Porsche confirms 2010 plans…and more!
Porsche held its ‘Night of Champions’ last night at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Dirk Werner was awarded the Porsche Cup for the most successful driver of privately-entered race cars and Porsche confirmed its plans for 2010 and possibly beyond.
Wolfgang Dürheimer, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development, confirmed that Porsche still regards GT racing as highly important: “We at Porsche are keen that GT sport enjoys steady, long-term development. Indispensable pre-requisites for this are stable regulations, predictability, cost control – and common regulations between the F.I.A. and A.C.O. organisations.”
Porsche AG’s CEO Michael Macht, who took over from Wendelin Wiedeking back in July, also made it clear that Porsche will remain committed to motorsport and even mentioned a possible return to Le Mans in the near future. “Motorsport is a central element of our company’s DNA. And it will hold an important role in the future. I’m not the only one at Porsche to be tempted to race for overall victory again at the Le Mans 24 hour race.”
Despite not confirming a prototype project or a date the fact that Macht used these exact words makes it quite clear that a project is in the making. In recent years comments like this would not have been made. With new regulations in place for 2011 it could well mean that Porsche will take over from Audi at Le Mans then…
Porsche also confirmed it will place some of its works drivers at several customer teams in series around the world. In the American Le Mans Series Jörg Bergmeister and Pat Long will again race a Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, hoping to defend its 2009 championship title.
In Europe Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz will also be together again to defend their Le Mans Series title with Team Felbermayr Proton, while Patrick Pilet will again be racing for IMSA Performance Matmut in the Le Mans Series.
Next to its GT2 confirmations Porsche also confirmed there will be six new Porsche GT3 Cup series. The GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, which makes its debut this weekend, will be joined by Great Britain, Japan, Scandinavia, Turkey and Switzerland.
For Porsche Cup winner Dirk Werner, who also received a Porsche 911 GT3 worth around 120,000 Euro, it was probably the last time he attended a ‘Night of Champions’, considering the fact that he will race for BMW next year.
Second place in the 2009 Porsche Cup went to Raymond Narac, while Richard Westbrook was third in the cup.
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Dedi La vita è troppo corta per non guidare italiano.....
Thanks andrea
