Motorsport News October 15, 2018 No. 75/18 Dear Journalist: Early each week, Porsche Cars North America will provide a weekend summary or pre- race event notes package, covering the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Pirelli World Challenge (PWC), the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) or other areas of interest from the world of Porsche Motorsport. Please utilize this resource as needed, and do not hesitate to contact us for additional information. - Porsche Cars North America Motorsports Public Relations Team Porsche Motorsport Weekly Event Notes: Monday, October 15, 2018 This Week. • 20/20. Porsche Wins Its 20th Petit Le Mans on 20th Anniversary of First Victory. • Porsche Climbs Fuji. WEC 911 RSR Works and Customer Teams Win in Japan. • Pfaff 2019. Canadian Porsche Racers Announce IMSA GTD Program. • Estep on the Top Step. Texan Earns First Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Title. Porsche Profile. Event Story Lines. 20/20. Porsche Wins Its 20th Petit Le Mans on 20th Anniversary of First Victory. The Porsche GT Team won the final round of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Road Atlanta. In the process, the German marque extended its record number of class wins in the Petit Le Mans to 20. The first win came in the 10- hour endurance race’s premiere at the Braselton, Georgia-area event in 1998, 20- years ago. Public Relations Department 1 of 15 Motorsport Communications Dave Engelman Phone +1.770.290.3617 [email protected] Motorsport News October 15, 2018 No. 75/18 Patrick Pilet (France), Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France) won the GTLM class on Saturday driving the No. 911 sporting a special Mobil 1 retro- livery that adorned the factory cars in 1998. In the race held at Braselton, Georgia-area track, Porsche put in a strong performance against tough competition. Thanks to textbook tactics and a flawless race, the 510 hp Porsche 911 RSR scored its third win of the season in the North American championship. Previous 2018 victories came in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and at Mid-Ohio. In the No. 912, also wearing the retro-livery, Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Mathieu Jaminet (France) concluded the last IMSA race of the year in sixth-place. In the GTD class, Porsche customer team Wright Motorsports took the final checkered flag of the season in fourth-place. Works driver Patrick Long (Manhattan Beach, California), Porsche Selected Driver Christina Nielsen from Denmark and Germany’s Robert Renauer put in a strong drive in the 500 hp Porsche 911 GT3 R with the starting number 58. However, like with the No. 912 factory car, a drive-through penalty cost them a possible class win. The Porsche fielded by Park Place Motorsports had to retire early from the event. Wolf Henzler (Germany) had shared the cockpit of the No. 73 car with Timothy Pappas (Boston, Massachusetts) and Spencer Pumpelly of Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars. “Our strategy worked perfectly. Right from the start, we focused on having a car at the end of the race that was very fast in cool conditions. Patrick laid the foundations for this success with a strong double stint. Nick and Fred then brought it home. But you need the right tactic, too, and that worked perfectly. Petit Le Mans was a huge race. This victory fits perfectly with the successes that came just in time for Porsche’s 70th Public Relations Department 2 of 15 Motorsport Communications Dave Engelman Phone +1.770.290.3617 [email protected] Motorsport News October 15, 2018 No. 75/18 anniversary. If someone had written a film script for such a scenario, no one would have believed it to be real. But it worked and that’s just terrific!” Pascal Zurlinden, Director GT Factory Motorsport. “It was a gripping race with highs and lows. Minor errors on the race track cost us some time, but with perfect strategies and tire choices we made it to the front of the field. After victories in Sebring, Mid-Ohio and now Petit Le Mans – the entire team simply did a perfect job, and on Saturday we extended the contract with the CORE autosport squad for another three years. Now we’ll prepare for next season.” Nick Tandy, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “What a crazy race! We were relegated from the front to the back and then came back to the front. When you’re a lap down and still manage to win, it shows just how brilliantly the entire team worked. Our focus was on ensuring that the car was still fast in cool temperatures at the end. And it worked perfectly. And that was the key to victory.” Patrick Pilet, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “Such moments underline why we systematically work together as a unit throughout the year. In such races you’re rewarded for this. We always believed we could win. When Nick climbed into the car for the final stints, I said to him: ‘Do it like at the Nürburgring. Go flat out and give it all you’ve got.’ That’s exactly what he did. Everything came together. I’m incredibly proud of the whole team. To score so many victories at major races in one season is simply a dream.” Frédéric Makowiecki, Driver, No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. Public Relations Department 3 of 15 Motorsport Communications Dave Engelman Phone +1.770.290.3617 [email protected] Motorsport News October 15, 2018 No. 75/18 “Victory at Sebring, at the Nürburgring and now here – amazing! It shows just how well Patrick, Nick and I work as a team. Again, we always believed we could do it and we stayed calm even in difficult situations. As a driver, it simply feels fantastic to win three big races in one year.” Laurens Vanthoor, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “This race actually went like the second half of the season. We had every chance to win, but we walked away empty handed. Congratulations to our teammates in the 911. It was a tremendous achievement for Patrick, Nick and Fred.” Earl Bamber, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “We definitely had a winning car today. That’s why it was extremely disappointing to receive a drive-through penalty. It ruined our chances of winning.” Mathieu Jaminet, Driver, No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “I drove a double stint when the race track was at its warmest. Under these conditions, our car wasn’t as good as later when the temperatures dropped significantly. I tried not to make any mistakes and to conserve the tires. I think I managed to do that pretty well. My first race in the 911 RSR for the Porsche GT Team was a great experience. I really enjoyed this weekend.” Porsche Climbs Fuji. WEC 911 RSR Works and Customer Teams Win in Japan. Just as their North American colleagues did at the Petit Le Mans in Atlanta, Georgia, the Porsche GT Team won the six-hour race at Fuji Speedway in Japan. At round four of the FIA WEC World Sports Car Championship (WEC), Kevin Estre (France) and Public Relations Department 4 of 15 Motorsport Communications Dave Engelman Phone +1.770.290.3617 [email protected] Motorsport News October 15, 2018 No. 75/18 Michael Christensen (Denmark) crossed the finish line in first-place in the LMGTE-Pro category with the 510 hp Porsche 911 RSR. The sister car driven by Richard Lietz (Austria) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) concluded the race in fifth-place. With this, Porsche has extended its lead in the manufacturers’ and drivers’ classifications of the season-long championship. Porsche also won the LMGTE-Am category on Sunday with customer team Project 1, a car shared by two drivers very familiar to IMSA fans: Porsche works driver Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, California) along with Egidio Perfetti (Netherlands). It was maiden victory for the team in its first season of WEC. Round five of the FIA WEC World Sports Car Championship takes place in Shanghai, China on November 16. Alexander Stehlig, Program Manager Factory GT Motorsports. “After the disappointment with the qualifying results, race day was a great day. It was a hugely successful weekend for Porsche with the victory at Petit Le Mans in the USA and the two successes here at Fuji in the Pro and Am categories. We almost always made the right decisions during the race and the car was good and fast. The number 92 car drove a flawless race, our number 91 unfortunately had problems during the pit stop. On top of that, the balance wasn’t great in the last stint. But all in all, we’re very satisfied.” Michael Christensen, Driver, No. 92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “The changing weather and track conditions were a challenge, but we mastered them very well. We changed to slicks earlier than the others and that was very probably a Public Relations Department 5 of 15 Motorsport Communications Dave Engelman Phone +1.770.290.3617 [email protected] Motorsport News October 15, 2018 No. 75/18 key factor for our success. The weather forecast was uncertain, but we observed the cars that were already on slicks and took the risk. That ultimately paid off.” Kévin Estre, Driver, No. 92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR. “I’m incredibly happy about our victory. Our setup was simply fantastic and the good braking performance was an important aspect of our success at Fuji.