The count down for the 24 Hours Race at the Nürburgring has started. At the first round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring on 27th of March, the Porsche teams will use the opportunity for a thorough preparation to the marathon race in the Eifel region. Above all, the title holders of Manthey Racing: The Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Dittweiler/Germany) and Marc Lieb (Ludwigsburg/Germany) as well as Manthey driver Marcel Tiemann (Monaco) will share the cockpit of the new Porsche 911 GT3 R at its first race competition. For the 24 Hour Race on 15th May, the team will then like last year be completed by Porsche works driver Romain Dumas (France) as fourth driver.
Everybody is also really curious to see the performance of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid which will have its first race participation, too. This car stores the energy gained every time the brakes are applied in an electric flywheel generator. At the 24 Hour Race, Porsche works drivers Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld/Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria), Porsche junior Marco Holzer (Bobingen/Germany) and former Porsche junior Martin Ragginger (Austria) will drive the car. For the test run next weekend, Bergmeister, Lietz and Ragginger will share the cockpit. \”It is always something very special for me to participate in a race in Germany\”, admits Bergmeister who normally competes in the American Le Mans Series with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. \”I am sure that we will gain a lot of experience at the opening round of the endurance racing championship and that it will help us to better understand the new hybrid system and to further develop the car for the 24 Hours Race.\”
At the opening round of the VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring, double Rally World Champion Walter Röhrl (Regensburg/Germany) will have his race comeback after 17 years. Together with the legendary DTM race driver Roland Asch (Ammerbruch/Germany) and the journalists Horst von Saurma-Jeltsch (Stuttgart/Germany) and Chris Harris (Great Britain), he will compete in a series production Porsche 911 GT3 R at the 24 Hours Race Nürburgring. \”I am really looking forward to come back to circuit racing after such a long time\”, says Röhrl. \”The main focus for me this weekend will however be to gain as much experience as possible with the car under real racing conditions.\”
