Porsche, BMW Locked in Close American Le Mans Series GT Points Battle
With Season at Half-way Mark; Pobst Hopes for Return Canadian Success
-With four events remaining,
Porsche drivers and teams form strategy to hold off the charging BMW V8
entries and retain the championship points lead-
BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada. - Aug. 15, 2001 - The top
Porsche teams in the American Le Mans Series are working equally hard to
maximize their ALMS championship points as well as their lap times for the
coveted GT championship as the series moves to Mosport Park north of
Toronto for a race on Sunday, August 19.
"With only four events remaining, McKenna Porsche/Alex Job Racing
drivers Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr have continued to maintain their
one-two position in the points despite increased pressure
from the four BMW entries," said Alwin Springer, president of Porsche
Motorsport North America.
"If their #23 Porsche 911 GT3 RS continues to finish on the
podium, and all the BMWs don't run to their potential at any given event,
Porsche still has a shot at the driver's championship," Springer
added.
Although the new V8-powered
BMWs have won the last three events, Luhr and Maassen built up an early
points lead with victories at Texas and Sebring, with Sebring yielding
extra points because of its 12-hour length. The BMW drivers closest
to the top of the points - Boris Said III and Hans Stuck - did not enter
the two European races this spring which can be used to substitute lower
finishes in the ALMS series. Luhr/Maassen won one of those events -
the race at Donington Park in England - and could gain ten points at the
end of the season by substituting those winning 25 points for the 15
points they picked up for a fifth place finish at Sears Point.
Also, with the cancellation of the planned season-ending race at
Charlotte, there are now less races for the BMW "chasers" to
catch the Porsche front-runners.
The other Alex Job Racing McKenna Porsche 911 GT3 RS entry, driven
by Randy Pobst and Christian Menzel, is a co-favorite because of Pobst's
win at Mosport a year ago.
"Not unlike 2000, the #22 Alex Job Racing Porsche has not had a great
first half of the year," said Pobst, who won Mosport and Texas last
year in August after a bad start, "but I am more familiar with this
track than almost any other driver in our class, and a win here would put
Christian and I back in the points chase."
The Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3 RS has been
a bright spot for Porsche at the most recent events at Sears Point and
Portland, finishing sixth in both events and running a perfect race for
team owner Mike Petersen. Englishman Johnny Mowlem will again be
joined on the driving roster by 20 year-old German GT driver Timo
Bernhard. Bernhard, who spent the past two years driving in the
Porsche Carrera Cup in Germany, drove with Randy Pobst and Christian
Menzel in the second-place Alex Job Racing entry at Sebring. Most
recently, he won the Porsche SuperCup race at the Nurburgring in July in
Germany. The #30 Petersen Motorsports Porsche with
Luhr/Fitzgerald/Pobst/Menzel at the helm, won the GT class at the Rolex 24
Hours at Daytona earlier this year, finishing second overall.
Other Porsche 911 GT3 RS entries include the 2001 Le Mans-winning team -
Canadian-based Seikel Motorsports - with Tony Burgess from Toronto being
the lead driver (the Italian drivers Rosa/Babini/Drudi won Le Mans in the
car); a Dick Barbour Racing entry with Randy Wars from Mexico City;
and the Kyser Racing entry of Kye Wankum from Toronto and Jeff Pabst from
Aurora, Colo.
Here are the top 20 ALMS GT points drivers after four events:
Driver/Car
Points
Sascha Maassen
92
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Lucas Luhr
91
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Boris Said III
88
BMW M3 V8
Hans Stuck
87
BMW M3 V8
Jorg Muller
84
BMW M3 V8
J.J. Lehto
83
BMW M3 V8
Randy Pobst
71
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Christian Menzel
71
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Timo Bernhard
54
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Fredrik Ekblom
48
BMW M3 V8
Dirk Muller
48
BMW M3 V8
Christophe Bouchut
46
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Johnny Mowlem
45
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Bill Auberlen
43
BMW M3 V8
Niclas Jonsson
42
BMW M3 V8
Kye Wankum
31
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Joe Foster
31
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Emmanual Collard
30
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Kevin Buckler
26
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Jeff Pabst
26
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Tony Burgess
23
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Practice starts on Friday, August 17, with final qualifying for the Gran
Turismo 3 Grand Prix at Mosport taking place on Saturday at 4:10 PM EDT
for Sunday's event.
The Gran Turismo 3 Grand Prix at Mosport will be telecast live on the NBC
television network starting at 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday,
August 19 (check local listings for the exact time and channel in your
area). The race, along with qualifying sessions starting August 18,
will be broadcast live on the American 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 Gran Turismo 3 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),
TotalMotorsport (www.totalmotorsport.com);
The Race Site (www.theRaceSite.com),
the Speedvision site (www.speedvision.com),
Motorsport.com (www.motorsport.com)
and the CompuServe site (www.motorsportsforum.com).
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