[WEC] Porsche GTP / Hypercar: factory and customer

[The Badger]

Dont like the idea of Penske being interested ..... doesnt like spending his own money ..... like he doesnt have much !!!

Much prefer to see someone else get the deal , if it happens .

[Audi Racer]

but atleast we know Penske gets the job done right?

[The Badger]

Yes they do ..... done more than most . Wheres the competition in that , with the currant quality of "P" teams in the ALMS .

Walkover ..... would not be enticing for other potential teams either .

[yamato]

It seems to me that at least two of the acura teams were able to compete with Penske last time they were in the ALMS,.... and that was with modified Courage chasis.

I would submit that the teams/drivers/car designers exist that could battle on terms with Porsche/Penske,... the question is: does the money exist?

doubtful at best

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Dont like the idea of Penske being interested ..... doesnt like spending his own money ..... like he doesnt have much !!!

Much prefer to see someone else get the deal , if it happens .

So what you are saying, is you would prefer a semi-pro team to lead Porsche's charge, instead of a pro team?

[Audi Racer]

Originally Posted by yamato

It seems to me that at least two of the acura teams were able to compete with Penske last time they were in the ALMS,.... and that was with modified Courage chasis.

I would submit that the teams/drivers/car designers exist that could battle on terms with Porsche/Penske,... the question is: does the money exist?

doubtful at best

Well only one team technically....Highcroft was the only one but they dont exist anymore...


sure de ferran and lowes fernandez and Andretti beat the porsche s a fewtimes but they where very sporadic....Fernandez had reliabilty woes at every track which was odd for the acura. Andretti was muscical chairs...and de ferran made a few mistakes in the season as well.

not many are more drilled than Penske's guys...

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer
Well only one team technically....Highcroft was the only one but they dont exist anymore...


sure de ferran and lowes fernandez and Andretti beat the porsche s a fewtimes but they where very sporadic....Fernandez had reliabilty woes at every track which was odd for the acura. Andretti was muscical chairs...and de ferran made a few mistakes in the season as well.

not many are more drilled than Penske's guys...

Do you remember that Porsche entry in the ALMS in the last race of 2005, and Acura entry in the first race of 2007. The maduration year`s of Acura have been in 2009, but both Audi and Porsche retired.
The Acura ARX 02A debut with a pole position in Sebring circuit that was totally unfavorable. This car was designed for circuits such as Mid Ohio, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock, Miller, Detroit, San Petersburg or Long Beach. I think that in this circuits the ARX 02A had beaten the Audi R15 TDI and Porsche RS Spyder.

[Gingers4Justice]

I wouldn't mind Penske running at Le Mans so long as there was another German works team. Wouldn't seem like Porsche had properly returned if they were running under the banner of very-well known race team and had the stars and stripes on the side.

Perhaps Porsche could go for 4 cars - 2 from Penske and 2 more from a current semi-works GT team. Is there any good reason why this can't be Felbermahyyysdfaetukg or however you spell it?

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

I wouldn't mind Penske running at Le Mans so long as there was another German works team. Wouldn't seem like Porsche had properly returned if they were running under the banner of very-well known race team and had the stars and stripes on the side.

Perhaps Porsche could go for 4 cars - 2 from Penske and 2 more from a current semi-works GT team. Is there any good reason why this can't be Felbermahyyysdfaetukg or however you spell it?

It's definitely an interesting idea. I'd love to see Felbermayr let loose in P1.
It's a pretty safe assumption that Felbermayr Jnr/Snr & Reid would want to continue running in GT. As that's being supported, I'm not sure Porsche would want to lose their strongest GTE-PRO outfit, either.

I don't know a great deal about the inner workings of the team, but supporting 2x GTE/2x LMP1 seems like a substantial step up from their current situation. Even with factory-support.
It's still a nice thought.

[AndrewF31]

Not really related with the LMP1 project but Porsche seems poised to promote their Hybrid technology:
The Porsche Hybrid will be doing some promotional tests at Estoril during this week with a local driver: http://www.lemansportugal.com/destaq...os-convidados/

Trying to encourage buyers I see, and to promote Hybrid technology.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

So what you are saying, is you would prefer a semi-pro team to lead Porsche's charge, instead of a pro team?

No , I saying I would rather see another pro team run the programe for Porsche ..... Champion spring to mind for example .

[Spyderman]

Porsche Motorsport have expanded their 2012 driver program:

As part of the program Porsche provides a significant portion of the seasonal budget for the young pilot’s team. Along with the financial assistance comes a coach to assist in training both on and off the track. - Porsche Purist

“For us, supporting talented youngsters is an investment in the future. In line with our LMP1 project we want to expand our driver line up. After all, aside from our works commitment in prototype racing, we don’t want to neglect our GT racing activities and we also want to support our customer teams with works drivers in the future,” says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport.

[The Badger]

I like Hartmut .

[Spyderman]

I am intrigued to find out what the driver line up will be for the LMP1 project. I of course, have my suspicions (like anyone else), but I look forward to seeing if they are confirmed.

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

Porsche Motorsport have expanded their 2012 driver program:

As part of the program Porsche provides a significant portion of the seasonal budget for the young pilot’s team. Along with the financial assistance comes a coach to assist in training both on and off the track. - Porsche Purist

“For us, supporting talented youngsters is an investment in the future. In line with our LMP1 project we want to expand our driver line up. After all, aside from our works commitment in prototype racing, we don’t want to neglect our GT racing activities and we also want to support our customer teams with works drivers in the future,” says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport.

That's pretty decent news. Hopefully it provides an opportunity for some of the younger guys that would have faced difficulty gaining an otherwise locked down factory seat.
Considering they'll likely have three factory entries at LM, there's still a lot of recruiting to be done between the present - 2014.

I'm betting Ragginger's first to be bumped up to an official factory seat.

[The Badger]

Im sure Lieb will be in the line up , happy days .

[Spyderman]

Ok -So here are my forecast for a possible scenario:


Bernhard/Dumas A shoe in.
Lieb/ Lietz (I'm not sure how much single seater or LMP experience they currently have , so this may not be as clear cut as it seems. They will have to prove to be quick at the wheel of the LMP's

Long/ Bergmeister ( The same applies to Bergmeister as above. In addition he has the issue of "size")

These will be supported in longer races by Pillet, Ragginger and Henzler. These will have to fight with Holzer to see which is the quickest.

I heard the other day (I think it was Hindy) that when Porsche were developing the RS Spyder, they found that some of their quick GT drivers were as much as 5 seconds off the pace when driving a LMP car, due to their lack of single seater experience.

Thoughts?

[The Badger]

Lieb was the development driver for the RS Spyder , so Im sure he knows well how to peddle one .

Bernhard-Dumas ..... I can see them in the picture , agree with Bregmeister about the height issue .

But , I cant see all their GT drivers going P1 . Some of them will have to stay with GT I expect , and they now need to hire young blood , get them trained up for when they need to support a P1 and GT effort , along with everything else .

[Spyderman]

I thought the main test driver for the RS Spyder was Maassen.
I'm sure they all did some testing though.

[Spyderman]

I thought the main test driver for the RS Spyder was Maassen.
I'm sure they all did some testing though.

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I thought the main test driver for the RS Spyder was Maassen.

It was.

[The Badger]

Lieb had a hand in it too .

[ronnie peterson]

Bergmeister was quite fast with the DP @ Daytona last year. His height shouldn't be an issue considering that Wurz has been driving the 908.

[Simmi]

I really don't think it's cut and dry that Porsche will plug their existing drivers into the LMP1.

I'd expect a fairly aggressive recruitment campaign and some big names in the mix. A crack at a World Championship representing Porsche is a big honour.

If Porsche did want to bring up their guys they would need to farm them out to other LMP teams to gain experience IMO starting now. Similar to what Pug arranged with Vernay. This season has shown the need for heightened racecraft when onboard these machines.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by ronnie peterson

Bergmeister was quite fast with the DP @ Daytona last year. His height shouldn't be an issue considering that Wurz has been driving the 908.

Bergmeister is considerably larger than Wurz. He is 194 cm, Wurz 186 cm and Lotterer 184 cm.

Moreover, ideally drivers are paired with similar height. That might be an issue for Bergmeister.