Porsche 2014 Annual Report Download - page 35

066 067
The Leipzig
location
The morning is foggy and cool. Just
looking at the India Red Porsche GT3
positioned in front of the course’s signal
lights gives a jolt of warmth. Not to
mention the thought of soon occupying
the passenger seat while female racer
Michelle Gatting takes on that track.
With condent steps and an impish smile
on her lips, the young woman in white
racing overalls heads over toward her
favourite toy. She opens the driver side
door and glides into the seat.
Michelle Gatting buckles up, turns the key
in the ignition, activates the button with
the dual exhaust symbol on the centre
console, releases the brake pedal and
asks: “Slow or fast?” Oh! Fast, please.
One, maybe two blinks later, we’re out on
the course. “It’s a little slippery today,”
she notes after the rst curve to the
right. “When the track is wet, things get
dicult. You can’t overestimate yourself,
especially not in the GT3,” Michelle says.
This coming from a woman who at the
tender age of 13 celebrated her rst
championship on the Danish go-kart
circuit.
PILOT WITH DEVOTION
But there’s a fair dose of respect
in her voice: “The GT3 is practically a
race car. If you monkey around with it,
it’ll make an even bigger monkey out
of you.” The words have barely passed
her lips and already the infernal sound
pouring from the dual exhaust, a sound
that penetrates through every ber of the
body, seems to react to her words on
the rst long straightaway. The thrust on
this little brother to the Cup-ready 911
presses us back into the seats – man and
“ When I’m here,
my heart turns into
a Porsche logo.”
MICHELLE GATTING
Suzuka S, Sunset Bend and Loews. Victoria Turn, Curve di Lesmo, Caracciola
Carousel and back to the start. If the mere mention of these legendary chicanes
from Monza, Monte Carlo and the Nürburgring get your blood racing, then Leipzig is
the place for you. And for us. We’ve got an appointment. With Michelle Gatting. Tall.
Blond. And, at just 21 years of age, the youngest pro racer in the Porsche Carrera Cup.
machine become one. The six-cylinder
Boxer engine screams up to 9,000 rpm,
producing 475 hp from 3.8 l of displace-
ment. “It is after all a Porsche,” our
pro driver says with a smile. “There will
always be a massive dierence between a
Porsche and other cars. Especially on the
GT3.” The Danish driver’s knowledge of
her racing materials is not in question –
she successfully passed a selection
process at the FIA Institute Academy.
No European posted a faster time on the
test track than Michelle.
The street-legal competition car blazes
forward. It accelerates from 0 to 100km/h
in just 3.5seconds. 7.9seconds later the
needle clears 200. It doesn’t top out until
315km/h. An acceleration that is felt in
the internal organs rst. The pro racer still
has more than enough air in her lungs to
describe the quality of the Leipzig track.
“It’s a terric test centre, with several
dierent tracks all together in one place.
And everything here is simply Porsche.
When I come here, my heart transforms
into a Porsche logo.”
The FIA-certied oval track was designed
by Hermann Tilke, a constructor of race
courses from Malaysia to Bahrain who
FAVOURITE TOY
WITHIN EXTENDED LIMITS
Expressly recommended for imitation – A ride in the Porsche GT3 around
the track at the Leipzig factory with racer Michelle Gatting.