Porsche 2003 Annual Report Download - page 101

97
All Major GT Championships Won
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) has been established
since 1999 in the USA and Canada as a race series for proto-
types and GT sports cars. Each year there are up to ten events
in the calendar, each of which is a “marathon sprint” lasting
nearly three hours. Porsche customers have won five of the
last six championships. Delivering race-ready 911s to our
customers and supporting their teams with Porsche works
drivers has been the recipe for continuing success.
Works drivers Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen won the drivers’
title in 2003 – as they did the previous year – in a 445 bhp
911 GT3 RS entered by the American Alex Job Racing Team,
which also successfully defended the team championship. In
2004, the German Porsche works driver Timo Bernhard con-
tinued this run of successes. This was the third team success
pulled off by the Alex Job Racing Team, for which he drives.
In Europe, too, Porsche customers led the field in near-series
competition cars (N-GT). Works drivers Stéphane Ortelli and
Marc Lieb gained the drivers’ title in the FIA GT Championship –
the continent’s most important event for Gran Turismo cars.
They alternated behind the wheel of the 911 GT3 RS entered
by the private Freisinger Motorsport Team in nine races.
As well as the international championships, Porsche customers
won nine important national championships, including the
Japanese GT Championship. Porsche drivers also won champion-
ship titles in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Sweden, and
the Benelux.
Victories in the Endurance Classics
The Porsche 911 GT3 was unbeatable in its class in the world’s
five major endurance races. Its success series began in
February 2004 with the 42nd 24-hour race at Daytona, Florida.
This marathon event is considered extremely tough. During
the long night the temperatures drop close to freezing point;
during the day, the heat is oppressive. The course with its
high banked corners makes extreme demands on the engi-
neers’ suspension tuning skills – and on the durability of the
technologies they use.
The American Orbit Racing Team, in a 911 GT3 RS driven by
Mike Fitzgerald, Joe and Jay Policastro, Robin Lidell, and
Johnny Mowlem, gained first place in the Gran Turismo class
and second place overall. In the Super Grand Sport class,
which permits fewer technical modifications to the vehicle, the
Doncaster Racing Team from Canada triumphed with its 911
GT3 Cup, after a 24-hour duel with the 911 from the American
TPC Racing Team. Canadians Jean-Francois Dumoulin and
Robert Julien alternated behind the wheel of the winning car
with Porsche works driver Marc Lieb.
These successes raised the number of overall and class victories
for the 911 at Daytona to thirty-two, making the 911 the most
successful car in the history of this endurance classic.
At the end of March 2004, Porsche works driver Sascha Maassen
made motor sport history at the 12-hour race at Sebring, also
in Florida. In the second most important endurance race in the
motor sport calendar, the German driver took the chequered
flag in the GT class for the fourth time in a row in a 911 GT3 RSR
entered by the Alex Job Racing Team. How the Porsche driver
achieved this success was just as remarkable. Originally, the
team had planned to run with three drivers – Sascha Massen,
Jörg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard, but the latter two both
fell ill. Only Bernhard recovered sufficiently to take part and
Maassen was therefore obliged to earn his record victory by
spending an inordinate number of hours behind the wheel.
At the 32nd 24-hour race on the North Loop of the Nürburg
Ring in June 2004, only Porsche owners were able to break
the stranglehold of the well-funded manufacturers’ works
teams. Three private 911s drove into the top ten of the
endurance race which had the world's largest starting field.
220 cars started, 160 crossed the finish line. Although un-
favorable weather conditions made the going tough, Timo
Bernhard, Arno Klasen and Lucas Luhr impressed the 220,000
spectators when they took the checkered flag in third place
in a 911 GT3 entered by the Manthey Team.
In the same month, Porsche owners continued the marque’s
run of successes at Le Mans. At the 72nd Le Mans 24-hour
race, the American Peterson Motorsport team’s privately