Porsche 2007 Annual Report Download - page 106

championship. Eight Porsche drivers made it into
the top ten. Porsche held on to the manufacturer’s
title for engine and chassis, while Penske Racing
won the team competition for the third time.
The race for the hat trick was given a boost from
the fifth race onwards by a new racing engine with
direct fuel injection (DFI) raising output to 503 hp.
DFI technology also significantly reduced fuel con-
sumption. The engine represents new technologi-
cal ground for Porsche, as no other direct fuel in-
jection engine has ever had comparably high rpms.
The engine is only cut off electronically at 11,000
revolutions. A range of synergies were exploited
between the development of the racing engine
and the direct fuel injection engines for Porsche’s
road vehicles.
Successful debut in Europe
After two very successful years in the US, the RS
Spyder made an impressive debut in the European
Le Mans Series in 2008. Three customer teams
starting with one prototype each won in their class
in all five 1000-kilometer races of the season.
With five best training times set by the former For-
mula 1 driver Jos Verstappen and four victories, the
Dutch team Van Merksteijn Motorsport dominated
the championship. By the penultimate race, Ver-
stappen had secured the championship ahead of
three other Porsche drivers. His team won the
team competition ahead of the Danish Essex team,
which had come first in the qualifying race at the
high-speed track in Monza. Horag Racing from
Switzerland filled the last of the top three positions.
Porsche’s first LMS season ended with a clear vic-
tory in the manufacturers’ rankings.
The V8 version of the RS Spyder developed by
Porsche not only proved to be unbeatably fast in
both the American and European LMSs. The peer-
less fuel consumption of the racing engine also
garnered special awards from the organizers of
both championships.
The RS Spyder’s debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
race met with accustomed success: In 2008, the
sports car prototype from Weissach celebrated a
double whammy in the LMP2 category at the most
famous long-distance race in the world. Starting
in first and second position, Van Merksteijn Motor-
sport and Essex Racing dominated the race from
the very beginning. After a problem-free and flaw-
less drive, Jos Verstappen, Jeroen Bleekemolen
and Peter van Merksteijn finished first with an
eight-lap lead over the second-placed RS Spyder
driven by John Nielsen, Casper Elgaard and Por-
sche works driver Sascha Maassen. In achieving
victory, the prototype also proved superior to
the diesel-powered vehicles of the high-performan-
ce LMP1 category in terms of environmental friend-
liness, winning the “Michelin Energy Endurance
Challenge Trophy”.
911 shines in Gran Turismo Sport
The racing models of the 911 have been racking
up the victories in Gran Turismo Sport for decades.
In contrast to the sports prototypes, they have to
be closely related to the series production vehicles.
Customer teams entered the 911 GT3 RSR, with
around 485 hp, the 911 GT3 Cup S with 440 hp
and the 911 GT3 Cup with 420 hp in various
classes and championships.
In 2008, Porsche customer teams won a place
on the winners’ podium at four of the five most
famous long-distance races in the world, in part
with factory support. The highlight was without
doubt the triple victory at the 24-hour race on the
Northern Loop of the Nürburgring. Works drivers
Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb,
and the Manthey racing driver Marcel Tiemann ran
rings round competitors with a 911 GT3 RSR be-
longing to the Manthey Racing Team. The third
victory in a row for Porsche and Manthey Racing
was rounded off by second place for the sister
vehicle with a further 911 in third position.
The 911 GT3 RSR also proved unstoppable at the
12 Hours of Sebring race in Florida. The works
drivers Jörg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc
Lieb increased Porsche’s record on the US track
to 65 class victories. Both the winners and the
runners-up drove vehicles from the Flying Lizard
Motorsports team.
Porsche drivers came out top in two classes at
the 24-hour race on the Belgian Spa-Francor-
champs track. Mühlner Motorsport Team, based
in Spa, gained its third double victory in a row
in the series-derived Gran Turismo class with
a 911 GT3 Cup S. For the more radically modified
sports cars, the works drivers Marc Lieb,
Emmanuel Collard and Richard Westbrook came
second after leading for a long time and having
some bad luck.
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