Press Release June 11, 2011 No. M 50/11

Le Mans 24 Hours, Interim report 23.00 hrs

Four 911 GT3 RSR in the top ten

Stuttgart. The opening eight hours of the long distance classic brought mixed for- tunes for the five Porsche customer teams. The Belgian ProSpeed Competition squad made the best start to the race. After completing the first third of the distance, Porsche works driver (Germany), Marc Goossens (Belgium) and Jaap van Lagen (Netherlands) rank third in the GTE Pro sports car class in the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Flying Lizard Motorsports (USA) follows with factory pilots Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and (USA) as well as seasoned campaigner Lucas Luhr (Germany) sitting sixth in the strongest-supported class of the 24 hour race.

Driving for the Felbermayr-Proton squad, last year’s winners (Germany), (Austria) and (Germany) were thrown far back down the field with two mishaps and are now fighting their way through the pack. An hour be- fore midnight, the Porsche works drivers lie tenth in the GTE Pro class. “After refuel- ling we waited for ages for the lights to turn green at the pit exit during the safety car phase,” explains Marc Lieb. “Once we rejoined the race the car suffered tyre damage - I must have picked something up. Unfortunately it happened in the first chicane, that’s about 10 kilometres from the pits.” Lieb returned to the pits on his rim and lost more time when the crew found that part of the body had also been damaged.

The ProSpeed Competition team are feeling cautiously optimistic. “The first eight hours ran smoothly,” reported Marco Holzer. The 22-year-old was a Le Mans rookie last year and now has the role of team leader. For Jaap van Lagen this marks a pre-

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft 1 of 3 Public Relations and Press Porscheplatz 1 Motorsport 70435 Stuttgart Oliver Hilger Tel +49 (0) 7 11 9 11 – 2 65 09 e-mail [email protected] Press Release June 11, 2011 No. M 50/11 miere on the demanding 13.629 kilometre track. “I know exactly how this feels,” says Holzer. “You need quite some time to find a rhythm and to trust the car and your own ability. Our 911 is running well, the team’s pit stops are super. Our goal is to keep out of any trouble.”

The American Flying Lizard Motorsports team also faced tyre problems. Early on in the race, Joerg Bergmeister fell victim to tyre damage. “My first stint was difficult be- cause the set-up wasn’t one hundred percent,” said Bergmeister. “We then made a few changes and now the balance is much better. We can’t quite match the pace of the front-runners but we’re looking ahead. We can build on sixth place.”

Heading into the night, the French IMSA Performance Matmut team was not particu- larly pleased with their eighth place. Works driver was also held up long at the red lights of the pit exit. “It was really dumb,” complained the Frenchman. “But I had to come in to refuel otherwise I would have been stranded out there. The traffic on the track is brutal and the prototype drivers are at times very aggressive. is a newcomer in our team, but he’s a very controlled driver.” Third in the group is an experienced Le Mans contender, team owner Raymond Narac (France).

The second Felbermayr-911 ranks 13th in the GTE Pro class after eight hours. At the wheel are Le Mans debutant (Great Britain) and Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia) as well as American Bryce Miller, who contested the endurance clas- sic last year.

In the GTE Am sports car class, in which only one professional race driver is permit- ted per vehicle, Larbre Competition lies in a excellent first place with their 911 GT3 RSR in last year’s specification (as stipulated by the regulations for this class). The sister 911 of Flying Lizard Motorsports has settled in to fourth place, with the drivers currently sitting in sixth.

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft 2 of 3 Public Relations and Press Porscheplatz 1 Motorsport 70435 Stuttgart Oliver Hilger Tel +49 (0) 7 11 9 11 – 2 65 09 e-mail [email protected] Press Release June 11, 2011 No. M 50/11

Facts and figures

This is the Le Mans 24 Hours

With grid line-up of 55 vehicles, the consists of two different sports car categories: sports prototypes and modified standard sports cars. The technical regulations of the (LMS) and the (ALMS) correspond to those of the 24 hour race. All race cars start to- gether in Le Mans; there is an overall classification and a classification for individual classes.

The four classes in Le Mans: GTE Pro class: The most popular class of car manufacturers (formerly run as the GT2 class) is traditionally the best supported: Modified sports cars with up to 500 hp and a minimum weight of 1,245 kilograms. GTE Am class: Like the GTE-Pro, but with the 2010-vehicle specifications. More- over, the regulations stipulate that each vehicle must have one professional driver at the most. LMP1 class: Sports prototypes with up to 550 hp and a 900 kilogram minimum weight. LMP2 class: Sports prototypes of around 440 hp, GT-class homologated engines and a 900 kg minimum weight.

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Please note: Images of the 24 Hours of Le Mans are available for accredited journalists from the Por- sche Press Database under the internet address https://presse.porsche.de. On this website you can also activate the Porsche Motorsport SMS Info Service to receive the latest news and information from race tracks around the world via text messages.

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft 3 of 3 Public Relations and Press Porscheplatz 1 Motorsport 70435 Stuttgart Oliver Hilger Tel +49 (0) 7 11 9 11 – 2 65 09 e-mail [email protected]