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» 14,90 € |
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» 410,- € |
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RS Spyder at debut on Florida street circuit
19.03.2007 |
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Stuttgart. After the twelve-hour classic in Sebring, which opened the new American Le Mans Series season, the second round of 2007 also takes place in the US state of Florida. On 31 March 2007, the new downtown race circuit of St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Mexico hosts the racing series with the world's fastest sportscars for the first time, together with the equally popular US-formula series, the Indy Racing League.
“A race through city streets is always a very special event. You have to drive with utmost precision and without making a single mistake,“ said Timo Bernhard (Germany) in anticipation of the premiere at Tampa Bay - the first of four such street races this season. “Mostly, the tracks are really narrow and they usually don't have proper runoff areas. You have to concentrate totally from start to finish. If you don't, you end up against the concrete barriers.“
On the 2.925 kilometre circuit with 14 corners, the Penske Motorsports team runs two RS Spyders with support from the Porsche factory. Sharing the cockpit of the vehicle with starting number 6 is reigning LM P2 champion Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Ryan Briscoe (Australia). Taking up the race in the #7 RS Spyder are again Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France). With back-up from Helio Castroneves (Brazil) at the season-opening event in Sebring, they managed to achieve a podium result claiming third in the LM P2 class despite being hampered by many problems.
The Porsche contingent will be strengthened in St. Petersburg through two new RS Spyders, run in the LM P2 category by the privateer Dyson Racing team with support from Porsche. For the squad under Rob Dyson, who has notched up many motorsport successes since the eighties, the St. Petersberg race marks only the second race with the sports prototype developed and built in Weissach. Driving the RS Spyder with starting number 16 are Andy Wallace (Great Britain) and Butch Liezinger (USA). Chris Dyson (USA) and Guy Smith (Great Britain) take the wheel of the number 20 vehicle.
“The new RS Spyder has already shown it competitiveness at Sebring with the best time in qualifying and the fastest race lap in its class,“ says Porsche's head of motorsport Hartmut Kristen in the lead-up to the eagerly awaited ALMS premiere in St. Petersburg. “Now we have to make sure we finish the race without any problems. Then, as our lap times showed in Sebring, we can match the pace of the front-runners.“
The fight for victory in the GT2 class for modified standard sportscars again promises pure suspense. At round one in Sebring, reigning champion Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) provided a breathtaking show in the final lap, crossing the finish line in position two just 0.202 seconds behind the winner. Bergmeister tackles the race with team mate Johannes van Overbeek (USA) in the new 911 GT3 RSR entered by Flying Lizard Motorsports. Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Robin Liddell (Great Britain), who secured third at Sebring in their Tafel Racing 911 GT3 RSR, also hold good cards for a class win.
The St. Petersburg race gets underway on Saturday, 31 March 2007, at 5pm local time (11pm CET) and runs over 2:45 hours.
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