Racing Porsches...

Porsche at the 24 Hours of Daytona

 

Porsche factory drivers Richard Lietz, Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet won the highly-competitive GTLM class of the 24 Hours of Daytona race in Florida in their Porsche 911 RSR run by the Porsche North America factory squad. This was the 76^th class win and the 40^th for the Porsche 911, ensuring that Porsche remain the most successful manufacturer in the history of the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The 52^nd running of the Daytona 24 hour race marked the first time that Porsche ran a works team in US sports car racing - the newly-formed team ‘Porsche North America'. The debut race was a complete success with the number 911 works car successfully fending off all the challenges from their factory-run BMW, Viper and Chevrolet rivals. The number 912 of Patrick Long, Michael Christensen and Jörg Bergmeister had been running in second place until it was sidelined with an engine fault.

The 470 hp Porsche is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car and celebrated its race debut last season, scoring a brilliant double victory on its first outing at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The American works team is part of Porsche's 2014 motorsport campaign "Mission 2014. Our Return".

The new Porsche 911 GT America (purpose-built for the Tudor United SportsCar Championship) enjoyed a successful debut in the GTD class with Madison Snow, Jan Heylen and Germany's Marco Seefried finishing second in class a less than one second shy of the winner - after 24 hours of competition!

Le Mans 2013

An eventful and traumatic Le Mans 24 hours has drawn to a close and despite numerous safety car periods, ever changing weather conditions and the tragic accident that befell Allan Simonsen both Audi and Porsche are able to look back on a successful race.

Audi Sport Team Joest won the 2013 event outright with their Audi R18 e-tron quattro (car number 2) ably driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loïc Duval. Third overall was Audi number 3 driven by Marc Gené, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis. Last year's winners (car 1) Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Treluyer endured a difficult race finally claiming fifth overall.

Porsche won two classes in this year's race; 
Porsche AG Team Manthey and the number 92 car of Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Richard Leitz won the LM GTE Pro class in their Porsche 911 RSR with the team mates Jorg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard and Patrick Pilet bringing their Porsche AG Team Manthey 911 RSR home in second.

Meanwhile the number 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Christophe Bourret, Raymond Narac and Jean-Karl Vernay took the honours in the LM GTE Am class.

 Live coverage of the Nürburgring 24 hours:-

http://www.24h-rennen.de/live/

Speed hinders Paul Miller Racing at Long Beach

Co-drivers Bryce Miller and Sascha Maassen unofficially retained their top-five position in the 2012 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón GT point standings after two races, and the No. 48 Dunlop/Chopard/TOTAL Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was right on pace throughout the Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, giving the Paul Miller Racing team reason for optimism after two of 10 races.

Miller and Maassen co-drove the No. 48 Porsche to an eighth-place result in the GT class and all involved believed a fifth-place run might have been within reach. The die was cast for the team on its lone pit stop of the two-hour timed event when Miller turned the car over to Maassen near the halfway point of the race. Somewhere in the process, ALMS officials determined that the No. 48 was guilty of speeding on pit lane, which brought Maassen back on to pit road for a costly drive-through penalty.

Maassen rejoined the race in seventh position after the penalty. His lap times over the second half of the race were similar to many other top GT contenders but the loss of track position and the lack of any full-course cautions over the second half made any positions gains impossible. Then, with five minutes remaining, Maassen lost seventh spot to the Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister. Nevertheless, Miller and Maassen unofficially maintained fifth place in the point standings.

"The positive thing is that we found some speed in our car," Maassen said. "I think we were pretty good also compared to our Porsche colleagues and this is something we are also looking at, because we have to measure ourselves first compared to the Porsches and that was good. This time we had some bad race luck. We got a pit speed violation. I don't know how or when it happened. Also, I made a mistake at the end of the race. I missed a brake marker and that's when the 45 car came by us. It happens. Still, we did a good race. I think we can be happy and we see progress."

The starting grid for the race was established based on championship points due to a rainout of qualifying on Friday so Miller started the unseasonably chilly race from fifth place. He ran his entire stint in positions five through seven, and was sixth when he pitted to give way to Maassen.

"I'm really pleased with the team," said Bryce Miller. "They gave us a good car today that was consistent and held a really good pace. It was quite competitive. We're the only team in the field that has a new car and a new tire combination, so this is a challenge for us, and for the team to come out swinging and throw a setup on it like this with the conditions we've had the last couple days, I'm really pleased about it. Dunlop also gave us some good dry pressures on a tire combination that we hadn't run in the dry here as well on this car, so hats off to the crew and Dunlop for that."

"Otherwise, we had a couple mistakes today that cost us. I think we definitely would have had a sixth place today if not a fifth place. I think a fifth place was possible. We had a pit speed violation and we're not really sure how this happened yet, but we'll go to work and figure out how it happened, why it happened and fix it. I'm just really happy we were able to score points here this year, because last year it didn't end well for us, so it's nice to collect these points and carry it with us into the remainder of the season."

Team owner Paul Miller echoed his son's post-race sentiments saying "We were really encouraged by our pace today. Even though it was a frustrating result, we're very much in the game and able to run with the pack. We actually surprised ourselves with our pace relative to several other cars that we look to for an indication of our performance. From a pace point of view, we're very pleased. We just had one little mistake and it cost us dearly. We really think this was a fifth-place car today, which would have been very rewarding under the circumstances. The guys really did a great job with the car."

Next up for the No. 48 Dunlop/Chopard/TOTAL Porsche team is the American Le Mans Series Monterey presented by Patrón at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 12. That race will see the debut of a new, Porsche-specific Dunlop tire, which the team eagerly awaits.

"I'm really quite optimistic," Bryce said. "I think the team has really continued to deliver a reliable car to us that can finish races over a period of time now stretching back to last season. The reliability is really good here and that's important in an overall average when it comes to collecting points throughout a championship, so I'm really pleased with that. There's improvement ahead for us, because we're only going to learn the car more and figure out how to make it faster. Also, the tire is only going to get better as we continue to develop it.

"Laguna is an exciting event that I think we're all looking forward to because it'll be the first event that we see a purpose-built Porsche RSR Dunlop tire on our car. It's going to be progress for us going forward. To have these two results under the conditions that we're working with is really strong for our team. Hopefully it gets better and we can start to change our approach and get more aggressive and compete more towards the sharp end of the pack."

Brumos Racing at Barber Motorsports Park

Brumos Racing {link} always enjoys returning to Birmingham’s scenic Barber Motorsports Park, but the Porsche 250 offers added incentive. The first GRAND-AM Rolex Series event at Barber that was sponsored by Porsche was in 2004, but a Porsche has yet to claim the victory there. Brumos was hoping to reverse that trend, but well aware of the challenges they would face in doing so. Although they did not reach the top step of the podium this year, Brumos did put their #59 Porsche GT3 in Victory Lane with a hard-fought 3rd place finish.
In a weekend shared with the IndyCar Series, track time was limited and conditions were less than optimal. Warm temperatures, a rough track surface, and rubber buildup from the IndyCars all made for low grip. Struggles continued as the #59 ended qualifying in 8th place following a session cut short by a yellow flag. Starting driver Andrew Davis is very familiar with the challenges of Barber, given his role as a Porsche Sport Driving School instructor, and found the result particularly meaningful. “I am thrilled with our podium here at Barber,” he said. “Many of my family members are here, so it’s nice to be able to spray some champagne and have them here to enjoy the podium with me. I am so proud of Brumos Racing – the race was a tough one, but the strategy calls and the pit stops really made the difference. I’m not sure we had the car that was going to win this race, but we obviously have a winning team. I do have to give special thanks to our driving mentor, Hurley Haywood. When we qualified poorly, he told us what he wanted us to do and what he expected from us. I also have to thank Leh Keen for another superb job. To be able to drive a car that was handling the way it was and hold on to the podium, despite the fierce competition, was quite an accomplishment. I am really
proud of his effort and to have Leh as my teammate.” 

For Leh Keen, the weekend was all about never giving up. “I can’t say enough about the Brumos guys,” he said. “When we came off the truck, the car was actually pretty decent, we just didn’t realize it at the time, since we were slipping and sliding around due to low grip. We made a lot of changes and got closer to where we needed to be, but the guys never quit. They kept working hard and kept a good attitude. We all came to the track on race day with smiles on our faces and ready to do a good job, all the way through the last lap. Andrew did a great job in the opening stint and drove a smart race. We had good strategy and the crew delivered clean, fast pit stops that put us where we needed to be leaving the pits. In the end, it all paid off with a podium. Now, Brumos has two podiums in a row for the first two races of the season, so we are off to a great start for 2012.” 

The third place finish moves Brumos into a tie for 2nd place in the GT standings, just three points out of the lead. Action resumes on April 29th, as the Rolex Series heads south to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Round 3 of the 2012 season.

Audi at the 24-hour race, Nürburgring on May 19th and 20th

 

For the first time, Audi Sport Team Phoenix will be representing Audi’s colours at the 24-hour race in the Eifel as the only factory team. Ernst Moser’s squad based in Meuspath in the immediate vicinity of the Nürburgring is fielding two new Audi R8 LMS ultra cars. One of the vehicles will be driven by the Germans Marc Basseng, Christopher Haase, Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock. The second GT3 sports car will be shared by the Le Mans winner and Audi factory driver Marcel Fässler (CH), and the two Germans Christopher Mies and René Rast plus Frank Stippler, who has been nominated for both cars.

"2012 is marked by numerous conflicting events for Audi Sport," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "They include the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, which coincides with the DTM round at Brands Hatch in Great Britain. We were looking for the best way to simultaneously contest both events and believe that we’ve found it. Due to its successful history at this race and the fact that it’s at home at the Nürburgring Audi Sport Team Phoenix was a logical choice for us. In combination with the customer teams, Audi is again showing a strong presence at the Nürburgring 24 Hours this year."

Beyond the factory commitment, the Audi R8 LMS ultra is proving its attractiveness as a customer sport race car in fierce competition yet again. Four teams are placing their trust in a total of five of the race cars from Audi Sport customer racing: Mamerow Racing, Raeder Motorsport, Team WRT and Audi race experience.

As long-standing Nordschleife experts, Mamerow Racing and Raeder Motorsport are bringing valuable experience to the track. Peter Mamerow’s team has clinched numerous class and overall victories at the Nürburgring endurance race. The successes achieved by the team of Martin and Nicolas Raeder last year included class victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and a VLN overall victory with the Audi TT RS. This year, both teams are relying on the powerful GT3 sports car with the four rings for the first time. The car’s final performance rating by the regulations is still pending. 

Team WRT is a newcomer to the Nürburgring, but the team of Vincent Vosse has been intimately familiar with the Audi R8 LMS for two years. Last year, it won the Spa 24 Hours and the Blancpain Endurance Series with it. In the Belgian team, Oliver Jarvis (GB) is sharing the cockpit with Andrea Piccini (I), Edward Sandström (S) and Allan Simonsen (DK).

Audi race experience is competing at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the second time and fielding two R8 LMS ultra cars. For the first time, the team will be putting a separate line-up on the grid. One vehicle will be driven by the four international professional racers Warren Luff (AUS)/Alex Yoong (MAL)/Florian Gruber (D)/Luca Cappellari (I). In the second car, three customers of Audi race experience will be taking turns at the wheel with the three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner.

"With Audi Sport Team Phoenix as the spearheading squad and the four customer teams Audi should be very well set for the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring this year," says Romolo Liebchen, Head of Audi Sport customer racing. "I’m convinced that our customers, as well, will have perfect chances of being in contention for victory with the R8 LMS ultra. At Audi Customer Sport, we will do everything to provide optimum support to the customers."

The Audi teams planning to race at 24 hours are as follows:~
Audi Sport Team Phoenix {link}
Marc Basseng/Christopher Haase/Frank Stippler/Markus Winkelhock (all D)
Marcel Fässler (CH)/Christopher Mies (D)/René Rast (D)
 

Mamerow Racing {link}
Michael Ammermüller/Christer Jöns/Armin Hahne/Christian Mamerow (all D)
 

Raeder Motorsport {link}
Frank Biela/Christian Hohenadel/Luca Ludwig/Thomas Mutsch (all D)
 

W Racing Team {link}
Oliver Jarvis (GB)/Andrea Piccini (I)/Edward Sandström (S)/Allan Simonsen (DK)
 

Audi Race Experience / Team Joest {link}
Warren Luff (AUS)/Alex Yoong (MAL)/Florian Gruber (D)/Luca Cappellari (I)
Marco Werner/Christian Bollrath/Pierre Ehret/Peter Venn (all D) 

Brumos Racing ready for next challenge

Following months of intense preparation for the challenging Rolex 24 at Daytona,
GRAND-AM Rolex Series competitors appreciate a post-race break in the action to regroup and ready
themselves for the season ahead. Now, nearly two months since their podium finish at the 2012
Daytona classic, Brumos is eager to return to action in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.
The scenic Birmingham venue has long been a favorite of Brumos, but last season Barber marked a
critical milestone for the Brumos GT effort, as noted by Andrew Davis. "The Barber Motorsports Park
event was very special, as it was the first time our squad worked together as a single unit. Each
member of the team brought a wealth of experience, but it was not known at the time how quickly
everything would come together. We were on our way to a solid top five until a Daytona Prototype
made contact with us, but the strong showing was certainly a sign of things to come. Now we are
returning to the circuit as champions, having the confidence necessary to challenge for the race win."
Davis, who enjoys the track and its amenities often in his role as instructor for the Porsche Sport
Driving School, is especially looking forward to seeing many of his friends and family in attendance –
particularly his wife and young son, Layne, who attended his very first race at Barber last season.
Leh Keen has plenty of reasons of his own to anticipate returning to Barber, including scoring one of
his first podiums there in 2004 and taking a pole position in 2009. This year, Keen welcomes what he
calls the true start to the 2012 season at Barber, saying, “It’s time for us to hunker down now for the
typical Rolex Series sprint race format. Last year we had a great run at this track as a brand new team.
This year we are back as race winners and as champions, so we expect even better results. The
competition is going to be fierce – we have some new teams, and some familiar teams that have
stepped up their game with even better drivers, so everyone has turned it up a notch. Every team will
be digging to get more out of the car and their crew, but we have stepped up our game as well. I can’t
think of anything better than kicking off this part of the season driving the #59 Brumos Porsche GT3
in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park.”
Skip Schinsing looks back at Barber, his first race in the role of Brumos Team Manager, with pride.
“We went in to Barber as a new group working together for the first time. We came out knowing what
we were capable of after that first weekend, and we built on that all season,” he said. “Barber gave a
lot of confidence to the entire team. We carried that confidence on to the next race and soon we were
on our way to the championship. Barber was definitely a turning point for Brumos as a team. We’ve
continued that momentum with our podium at Daytona and have taken advantage of the break to get a
lot done. We got our spares together, made steady improvements to the car, tested a bit, and have
done all we can to prepare for the extremely busy season that lies ahead. Brumos is ready to race.”
Andrew Davis summed it up well on behalf of the entire Brumos team when he said, “The Porsche
250 draws a large crowd, and the Rolex Series always puts on a great show around the twists and turns
of Barber Motorsports Park. I can’t wait for the 2012 season to get back into full swing!”

60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring - Flying Lizard

Sebring proved to have it in for the Lizards again this year when the No. 45 was collected before the race even started by the No. 58 Luxury Racing Ferrari. Suffering substantial rear suspension damage in the incident, Joerg Bergmeister--who was starting eighth on the combined WEC/ALMS GT grid--was grounded on course for 30 minutes before officials could get the car back to the team's garage. Once back in the garage, the crew worked rapidly to replace the No. 45's complete left rear suspension, shock, and rear axle and repair bodywork. The Porsche was back on course just under the 1 hour mark but had lost 26 laps on the GT leader due to the lengthy repair.

Sister Lizard Porsche No. 44 fared better: Seth Neiman started near the back of the GT grid and after an uneventful stint, turned the wheel over to Darren Law in P12 (combined). Over the next several hours, the Lizard drivers cycled through their stints - with Andy Lally taking over from Law in the No. 44. In the No. 45, after Bergmeister returned to the race and completed his stint, he turned the wheel over to Patrick Long, then Marco Holzer.

By the six-hour mark, Darren Law was back in the No. 44 and had moved up to P10 (combined). The No. 45 was now P13 (combined) with Joerg Bergmeister again behind the wheel and now 25 laps down on the GT leader.

Shortly past the halfway point, Lizard engineers made the decision to bring the No. 45 behind the wall a second time under yellow to replace a defective gear potentiometer. Bergmeister went directly to the garage where the crew replaced the gear sensor. The No. 45 returned to the pits for driver change to Patrick Long , who was back out on track 40 minutes later, still in P13.

By hour nine, the No. 45 was still P13 (combined), and the No. 44 had moved up to P8 (combined). Bad luck struck again when Joerg radioed in that he had another problem in the left rear. The crew called him into the pits immediately, and diagnosed a broken left rear subframe. The No. 45 went behind the wall for the third time to replace the subframe. Meanwhile, a final pit stop for the No. 44 and driver change to Andy Lally moved the Porsche back to P9 (combined). On the last lap, Lally was able to overtake the P8 GT car for position, moving to P8 (combined). The No. 45 rejoined just a few minutes before the checkered, to finish P13 (combined). The ALMS GT-only finishing positions were P6 for the No. 44 and P10 for the No. 45 and points were allocated according to those results. The No. 56 BMW won in ALMS GT.

Bergmeister commented, "It was a very unfortunate to get hit before the green flag even dropped. But the guys did an incredible job in fixing the car and getting us back on track - not just once, but three times. It's possible that all of our problems stemmed from that initial accident; so other than that incident, we really had a problem-free race. I'm happy that we managed to get some points for the championship."

Lally added, "It was a wonderful first experience as a Lizard: I'm honored to be a part of the team and had a great time with a fun group. I enjoyed all of my stints - it was an exciting race. At the end of the race, when I was closing in on the No. 02 Ferrari with half a lap to go, we both got caught up in traffic and I was able to sneak by to gain a position and points. It was definitely the cherry on top of a very cool weekend."

Visit the team website at www.lizardms.com.

60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring - Paul Miller Racing

The scene in the Paul Miller Racing pit after a grueling 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring was pure jubilation as Bryce Miller, Sascha Maassen and Rob Bell co-drove the No. 48 Chopard/Dunlop/TOTAL Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to a seventh-place GT result. Two of the cars finishing ahead were FIA World Endurance Championship entries, so the driving trio actually earned fifth-place points from the longest event on the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón schedule. "Obviously, we've been on a learning curve, both with the car and the tires at the same time, so to be the first Porsche in ALMS is a huge accomplishment for us," said team owner Paul Miller. "I'm very excited for the guys. The car ran like a train all day and all night, so we're really pleased. It's just great and so far beyond what we could have expected. We were just hoping for a little more attrition in front of us, because there was no change in that order for the last five, six hours of the race. The last half of the race, it was the same six guys in front of us. Nobody dropped out. It was amazing. There were guys doing two-minute flats and 2:01s, it was just incredible, all the way through, and there was zero attrition. It was amazing."

It was Bryce Miller's best result in three Sebring starts, but it didn't come without a few tense moments as the laps wound down. Miller took over in the cockpit for Maassen to drive the final stint with slightly more than an hour remaining with the singular goal of preserving the team's seventh-place position. While he was never challenged for position, Miller ran the entire closing stint in fuel conservation mode and had one liter of fuel remaining in the fuel cell after the race. He also survived contact from a Rebellion prototype inside of the final five minutes. "We kept looking for opportunities and mistakes and other crews making mistakes in the pit stop rounds, and just stayed true to our strategy," said Bryce. "We had a couple hiccups along the way, but all in all, that's where it counted. We kept it pretty tight. It was tight enough and the race pace was good enough, and we kept it clean enough, that at the end we were there. That's what counted. The fuel call that the guys on our cart made was just absolutely exceptional. I got the fuel reserve light on the very last lap and it just couldn't have been called any better. It's just an awesome feeling. I'm really proud of the team and everyone here. We really deserve it. I'm just proud for the guys."

Maassen started the race from just outside the top 10, but moved up to ninth before 30 minutes were gone. He moved up to a race-high position of fourth briefly during the first wholesale pit stop cycle and drove a monster double stint to solidify the team's top-10 position. "It's a great result," said Maassen, a five-time Sebring class winner. "This is the toughest race of the whole year and we're just starting with so many new partners, with a new Porsche and a new Dunlop tire, all these new things that we have to put together. We finished the race and we finished the race strong. There were only two factory Corvettes and two factory BMWs from the ALMS in front of us, and we are the best-placed Porsche. I'm very, very happy."

The seventh-place performance matches Bell's best run in four Twelve Hours of Sebring appearances, as he also finished seventh in his Sebring debut in 2008. He brought an extensive background with Dunlop to the race week at Sebring and feels the team now has a clear direction on how to move its program forward. We learned we need to work hard and go forward and work with Dunlop as a partner," Bell said. "You come to the first race of the year, especially at Sebring, which is really difficult, and that's your judge. That's where you know where you are for the rest of the season. We now know we've got work to do. That's good for the guys. They can see it, it's in black and white, but there's determination here to move on. It'll be what it will be, but we all know motor racing is difficult. That's why we love it."

Next up for the Paul Miller Racing squad is the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on April 13-14.

Paul Miller Racing {link} have a brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for the 2012 Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series {link} driven by Bryce Miller and Sascha Maassen who will be joined by Rob Bell for the two endurance races on the ALMS schedule. As well as a brand new Porsche Paul Miller Racing are also using Dunlop tyres for the first time too.
The three drivers began to acquaint themselves with their new Porsche GT3 RSR for the first time during the two-day ALMS Winter Test at Sebring International Raceway. While there’s still plenty of work to be done between now and the season-opening 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring fuelled by Fresh From Florida on Saturday, March 17, the two days in Central Florida were certainly well spent.
"Obviously, Porsche has built an incredible car, as we learnt at this test," said team owner Paul Miller. "It's still early days and we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we were really encouraged by this first test. We were not striving to set the world on fire and were treating these last couple days as more of a shakedown, but we are really pleased, not only with the car, but the new Dunlop tyres as well."
"We had a very positive first test with our new Porsche and the Dunlop tyres that are new for us too," Maassen said. "Even though the test was meant to be a shakedown only, we managed to go quicker than we ever ran before and we hope to have a lot more potential as well." "I was happy to hear that Rob Bell will join us for the Twelve Hours of Sebring. He is not only quick, but he knows a lot about the Dunlop tyres. We are now continuing to prepare for a hopefully successful race in Sebring!"
The team will return to Sebring later in February for another test before the race week in March. The 2012 ALMS season begins with the 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring fuelled by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 17.

Flying Lizard at the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Flying Lizard Motorsports announced today its driver lineup for the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The team will field two new racecars in the GT class for the ALMS season: the No. 45 and No. 44 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, both Porsche factory drivers, will return for their fourth consecutive season driving together in the No. 45; this will be Bergmeister's fifth year with the team. Bergmeister is a five- time ALMS GT drivers' champion (2005-2006 and 2008-2010). The 2008, 2009 and 2010 championships were won with Flying Lizard in the No. 45. Long has won the title three times: 2005, and 2009-2010, each with Bergmeister. At Sebring, the pair will be joined by Porsche factory driver Marco Holzer. 2012 will be Holzer's second year with the team. After Sebring, Holzer will return to his regular seat in the sister No. 44 Porsche for the season.
For Sebring, in the No. 44, Seth Neiman will be joined by Darren Law and Andy Lally. Law has driven with the Lizards since 2004 and will return as a guest driver at in 2012. Sebring will be Lally's first race with the team. Lally heads to Sebring following a GT win last week at the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona (with Magnus Racing). 2012 is Lally's fourth GT win at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Among his notable achievements in endurance racing and stock car racing, Lally was named NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year for 2011. Click here for more information on Lally.

Brumos Racing secures Rolex 24 podium finish

With countless hours of hard work and preparation behind them, Brumos Racing was happy to get back on track at the 2012 season-opener Rolex 24 at Daytona. With momentum of the 2011 Championship behind them, the drivers and crew were confident of their ability to deliver a strong performance and hopeful of delivering a Rolex 24 win as well. The challenges were many, with one of the largest and most competitive fields in Rolex 24 history. Although the hoped-for win proved elusive, Brumos delivered a dominant performance, with the #59 leading the race for 281 laps before ending on the podium with a 3rd place finish.
Andrew Davis faced the daunting task of qualifying the Brumos Porsche 911 GT3 in the 45-car GT field. The crew’s hard work put him at the front of the line as the session began, and he delivered, capturing pole position for the #59. Davis described the race as a grueling event, adding, “This is the first of my eleven Rolex 24 starts where I can say we had a flawless run. There was no time spent in the garage, behind the pit wall, in a tire wall, or in the penalty box. At the end, we struggled with a power steering issue and a misfire so unfortunately we weren’t able to challenge for the win after leading so much of the race. I am so proud of the Brumos crew and appreciate all of the support we receive from the entire Brumos organization.”
Leh Keen also gave high marks to his crew. “We had a stellar performance and raced for the win the entire 24 hours,” he said. “Our podium finish gives us a great start to defend our championship for 2012, and such a strong run throughout the race also helped us in the Endurance Championship. This was personally my best finish at a Rolex 24 and I am very proud of that. It was really special to share the podium with Hurley Haywood on his final Rolex 24 race. All in all, any time you leave a race soaked in champagne, you have had a good day. I can’t wait for the rest of this season and the chance to show everyone what Brumos can do.”
It was fitting that Hurley Haywood ended his 40th Rolex 24 back on the podium, but he was already focused on season ahead. “This was such a hard race,” he said. “We were lucky to have a good car underneath us, and our guys did a great job of driving it. All in all, we ran a trouble-free race until the end. Marc was doing a Herculean job of driving, never knowing from corner to corner if he was going to have power steering or not. But our performance at this race has painted the picture – it has shown our competitors that we are going to be the team to beat in 2012.”
Marc Lieb’s performance in the closing stint was applauded by his teammates, as his efforts kept the #59 on the podium despite the challenges. Lieb joined his co-drivers with praise for the crew, saying, “It was an amazing effort, the car was fantastic and the crew did an awesome job with the pit stops. Leh and Andrew were perfect and then we had Hurley doing his 40th race, getting in the car when he didn’t drive much in practice, but doing an awesome job. I can see it’s going to be really difficult this year in the Rolex Series GT class with this level of competition, but Leh and Andrew have the ability and they can do it. I’m sure it’s going to be a great 2012 for Brumos.”
For Dan Davis, the podium represented a new milestone for the Brumos GT effort. Davis said, “Brumos accomplished something this week that we have strived for a long time, and that is to finish on the podium at the 24 hours. We were fortunate enough to do that in our DP car and now we are on the podium again for the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24. We were also on the GT pole, which I think is a tremendous salute to our team and our drivers. Our strategy didn’t work out quite as we had planned, but a 3rd place finish in this race is something to be really proud of. I thank all our folks for their hard work and dedication to what we’re trying to do - that is, to win races. I thank everyone
at all of our Brumos dealerships, too, for all that they do to enable us to continue to go racing.”
The Rolex 24 at Daytona finish puts Brumos in 3rd place in team points standings, and in 2nd place in the North American Endurance Championship, just one point shy of the lead. 

Following the post-Rolex 24 break, Brumos {link} is back in action on March 31st in the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

FIA GT3, Adria.

Adria was not as kind to the new Audi R8 LMS as Silverstone had been and the Ingolstadt racer didn’t feature in either of the 2 races, a highest finish of 9th overall being somewhat disappointing.
Porsche’s fortunes had gone the other way since Silverstone with the 911 GT3 Cup S showing ever greater pace. The number 12 car Prospeed car of Niki Lanik and Geoffroy Horion claimed a hard fought 4th overall in the first race of the weekend with the Trackspeed GT3 Cup S of Tim Sugden and David Ashburn claiming 4th in race 2. Lanik and Horion kept up their strong performance and finished 6th in race 2.
Alpina also saw an improved performance from their B6 GT3 with Claudia Hürtgen and Csaba Walter claiming an impressive 5th overall in race 1. Their race 2 result was not quite what the team would have wanted as they struggled home in 12th place.

ADAC Zurich 24 Hours, Nürburgring.

This year’s Nürburgring 24 hour race saw a historical achievement as the Manthey Porsche {link} team claimed its 4th successive victory.
After a race long battle with the Abt Audi R8 LMS the Timo Bernhard, Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann Porsche 911 GT3 RSR came home with a winning margin of 1 lap.
Behind the Christian Abt, Jean-Francois Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer, Lucas Luhr Audi R8 LMS of came another Manthey prepared car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S car of Emmanuel Collard, Wolf Henzler, Richard Lietz and Dirk Werner. Uwe Alzen, Sascha Bert, Lance David Arnold and Christopher Mies finished 4th in their Porsche 997 GT3 Cup with the Phoenix Racing Audi A8 LMS of Marc Basseng, Marcel Fässler, Mike Rockenfeller and Frank Stippler rounding out the top 5.
Volkswagen scored an impressive 17th overall with their natural gas powered Scirocco as well as a class win and 15th overall with their petrol powered version.

ALMS Miller Motorsports Park.

GT2 in the Utah Grand Prix, second round of the ALMS {link} was very much a Porsche benefit as the Jörg Bergmeister / Patrick Long Flying Lizard Motorsports {link} Porsche 911 GT3 RSR took a dominant 74 second victory from the Farnbacher Loles Racing {link} 911 GT3 RSR of Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler. Porsches also finished 5th (Johannes Stuck / Nicky Pastorelli – VICI Racing {link}) and 6th (Johannes van Overbeek / Seth Nieman – Flying Lizard Motorsports) in GT2.
BMW’s E92 M3s, run by Rahal Letterman Racing {link}, finished 8th and 9th in GT2 showing increased performance and better reliability.

Winners of the Challenge class in their Snow Motorsport run Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car were husband and wife team Martin and Melanie Snow.

FIA GT3

The FIA GT3 Championship {link} got underway at Silverstone with 2 races that saw impressive results for all 3 German manufacturers, especially the 2 who were debuting their cars.

Silverstone saw Team Rosberg {link} and Phoenix Racing {link} debut a pair of brand new Audi R8 LMS' each with impressive results. Team Rosberg's Nicolas Armindo and Cesar Campanico had the slightly better races claiming an impressive brace of 3rd positions (and claiming the R8 LMS' first podium finish in GT3) whilst Phoenix Racing's Christopher Haase and Chritsopher Mies claimed 2nd overall in race 2 after finishing an extremely disappointing 26th overall in race 1.

Mühlner Motorsport {link} Porsche's 997 GT3 Cup S narrowly missed out on podium positions with a 5th place finish in race 1 followed up by 6th in race 2, the Tim Bergmeister / Jaromir Jirik GT3 Cup S car did however manage to claim fastest overall race lap in race 2.

Alpina BMW {link} debuted their B6 GT3 car at Silverstone with impressive and encouraging results. Drivers Claudi Hürtgen and Walter Csaba drove the new car to 8th overall in the first race and then 7th overall in the second race. Michael Petit / Jose Manuel Balbiani and team mates Gilles Vannelet / Pierre-Brice Mena didn't have quite as much success in their Team MP Racing Alpina B6 GT3 as the Alpina cars with only Vannelet/Mena reaching the finish of either race (11th in race one.).