 |
 |
» 10,50 € |
  |
|
» 114,90 € |
| |
|
» 680,- € |
| |
|
» 84,90 € |
| |
|
» 39,90 € |
| |
|
|
|
LMP2 podium for RS Spyder at season-opener
17.03.2007 |
|
Stuttgart. With a hard-earned podium result at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Porsche started into the 2007 American Le Mans Series. On the bumpy airfield circuit in the heart of Florida, Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) and Helio Castroneves (Brazil) finally crossed the finish line third in the LM P2 class after suffering many set-backs with their # 7 RS Sypder.
In the early stages of the 55th running of America's oldest sportscar race, the Weissach-developed, factory-supported Porsche RS Sypder fielded by Penske Motorsports was amongst the front-runners. At one point, Timo Bernhard and later Romain Dumas even led the race for several laps. But then the RS Spyder, with which Timo Bernhard had set the best time in qualifying with a new lap record in the LM P2 class, had to pit several times with electrical problems. The number 6 RS Spyder manned by title defender Sascha Maassen (Germany), Ryan Briscoe (Australia) and Emmanuel Collard (France) lost 16 laps in the first hour of the race after a lengthy stop for repairs. Still, the trio earned championship points finishing eighth in the class, with Ryan Briscoe setting the fastest lap time in his class during the chase.
“With the best qualifying time and the fastest race lap in the LM P2 class the new RS Spyder has proven its competitiveness at its first race,“ said Porsche head of motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “Unfortunately, annoying electrical problems cost us our reward.“
After a promising start, the US private team, Dyson Racing, which fielded two RS Spyders for the first time, encountered problems. The sports prototype with starting number 16 driven by Andy Wallace (Great Britain), Butch Leitzinger (USA) and Andy Lally (USA), finished fifth in the LM P2 class. With the starting number 20, Chris Dyson (USA) and Guy Smith (Great Britain) crossed the finish line in sixth in their category after getting caught up in a collision and losing many positions due to pitting for necessary repairs.
In the most exciting duel of the entire race, title defender Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) finally had to surrender the fight for GT2 victory shortly before the chequered flag. After swapping positions many times, Bergmeister with team mates Johannes van Overbeek (USA) and Marc Lieb (Germany) finished the race second in the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR run by Flying Lizard Motorsports just 0.202 seconds behind the winner. Third place in the class went to Wolf Henzler (Germany), Patrick Long (USA) and Robin Liddell (Great Britain) in a Tafel Racing 911 GT3 RSR.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
