Porsche 2005 Annual Report Download - page 104

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On the same weekend, the Danish “Seikel Motorsport Team”
appeared to be heading toward a clear victory in the GT2
class until just before the end of the 24-hour race in Le Mans.
However, a broken gearlever put paid to a dream of victory
for the Germans Dominik Farnbacher and Pierre Ehret and the
Dane Lars-Erik Nielsen. Nevertheless, the trio was still able
to secure second place.
The 24-hour race on the famous track at Spa in the Belgian
Ardennes was the finale in the quintet of long-distance classics.
The slightly modified near-series Gran Turismo racing vehicles
started here in four classes on the last weekend of July 2006.
The brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR had a double victory in
its category provided an idea of the performance to be expect-
ed in 2007.
Twelve Racing Series with Races in 18 Countries
The Porsche Cups provide a basis for Porsche’s motor sport
activities. No other manufacturer has a comparable customer
sports system that offers everything from a ready-to-use
911to a perfectly organized racing series. In 2006, twelve
Porsche Cups were held with races in 18 countries on four
continents – more than ever before.
The Porsche Cups are held at three competition levels with
varying conditions and correspondingly different levels of ex-
penditure, but are united by a single philosophy: all participants
begin in technically identical racing versions of the 911. Porsche
organizes the Cups at a professional level and positions them
in a high-prestige environment such as the Formula 1 World
Championship or the most important touring car race series
in the host countries.
The Porsche Cups are demanding challenges for professional
and up-and-coming racing drivers alike and provide an excel-
lent platform for sponsors. Since 1993, the top brand Cup, the
“Porsche Michelin Supercup”, has been the only Gran Turismo
racing series in the world to feature in the program of accom-
panying events for the Formula 1 World Championship. A race
was held in Bahrain in 2006 for the first time. Two races in Indi-
anapolis, USA and nine in parallel with the European Formula 1
races rounded off the 2006 calendar of events for this presti-
gious racing series.
While in 2005 the 400-hp 911 GT3 Cup based on the 911 Carrera
was only entered in the Porsche Michelin Supercup, in 2006
it also took part in the Porsche Carrera Cups in Germany, France,
Great Britain, Asia and Australia.
In 2005, Porsche launched a third cup level, the GT3 Cup
Challenge, to stand alongside the Carrera Cups. The concept
and the regulations are largely identical to those of the Car-
rera Cups, in which professional drivers are not allowed to
take part. In all countries other than the USA, the racing ve-
hicle is the GT3 Cup based on the 996. Because of massive
demand from US customers, in 2006 as many as 45 new
911 GT3 Cup models (basis: 997) were sent to America.
GT3 Cup Challenges were also held in the USA, Brazil, New
Zealand and Italy in 2006. From 2007, Italy will receive its
own Porsche Carrera Cup.
In the winter of 2006/07, following the resounding success of
the Porsche Cup, a further 210 cars bearing the 911GT3 Cup
emblem were built – another new record for Porsche in motor
sports.
New Motor Sport Center in Weissach
At the end of July 2006, the new motor sport center in Weissach
was completed after a construction period of just one year.
The company is thus responding to the tremendous increase in
the level of its sports commitment and is setting the course for
further expansion. At the heart of the center are a workshop
area, racing car production, the logistics center and the truck
terminal. An office building for administration and the develop-
ment department as well as a parking lot complete the new
motor sports complex which has a workforce of 210 people.
The new motor sports center offers a usable area of 10,550
square meters, twice the area of the former sports depart-
ment. The workshops include separate areas for maintaining
the cup and client racing cars, for the RS Spyder, the 911 GT3
RSR and development projects. In the manufacturing area,
specialists build small series of racing cars and prototypes.
Approximately 20,000 parts are stored in the logistics center.
This illustrates the close intermeshing of series-production and
motor sports. The new series models 911 GT3 and 911 GT3 RS
are supplied with replacement parts from Weissach.
Motor Sport