Porsche 2006 Annual Report Download - page 120

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into the top ten. This was followed by the 24-hour
race on the Nürburgring’s Northern Loop circuit in the
second week of June, when 210,000 spectators saw
the works-supported Manthey-Racing Team, with
works drivers Bernhard, Lieb, and Dumas and Man-
they driver Tiemann, repeat their victory of the pre-
vious year. The 911GT3 RSR had a one-lap, or almost
25-kilometer, lead on the second-placed car. In total,
five Porsche sports cars finished in the top ten. One
week later came another demonstration of the sta-
mina of the 911 GT3 RSR. The French IMSA Performance
Team, with works drivers Lietz and Long and regular
driver, the Frenchman Narac, notched up a victory at
the Le Mans 24-Hour. IMSA Performance took the GT2
title with a six-lap lead over the second-placed car.
Excellent Training Grounds
Porsche presents semi-professional and professional
customer teams with unique opportunities in the form
of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup and the Carrera Cups
Asia, Australia, France, Great Britain, Deutschland,
Japan, Italia and Scandinavia. These single-manufac-
turer championships are managed entirely by Porsche,
with the company providing the race-ready 911 GT3
Cup cars and even organizing the race weekends
themselves, right down to the TV arrangements.
All single-manufacturer championships belong to a pro-
gram of top motor sports events. The Mobil1 Supercup is
the only Gran Turismo race series to guest at the Formu-
la 1 World Championship, while Carrera Cups take place
at national championship events and at individual Formu-
la 1 races. Established as Porsche events at Grand Prix
or Touring Car races, the single-manufacturer champion-
ships are excellent platforms for teams and partners.
All drivers start in technically identical 400 hp 911
GT3 Cup cars. Even the tires and the fuel are identical
for all participants. The races are held over a sprint
distance of around 30 minutes. There is no room for
clever race strategies; it is all about sprinting from
the start to the finish. The Porsche single-manufacturer
championships are therefore excellent training grounds
for up-and-coming racing drivers. Five of the current
eight Porsche works drivers demonstrated their skills
with championship titles in the Mobil1 Supercup or in
the Carrera Cup before entering the world of top pro-
fessional motor sports.
The 911 GT3 Cup Challenges in the USA, Brazil and
New Zealand and Club events such as Porsche Sports
Cup Deutschland provide a gateway to the single-
manufacturer championships and a top-class com
petitive field for amateur drivers. Porsche expects
the single-manufacturer championships to continue
to grow at a rapid pace. For this reason, a record
number of 265 type 911 GT3 Cup race cars are
scheduled to be built over the 2007/08 winter period.
Cayenne is Best Marathon Sprinter
The 2007 Transsyberia Rally: a 14 day, 7,100 kilo-
meter trek from Moscow to Ulan Bator. Conditions
are extremely harsh, with the teams experiencing
mountainous terrain and wilderness, heat, cold, dust
and gravel, deep sand, swamps and countless river
crossings en route. The driving is a mix of high-speed
treks for hours on dirt roads and walking-pace pro-
gress through the most difficult terrain.
39 teams started out on this unusual journey in
August 2007. Among them were 25 Cayenne S
models which Porsche had kitted out, on behalf of its
international customer teams, with a safety cell, under-
floor protection, cable winch, special tools and two
spare wheels each. The stages were all about naviga-
tional skills, offroad driving, and the stamina of both
man and materials, with special challenges thrown in.
The aim was to achieve the best times and not de-
stroy the vehicles in the harsh terrain in the process.
The top three places went to Cayenne S vehicles.
Team North America, with Rod Millen and his co-driver
Richard Kelsey, won ahead of Team Italia with Antonio
Tognana/Carlo Cassina and Adel Abdulla/Norbert
Lutteri, who made up Team Quatar. A total of seven
Cayenne S vehicles finished the Transsyberia Rally in
the top ten. They showed that Porsche can also sprint
into the lead on this terrain, even when the sprint is
a veritable endurance marathon.
Motor Sports
Porsche celebrated a triple victory in the 14-day Transsyberia Rally
with the small-series Cayenne S Transsyberia.