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RS Spyder, Penske Racing - T.Bernhard, R.Dumas (http://www.porsche.com) Photo : - |
In Salt Lake City, Porsche celebrated one of its greatest successes in the American Le Mans Series: With the 478 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.
Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche motorsport :
“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. I’m particularly thrilled about the double victory of our 911 GT3.”
A clever move
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.
Gripping finale
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