www.porscheroadandrace.com Peter Seikel – the winning Porsche privateer Published: 17th January 2017 By: Lucian Sonea Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/peter-seikel-the-winning-porsche-privateer/ The Seikel Motorsport team last raced in the 2007 Le Mans, having participated on no less than eleven occasions in the 24-hour race. The team’s highlight in la Sarthe was in 2001 when they won the GT category, finishing sixth overall. Peter Seikel was born in 1948 in Freigericht, a village located 30km east of Frankfurt. While www.porscheroadandrace.com his father used to race motorbikes, he died when Peter was just five years old. Seikel Jr. started racing cars in 1968 following a test at the Nürburgring. As he recalls, “My mother recommended that I try out a race car at the Nürburgring, and so I attended a three-day driving school and it felt good. The car at the driving school was the NSU 1000, which was the car everyone started with at that time. I was on the pace from the beginning, and felt that the ideal racing lines and catching the apex of the corners was already a natural instinct for me.” That moment was the start of a successful 40-year career in national and international motorsport for Seikel. Peter Seikel behind the wheel of an Audi in the early ‘80s His first races were endurance events at the Nürburgring, where he completed – in his total www.porscheroadandrace.com career – around 2000 race laps on the Nordschleife. Having first participated in 1973 with an NSU 1200 TT, Peter Seikel scored a total of 14 class wins in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. He also won his category five times in 11 attempts in the 24 Hours of Spa, with Audi in 1979 and 1982, and with Honda in 1990, 1991 and 1992. “Endurance suits my style. Just as in business, in private and in life generally, I look to the long term. It’s not important to be in front at the beginning, but rather at the end. It is also a challenge to prepare a car for a long race and particularly a 24-hour race, but this preparation was our strong point and it earned our team a good reputation.” www.porscheroadandrace.com Peter Seikel in his early days driving an Audi in the early ‘80s www.porscheroadandrace.com Peter Seikel has raced touring cars and he did it in a winning style. In the early ‘80s the team prepared and raced Audis in the European Touring Car Championship to win the European Championship title in 1980 in the 1600cc category. Over the years, the team prepared and raced Audis, Fords, Toyotas, BMWs and Hondas in customer or official racing programs. In 1993 Seikel Motorsport finished third overall in the ADAC GT Championship, with a Honda NSX driven by Armin Hahne and John Nielsen. For Seikel though, racing with Porsche started in 1993: “We raced a Porsche team as a paying customer from 1993 until 2007. This was such a great and successful time for our team, and for myself.” In the mid-nineties, Seikel Motorsport took part in the BPR Global Endurance Championship. “The ambiance was great and we enjoyed that championship which was started by Stéphane Ratel, Patrick Peter and Jürgen Barth. It was well organised because it allowed small privateer teams like us to travel and to race around the world in China, Japan, and Brazil. The championship was fun and sporty, but it was also real racing. The spirit of that championship was good, with most people being really passionate about racing because they did not have as much showbiz as in Formula One.” Seikel’s first year at Le Mans as team manager was with the yellow #58 Porsche 968 Turbo RS in 1994 (Bscher/Owen-Jones/Nielsen). In the same year, Seikel also ran in the BPR series with two cars: a 968 Turbo RS for Nielsen/Bscher and a green 911 Carrera RSR 3.8 with which Capra/Quargentan/Auvray finished fifth overall in the 1000km of Paris at the circuit Linas-Monthléry. www.porscheroadandrace.com The distinctive yellow #58 Porsche 968 Turbo RS in the 1994 Le Mans 24 Hours driven by Thomas Bscher/Lindsay Owen-Jones/John Nielsen. The car was unfortunately involved in an accident during the night and failed to finish In 1995 Seikel switched to the 911 GT2 (Type 993) where Quargentan/Auvray finished third overall at the 4 Hours of Paris. At the same time the 911 Carrera RSR 3.8 was run as a GT4 which yielded three class wins at the 4 Hours of Nürburgring with Bilz/Rosterg and the 4 Hours of Paris (6th overall) for Sangiuolo/Jurasz/Coudert and at the 4 Hours of Nogaro (12th overall) Bilz/Seikel, with a podium for Bilz/Jurasz/Baker in the 4 Hours of Silverstone. That same year, Seikel himself drove the #77 GT2 Porsche 911 (993 bi-turbo) in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, teamed with Karel Dolejsi and Guy Kuster. Seikel has strong memories from that rainy race and its unique atmosphere: “Driving at Le Mans is fantastic. It was a rainy race and I did a total of 13-14 hours, driving the longest in our team. I remember driving very quickly for the whole race as I was physically fit and in good form, but it was quite risky www.porscheroadandrace.com because of the difficult conditions. I love racing in the wet, and my approach at that time was aggressive. You either win or go out trying. I remember a lot of accidents during that race, but we suffered no damage to the car after such a dramatic race, and in the end, we were the best Porsche finisher, classifying fourth in the GTS category. The experience of driving at Le Mans in 1995 helped me a lot as a team manager in later years at Le Mans, especially when we won in 2001.” In 1996, their third Le Mans 24 Hours, the Seikel team finished fifth in the GTS class with their #77 911 GT2 driven by Fuster/Jurasz/Suzuki. Between 1997 and 1999, the team raced the 911 GT2 in the FIA GT, French GT FFSA and the Italian GT Challenge scoring an overall win in the 6 Hours of Misano on 25 May 1998 with Smith/Grassi/Ligonnet. They also scored GT2 class wins in the 6 Hours of Vallelunga in 1998 with Quargentan/Neugarten/Palmberger and Quargentan/Smith/Palmberger in 1999. www.porscheroadandrace.com On the grid before the start of the Suzuka 1000km on August 23 1998. The Seikel Porsche 911 GT2 was participating in a round of the FIA GT Championship. Drivers: Marchner (Ger), Suzuki (Jap) & Yoshikawa (Jap) The team returned to La Sarthe in 2000 and finished on the podium in the GTS class (3rd) with their new car, the 3.6-litre naturally aspirated Porsche 996 GT3-R driven by Cohen- Bolivar/Neugarten/Burgess. In 2001, with three Italian drivers at the wheel (Babini/Rosa/Drudi), Seikel Motorsport was the GT class winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours with the Porsche 996 GT3 RS. Their sixth-place overall finish equalled the record for the best classified GT car set in 1971, after an epic battle throughout the race with their German Porsche rival, Freisinger Motorsport. www.porscheroadandrace.com “I felt that that day was our day. I told my drivers through the radio to drive 100% all the time as I could see no alternative but to win that race, and we did. My experience back in 1995 helped me to know how the drivers felt, and I could sense their condition and what was going on, on the track. I was therefore able to take the right decisions at the right moments, in terms of our strategy.” For that race, not only was the driving and strategy perfect, but the entire team and their effort throughout the race was rewarded with the ‘prix ESCRA’ which was given to the team who provided the best assistance during the Le Mans 24 Hour race. As I was part of the team from 2003 until 2007, I know how Peter used to prepare for each race. He was very professional with every detail or strategy discussed and written down, and he took the time to give each team member a very precise job during the team briefing. Peter Seikel had so much motorsport experience that he could anticipate situations (on and off the track) like no other. He had a global view of the race and was able, always with calmness, to take good decisions at the right time. He also prepared his drivers mentally for the race, and long team briefings were organised with all possible scenarios that could happen during the race being discussed. www.porscheroadandrace.com Peter Seikel deep in thought at Monza in 2004 Questioned today about the longevity of his team and their members, he answers: “The secret of that longevity was the family and human approach. We had a private team with a good, family ambiance, and professional mechanics and team members. It was also important to be fair, and not to do it for the money or for the show, but for the passion.” Spectators and journalists remember the epic battles with the other German GT Team, Freisinger Motorsport, as Seikel recalled: “I remember very good battles, especially during the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2001. We won, they finished second. In 2003 they won the Spa 24 Hours, we finished second.