X Electric, with which Porsche tackles its second Formula E season in Diriyah. In a 3D animation, users can click on various details of the fully-electric racing car, such as the powertrain, brakes or steering wheel. Martin Füchtner, Technical Project Leader Formula E, shares information in explanatory videos.

The content will be regularly updated over the course of the season and expanded with additional interactive material.

The media guide can be accessed via https://media.porsche.com/formula-e.

*Image courtesy of Porsche Cars North America, Bob Chapman.

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