In Friday’s press conference at the Porsche Experience Centre in Shanghai, Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific was delighted to announce that it will support Earl Bamber Motorsport and Team Carrera Cup Asia in the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hour (31 January – 3 February).
The 12-hour race on the legendary Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst kicks off the 2019 season of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Four Porsche 911 GT3 R will contest the spectacular event in Australia on the first weekend in February. Three customer teams field the successful GT3 vehicle, which will give its final farewell performance Down Under. As stipulated by the regulations, the GT3 cars must be last year’s spec. Facing stiff competition from vehicles from nine other manufacturers in the top category, the Porsche teams have good chances of success. Different this year: Instead of taking his place in the cockpit, Porsche works driver Earl Bamber (New Zealand) assumes the role of team boss at the pit wall.
After stunning the established Australian GT stars on his championship debut at Sydney Motorsport Park mid-season, Victorian teenager Ryan How has confirmed that he is looking to return to the category in 2019, determined to take the fight to the Trophy Series teams and go after a fourth-consecutive title for Audi.
After competing against Whelen Engineering Racing for three seasons, Pipo Derani has joined the No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R as full-season co-driver with Felipe Nasr in a bid to earn his first, and Whelen Engineering Racing’s second consecutive, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title.
This summer’s Silverstone Classic will celebrate Bentley’s 100th birthday with a very special anniversary race dedicated to honouring the illustrious British marque’s most significant historical milestone.
After coming just inches away from an overall Rolex 24 At Daytona win in a 2017 heartbreaker, Mustang Sampling Racing’s Fillipe Albuquerque came storming back in 2018 and didn’t let anything get in his way to victory lane at Daytona International Speedway.
Momentum is critical, and Whelen Engineering Racing driver Eric Curran is hoping to put his to good use next weekend. The 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona will be the first opportunity for two-time IMSA champion Curran to defend his 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title.
Ready to make his first full season campaign in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Challenge Championship, Trent Hindman is absorbing as much knowledge as possible from his fast and experienced teammates ahead of the season opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Porsche will tackle the 24 Hours of Daytona on 26/27 January fielding a pair of 911 RSR. As the most successful brand in the history of this venerable race, the sports car manufacturer from Weissach now aims to write another chapter in the success story at the season opener of this year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship. The two ca. 510 hp 911 RSR will be run by factory squads in the hotly contested GTLM class. The new Porsche 911 GT3 R celebrates its race debut. In the GTD category, four customer squads will each field one of the latest generation GT3 racers.
Second top-ten finish for BWT Mücke Motorsport in the 24 Hours of Dubai at second attempt. The team’s Audi R8 LMS #9 took P6 in the prestigious 24-hour race at the Dubai Autodrome last weekend (10th – 12th January 2019). The five drivers – Audi Sport’s Markus Winkelhock, Ford works driver Stefan Mücke, Mike David Ortmann, Ricardo Feller and Andreas Weishaupt – were on course to take a podium for quite a long time until a stone flew up, changing everything…
For Alessandro Zanardi (ITA), starting at the 24-hour race in Daytona (USA) is a bit like coming home. He celebrated the first successes in his impressive racing career in the United States. From 1996 until 1998 he contested the IndyCar series CART there, and was crowned champion in 1997 and 1998. After two years in Formula 1, he returned to US racing in 2001, until his accident at the Lausitzring (GER) on 15th September 2001 gave a new spin to his life and career.