Porsche 2013 Annual Report Download - page 101

911 RSR GT cars. Factory driver Jörg
Bergmeister played a significant role in
the development of the new Porsche 911
RSR. “Compared to the previous model,
where you could really feel its heritage as
a production car, the new 911 RSR feels a
lot more like a real race car,” he explains.
“The wheelbase is ten centimeters longer
and the new configuration of the double
wishbone front suspension instead of the
conventional McPherson strut design means
that handling has improved significantly.”
The World Endurance Championships pitted
the Porsche factory team against tough
competition. Aston Martin and Ferrari had
factory-supported teams, and Corvette and
the SRT Viper also appeared in the starting
lineup at Le Mans. The Porsche 911 RSR
had its first race in mid-April at the first
event of the World Championship season
at the Silverstone Circuit in England, where
Porsche came very close to placing on the
podium.
Pilet, Timo Bernhard and Jörg Bergmeister
crossing the finish line in second place.
They accept their trophies, with thousands
of fans standing beneath the winners’
podium. Porsche flags are waved, track
announcer Bruno Vandestick shouts
euphorically into his microphone, making a
noise akin to that of the engine limiters.
“Remember back at Sebring?” asks Jörg
Bergmeister, when we speak with him a
half-hour after the awards ceremony. “Here
at Le Mans, we reaped what we sowed
in Florida. This is where the fans are, the
journalists, the photographers, and the
camera teams. Everything happens out in
the open. But it was when we were testing
and doing laps for hours on end, when only
the seagulls were watching us: that’s where
we laid the foundation for today’s success.”
For the first time in many years, Porsche
took its own factory team to an interna-
tional motorsports race. The Motorsport
Division based in Weissach joined up with
the team headed by Olaf Manthey, who
has considerable racing experience. The
“Porsche AG Team Manthey” put two new
Porsche 911 RSRs on the track for the
2013 FIA World Endurance Championships.
Both the new racecar and the team were
introduced to the public during the official
test runs held at the Le Castellet track in
southern France at the end of March. The
highlight? For the Porsche 911’s anniversary
year, the two cars were bedecked with the
special “50 Years of 911” logo, particularly
conspicuous from a bird’s eye view. The
extravagant aerodynamic adjustments and
the sweeping tail wing left no doubt about
the GT racecar’s ambitions.
In best Porsche tradition, it was clear
that shortly after the emergence of the
street-legal version of the new 911 gen-
eration, the corresponding track variants
would follow. While the 911 GT3 Cup was
used exclusively in the Porsche Mobil 1
Supercup for the 2013 season, the FIA
World Endurance Championship and the
24 Hours of Le Mans were the high point
for the scheduled appearances of the
“The new 911 RSR
feels a lot more like
a real race car.”
JÖRG BERGMEISTER
CLASS VICTORIES // 099