Porsche drivers

[BSchneiderFan]

Can someone with more detailed knowledge than mine tell me how many drivers are as of 2005 under contract to Porsche? So far as I can recall, last year the following had some sort of arrangement with Weissach: Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard, Jorg Bergmeister, Mike Rockenfeller, Patrick Long, Marc Lieb, Stephane Ortelli, Romain Dumas, Emmanuel Collard. So how many are still with Porsche?

[jhansen]

I can make a few inquiries on that. Some are driving in GA this year I believe. Not sure about Ortelli, since he's driving the Aston Martin in the enduros.

[BSchneiderFan]

Seem to recall Collard is driving in Grand Am for a non-Porsche team too.

[jhansen]

Is there a factory Porsche effort in either the FIA GT or the LMES this year?

[Kicking-back]

Porsche tends to place its factory drivers with "selected teams", rather than run GT cars from the factory.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by jhansen

Not sure about Ortelli, since he's driving the Aston Martin in the enduros.

This suprised me, I thought he'd always be a Porsche man. It'll be great to see him in the Aston though, although that is for the other thread.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by jhansen

Is there a factory Porsche effort in either the FIA GT or the LMES this year?

From a interview with BAM! teammanager Tim Munday on DailySportsCar.com about Mike Rockenfeller: “Mike is with us for the season, except when his FIA GT drives clash, when we’ll have either Sascha or Lucas standing in for him."

So Rockenfeller seems to be sure to drive FIAGT, now the question is where?

[BSchneiderFan]

With the departure of Freisinger, will Porsche transfer works support to another FIA GT team? Seikel? Or perhaps Gruppe M, for whom I think Lieb drobe occasionally last year?

[Bramzel]

GruppeM with Rockenfeller and Lieb I think, DSC reported about that as a possibility.

[BSchneiderFan]

A thought: why hasn't Patrick Huisman (a man who knows more perhaps than anyone about pedalling rear-engined cars) been snapped up by Porsche? I recall reading a couple of years ago that he had always been passed over by Porsche in the late 90s because of his height, but they eventually relented in late 1998, put him in a 911 GT1-98 and found that he could (just about) fit and was pretty quick - and then Porsche abandoned top-flight racing...

[sylvia]

Jorg Bergmeister is driving the No. 66 Krohn Racing/TRG Riley in the Rolex Sports Car Series this year. He has also been announced as a driver for Petersen/White Lightning in the ALMS for non-conflicting races.

sp

[rdjones]

From what it says in today Motorsport News, the works Porsche drivers are Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard, Mike Rockenfeller and Marc Lieb.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

A thought: why hasn't Patrick Huisman (a man who knows more perhaps than anyone about pedalling rear-engined cars) been snapped up by Porsche? I recall reading a couple of years ago that he had always been passed over by Porsche in the late 90s because of his height, but they eventually relented in late 1998, put him in a 911 GT1-98 and found that he could (just about) fit and was pretty quick - and then Porsche abandoned top-flight racing...

The man is fast for sure, just like his brother Duncan. Dunno why Patrick isn't picked up by Porsche, he won the Supercup several times. Perhaps there's politics involved? Don't know.