Porsche Drivers Extend Points Lead After Grand Prix of Portland
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bob Carlson (770) 290-3676
Fred Hammond (201) 750-3533
Cell at track: (917) 865-1248
PORSCHE DRIVERS EXTEND POINTS LEAD AFTER GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
Second place finish in GT class keeps Porsche duo at top of standings for
season crown
PORTLAND, Ore. - Aug. 5, 2001 - In what turned out to be one of the most
tightly contested races of the season, the Alex Job Racing McKenna Porsche
duo of Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr extend their lead in the season-long
American Le Mans Series GT Drivers Championship.
During the early stages of the race the Maassen / Luhr number 23 Porsche
911 GT3 RS passed all four of the V-8 powered BMWs to grab a tenuous, GT
class lead.
"I made the start of my life," said Sascha Maassen, who stayed
atop the standings in GT. "I don't know where everyone else
went! I thought they all went to sleep!" he added laughingly.
But, while Maassen lead, he could not get away from the remainder of the
GT field. In fact, the racing was so tight that at one point 2.8 seconds
covered the top six cars in the class. As the race and the pit stop
strategies began to unfold, the BMWs used their V-8 power to its best
advantage, eventually claiming first through fourth in class.
Then the first of two full-course yellows gave the Alex Job Racing McKenna
Porsche the opening it needed. Darting in for a last minute tire change
before the return to green flag racing enabled Lucas Luhr to take the
battle back to the BMWs. With fresh tires, Luhr began to make a dent in
the BMW hold on the top of the class lap charts. A second yellow,
with six minutes left to go in the race, enabled the BMW Motorsport cars
to pit for new rubber negating the Porsche's advantage.
"It wasn't horsepower that carried the day today, it was
strategy," said Job. "Our car was good, our pit stops were
good, but our strategy was better."
The second place finish keeps the driving pairing atop the season
points standings, with Maassen leading and Luhr trailing by one point.
"It was a great race, a great day for the team and a great day for
the fans," said Luhr. "And we still lead the
championship," he added.
The next race, The GT3 Grand Prix at Mosport will be telecast live on the
NBC television network starting at 2:00 PM Eastern time on Sunday, August
19 (check local listings for the exact time in different time zones). The
race, along with qualifying sessions starting August 18, will be broadcast
live on the Le Mans Radio Network, which can be accessed on the Web at www.americanlemans.com.
That same American Le Mans Series Web site will also have live timing and
scoring during qualifying and the race event.
The official Porsche Web site - www.porsche.com
- will have qualifying information on The GT3 Grand Prix at Mosport
for all the Porsches entered, and will file stories and photos during and
after the race. Porsche Web site users should choose "North
America" on the home page when prompted to choose a country, then
choose "motorsports," then "motorsport news" to find
the ALMS updates.
Other Web sites that will follow the overall event include the American Le
Mans site mentioned above, the ON TRACK ONLINE site, (www.ontrackonline.com),
The Race Site (www.theRaceSite.com),
the Speedvision site (www.speedvision.com),
Totalmotorsport (www.totalmotorsport,com),
Motorsport.com (www.motorsport.com)
and the CompuServe site (www.motorsportsforum.com).
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GT Class Results
1. Said/Stuck
BMW M3 GTR
121 laps
2. Maassen/Luhr
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 120 laps
3. Lehto/J. Muller
BMW M3 GTR
120 laps
4. Ekblom/D. Muller
BMW M3 GTR
120 laps
5. Menzel/Pobst
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 118 laps
6. Mowlem/Bernhart/Petersen
Porsche 911 GT3 RS 118 laps
7. Foster/Wankum
Porsche 911 GT3 R 106 laps
8. Auberlen/Jonsson
BMW M3 GTR
102 laps
9. Wars/Neuhaus
Porsche 911 GT3 R 13 laps