Rain, fog, red-flag, restart – the 41st running of the Nürburgring 24 hour race demanded a great deal from Porsche customer teams. Under extremely unsettled conditions, the best-placed Porsche – a 911 GT3 RSR fielded by Team Manthey Racing with drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France), Marc Lieb (Germany) and Lucas Luhr (Switzerland) - won the SP7 class and scored seventh overall. The 911 GT3 R of Manthey Racing with pilots Jörg Bergmeister (Germany), Marco Holzer (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) took the flag in eleventh place.

In front of 210,000 spectators, Germany’s greatest automobile race got underway on Sunday at 17.00 hours at first under dry conditions. Right from the outset, the Porsche customer teams were up with the play, matching the pace of the front-runners. In the late evening when the rain set in, the 911 GT3 RSR of Bernhard/Dumas/Lieb/Luhr and the 911 GT3 R of Bergmeister/Holzer/Lietz/Tandy were already running one behind the other in positions two and three. At 22.44 hours the race was halted for around nine and a half hours due to heavy rain and at times minimal visibility caused by fog. “The race director made totally the right decision, because the grip and visibility were more than borderline at this stage,” says Marc Lieb.

At 8:20 hrs with the rain easing, the race was restarted. “Unfortunately at this stage we had not a lot of luck with the tyre choice. The track dried up quicker than we had expected,” explains Timo Bernhard after his first stint. Ultimately, the successful quartet in the 911 GT3 RSR of Manthey Racing brought home seventh place and was also the best-placed car in the SP7 class. “With a little more luck we could have finished further up the field, but victory for us in such weather conditions was not possible this year,” says Romain Dumas.

Luck was also not on the side of the works driver quartet Bergmeister/Holzer/Lietz/Tandy. Three hours after the restart, the 911 GT3 R had to make an unscheduled pit stop for minor transmission repairs. “The mechanics did a sensationally quick job,” comments Nick Tandy. “But it put us more than two laps down. It’s a real shame because prior to the race being red-flagged we were fighting for a podium spot.”

“The 911 GT3 R of our customer teams have shown a very good performance overall. The vehicle of Manthey Racing unfortunately had a small problem with the gearbox and lost almost three laps because of this,” analyses Porsche Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “With the 911 GT3 RSR in the SP7 class, the set-up did not work particularly well in the changeable weather conditions.”

World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans 2014: The first two drivers to contest the top class of the sports car World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Le Mans 24 hour race are confirmed. Le Mans overall winners Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) will take the wheel of the new LMP1 vehicle from Weissach in the 2014 season. Already this year the two Porsche works drivers Bernhard and Dumas will commence testing the new Le Mans racer.

“Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas are regarded as some of the fastest and most experienced sports car pilots in the world. I’m very pleased that we have these two men contesting the World Endurance Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours for us from 2014”, says Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Executive Board – Research and Development at Porsche AG. “I particularly appreciate about the two is their competence as test drivers. For this reason the pair is already closely integrated in the development programme of our new car and will embark on an intensive test schedule from the middle of this year”, says Fritz Enzinger, director LMP1-project.

Timo Bernhard comes from Porsche’s own junior development programme. In 1999, Porsche recognised the talent of the then 18-year-old and coached him in the Porsche Junior Team to become a professional race driver. In 2002, Bernhard was signed on as a works driver and since then has notched up victories and championship titles all over the world. In 2010 he was voted “Race Driver of the Year” by Germany’s automobile club ADAC for his outstanding achievements. Bernhard is the only race driver to have clinched overall victory at all four of the most famous sports car classics. He won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2010, in 2003 the Daytona 24 Hours, the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2004, and a total of five times at the 24 hour race on the Nürburgring – another record.

Romain Dumas joined the circle of Porsche factory drivers in 2004. Previously he attracted attention in the Formula 3, Formula 3000, at international GT races as well as the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. He is one of the most experienced pilots at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. All together, Dumas has contested his favourite race at La Sarthe twelve times. With Timo Bernhard, he scored overall victory there in 2010 at the wheel of an Audi. Together, the pair also celebrated huge successes in the U.S. in the RS Spyder sports prototype. In 2007 and 2008, the two Porsche works drivers convincingly clinched the title in the American Le Mans Series. Bernhard shared the cockpit with Dumas at four of his five wins at the Nürburgring 24 hour race. Moreover, in 2010 Dumas celebrated overall victory in Spa at the wheel of a Porsche 911.

The new Porsche 911 RSR narrowly missed out on a podium spot at its first race outing. At the six hour race in Silverstone, the season-opener of the sports car World Endurance Championship (WEC), Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Romain Dumas (France) occupied fourth in the GTE-Pro class with the 470 hp race car from Weissach. At the wheel of the second 911 RSR, also fielded by the newly-formed Porsche AG Team Manthey, their works driver colleagues Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Patrick Pilet (France) and Timo Bernhard (Germany) took the flag in sixth.

On the storied British race track, the Porsche 911 RSR, based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, took up the race after a good qualifying result from the second row of the grid and could match the pace of its strongest opponents for some time. At times, Patrick Pilet was running third with the #91 car, before an unscheduled pit stop cost him more than two laps and pushed him down the field. Halfway through the race, Romain Dumas was also on track for a podium place in third with the #92 car. Later, his teammate Richard Lietz even moved into second place – but at the end of the day it was not enough for a top three placing.

Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Executive Board – Research and Development: “That was the first race for the new car and the new team. The organisation of the squad worked well. Of course, there are areas where we have room for improvement, but it’s like a football team, we first have to get everything running smoothly. Technically, everything worked on the 911 RSR apart from a one small thing which we will have fixed by the next race. As far as the performance is concerned, we still have room for improvement. Naturally we also have to work on the car, it has a little too much oversteer. But all in all I regard it as a positive weekend. It wouldn’t have been good if the car had experienced lots of problems, but that was not the case. We saw that the 911 RSR can turn consistently quick lap times over the race distance. Now if we do our homework, I think we’ll finish further up the field at the next races.”

Timo Bernhard (#91): “Heading towards Le Mans that was a very valuable race for us. Our performance wasn’t too bad. Without the front axle problem a podium place would have been within reach.”

Race result
GTE-Pro class
1. Turner/Mücke/Senna (GB/D/BRA), Aston Martin Vantage, 171 laps
2. Kobayashi/Vilander (J/SF), Ferrari F458 Italia, 170
3. Dalla Lana/Macowiecki/Lamy (CAN/F/P), Aston Martin Vantage, 170
4. Lieb/Lietz/Dumas (D/A/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 170
5. Bruni/Fisichella (I/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 170
6. Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard (D/F/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 168

At the six hour race on the Silverstone Circuit, which signals the start of the 2013 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season on 14th April, the Porsche 911 RSR celebrates its race debut. Running the campaign on the storied 5.981 kilometre circuit in the British Midlands is the Porsche AG Team Manthey works team with Olaf Manthey at the helm. Porsche works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Patrick Pilet (France) and Timo Bernhard (Germany) take up the GTE-Pro class in the 911 RSR with starting number 91. Sharing driving duties in the cockpit of the number 92 vehicle are their factory driver colleagues Marc Lieb (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Romain Dumas (France).

The Porsche 911 RSR delivers 460 hp and is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car. As the successor to the winning 911 GT3 RSR, with which Porsche customers scored many victories and title wins since 2004, it is characterised by consequent lightweight design and sophisticated aerodynamics. The look of the new 911 RSR is dominated by the flared mudguards and the deep cooling air intakes at the front. The exceptional vehicle styling honours the anniversary “50 years of the 911”. In the World Endurance Championship, sports prototypes and GT vehicles start in four different classes: LMGTE-Pro, LMGTE-Am, LMP1 and LMP2. They all compete together in one race but are classified separately.

The six hour race takes off on Sunday, 14 April, at midday local time (13.00 hrs CET). Eurosport 2 televises the start of the race live at 13.00 hours (30 minutes) and returns to a live broadcast at 15.00 hours (30 minutes). The final hour is aired live from 18.00 hours on Eurosport 1. The race can be viewed live on the internet under www.fiawec.com.

Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport: “The whole team is ready and raring to tackle the first race with the 911 RSR. Our squad has worked extremely hard over the last months to make our new car competitive right from the start.”

Timo Bernhard (# 91): “I felt great at the tests in the 911 RSR. We have a good chance to win our class with this car.”

Porsche has developed a new GT race car for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The new 911 RSR is characterised by consequent lightweight design and sophisticated aerodynamics. The exceptional vehicle styling honours a very special anniversary: From a bird’s eye perspective, the numbers 50 and 911 are visible. These stand for 50 years of the Porsche 911. The Porsche AG Team Manthey works squad exclusively fields two Porsche 911 RSR in the 2013 season.

The new 911 RSR, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, follows in the footsteps of its successful predecessor, the 911 GT3 RSR. As with the production vehicle, the wheelbase grew by about ten centimetres. A new wishbone front suspension replaces the previously used McPherson struts. Another new development from Porsche Motorsport is the particularly lightweight racing gearbox. The six gears are selected via paddles on the steering wheel. The 460 hp, 4.0-litre six-cylinder boxer engine was taken from the predecessor and optimised in detail.

One of the priorities in the development of the new 911 RSR was the more evenly balanced weight distribution. The centre of gravity is also significantly lower than that of its predecessor. Carbon fibre played a crucial role in the new design. The front and rear mudguards, front and rear lids, doors, underbody, wheel arches, rear wing, dashboard and centre console are constructed from the very light and strong material. Moreover, all windows are made of particularly thin and light polycarbonate. Also contributing to the weight reduction is the lithium-ion battery known from the GT road-legal models.

The look of the new 911 RSR is dominated by the flared mudguards and the deep cooling air intakes at the front. With the new air ducting, the radiator is now centrally-located in the front and even more effective than in the previous model. At the same time, the cockpit air conditioning became more efficient. The quick-change concept of the body parts was specially adapted for endurance racing, allowing for easier maintenance and shorter repair times. The front end, front lid and rear panel are fitted with quick release systems and can be replaced within seconds.

Competing in the Porsche 911 RSR with starting number 92 are Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria), who already shared a cockpit in the 2012 WEC. At the first two races of the season in Silverstone (14.4) and Spa (4.5) as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (22.6), they receive support from their works driver colleague Romain Dumas (France). Factory pilots also drive the #91 sister car, with Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Pilet (France) making up a team. In Silverstone, Spa and Le Mans, the duo is joined by Timo Bernhard (Germany).

Porsche AG fields two new 911 RSR based on the 991 model generation at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and in the World Endurance Championship. Entry for the newly developed vehicles sporting the starting numbers 91 and 92 was confirmed for the GTE class by the organisers ACO and FIA today in Paris. The factory squad “Porsche AG Team Manthey” will run both 911 RSR race cars.

Contesting the event in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR are Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria). The pair has already shared a cockpit in last year’s WEC. At the first two rounds of the season in Silverstone (14 April) and Spa (4 May) as well as at the Le Mans 24 hour race (22 June) they will receive reinforcement from their works driver colleague Romain Dumas (France). Works drivers also pilot the number 91 sister car: Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) teams up with Patrick Pilet (France). In Silverstone, Spa and Le Mans the duo are joined by Timo Bernhard (Germany).

“We are very much looking forward to returning to Le Mans with a works team from Porsche for the first time since 1998,” says Porsche Head of Motorsport, Hartmut Kristen. “The new 911 RSR performed well in earlier tests and is already proving extremely reliable on the track. Between them, our six pilots have scored eight class wins in Le Mans and have a great deal of experience with different 911 race cars.”

Four long-standing works drivers will compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the new Porsche 911 RSR. The winning duo Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) head into the second WEC season under the direction of the newly founded factory squad “Porsche AG Team Manthey”. Newcomers to the sports car world championship are Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Pilet (France). At the season highlight in France on 22/23 June, the two driver pairings receive support from two other top Le Man professionals: Frenchman Romain Dumas is the third driver in the cockpit of the Lieb/Lietz 911, with Timo Berhard (Germany) joining forces with Bergmeister and Pilet.

*** Merry Christmas and a happy new year with the best wishes for 2013 ! ***

Timo Bernhard + Dan Fries