2010 Porsche factory drivers

[cjent]

Ah! I think you are right Stranger. Andy Schupack!

[Mal]

Assuming Porsche PR is what it says then rather than criticise is it not better to thank Andy for coming on and giving first hand information?

Look forward to hearing more in the future.

...Makes me want to go out and buy a Porsche

[Porsche PR]

The Porsche factory driver announcement will come from Stuttgart/Atlanta at 10 AM CET (4 AM EST in the US).

--andy

[Spyderman]

I'll take a guess:
* Joerg Bergmeister
* Timo Bernhard
* Emmanuel Collard
* Romain Dumas
* Wolf Henzler
* Marc Lieb
* Richard Lietz
* Patrick Long
* Patrick Pilet

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I'll take a guess:
* Joerg Bergmeister
* Timo Bernhard
* Emmanuel Collard
* Romain Dumas
* Wolf Henzler
* Marc Lieb
* Richard Lietz
* Patrick Long
* Patrick Pilet

I think at least 1, possibly 2 on your list won't be on Porsche's.

[Dauer 962]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I'll take a guess:
* Joerg Bergmeister
* Timo Bernhard
* Emmanuel Collard
* Romain Dumas
* Wolf Henzler
* Marc Lieb
* Richard Lietz
* Patrick Long
* Patrick Pilet

Scratch Collard, then you are right.

Henzler to race the Falken-Porsche

[porsche91722]

http://www.porsche.com/germany/sport...t/workdrivers/

From Porsche.
Collard is still there.

[NightStalk3r]

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...ocus-3352.html says 8 Works Drivers and has no mention of Collard, so either Collard was such a late addition that the info handed out to them is outdated or the Porsche website is wrong.

“I’m proud to have eight world-class works drivers in our line-up for the 2010 season,” says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Motorsport at Porsche.


EDIT: just checked DSC and they have only 8 aswell with no Collard.

[old man]

Very sad to see Collard dropped by Porsche, poor reward for a good servant who should be snapped up by some team wanting experience and real speed. He has proved that he can drive anything, in his F3000 days he was as good as any driver in the field and is an excellent example of a driver making it on ability.

[Porsche PR]

PORSCHE SQUAD IS EIGHT DRIVERS FOR 2010

Stuttgart/Atlanta – January 19, 2010 - Eight works drivers will compete for Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, this motorsport season, 2010. The professional racers, all of whom held a Porsche contract last year, will support Porsche customer teams around the world.

Like in 2009, Marc Lieb (29, Germany) and Richard Lietz (26, Austria) contest the Le Mans Series (LMS) for the Felbermayr-Proton team in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Patrick Pilet (28, France) again races for IMSA Performance Matmut in the LMS. Moreover, the Porsche works drivers will compete for other teams in selected championships and at long distance races.

Joerg Bergmeister (33, Germany) and Patrick Long (28, USA) aim to defend their title win in the 2009 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and are back driving for Flying Lizard Motorsports with a 911 GT3 RSR. Wolf Henzler (34, Germany) will pilot a 911 GT3 RSR in the ALMS for the Porsche customer team Falken Tire. Aside from their ALMS commitments, the factory drivers will also support customer teams at other races.

Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (28, Germany) and Romain Dumas (32, France) are determined to defend their overall win at the Nürburgring 24 hour race in 2010 and are currently involved in intensive preparations and testing. Further events are planned.

“I’m proud to have eight world-class works drivers in our line-up for the 2010 season,” says Hartmut Kristen, Head of Motorsport at Porsche. “We know all of them very well and our customer teams can totally rely on their driving skills. In the development and optimization of our race vehicles, these pilots also play an important role and our teams around the world profit from this.”

For the majority of the factory pilots, their first race of the season will be the Rolex 24 at Daytona event, where they support customer squads in Porsche 911 GT3 Cup vehicles.


High resolution photos of the 2010 Porsche factory drivers can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.sportssystems.com/hosting/display.cfm?key=101333

# # #

PORSCHE DAYTONA 24-HOUR FACTS

(updated 1/19/10)

Overall Wins: 21 (first in 1968; most recent in 2009)

Class Wins: 63

Porsche 911 Wins: 37 Overall and Class Victories

Initial Overall Win: 1968

GT Class Wins: 27

SGS Class wins (class ran only in 2004): 1

20 Race Winning Streak (overall or class): 1966-1987

Finished 1-2 overall in 11 Daytona 24-Hours

GT class winner finishing second overall: 2001, 2004

From 1977 to 1988, Porsche had compiled 12 consecutive overall wins

GTX Series Winner: 1978-1981

GTP Series Winner: 1982-89, 1991

# # #

PORSCHE AMRICAN LE MANS SERIES STATISTICS

(1999 – 2009)

Porsche overall wins: 11 (Mid-Ohio, ‘06; Long Beach, ‘07; Houston, ‘07, Salt
Lake City, ’07, Lime Rock, ’07, Mid-Ohio ’07, Road America, ’07, Mosport ’07, Detroit ’07,
Sebring, ’08, Salt Lake City ‘08 )

Porsche Class Victories: 100
Audi - 80
Corvette – 71
Lola - 33
Ferrari - 27
BMW - 18
Acura - 18
Dodge - 16

Porsche LMP2 Wins: 24
Porsche GTS Wins: 2
Porsche GT/GT2 Wins: 74
Porsche 911 GT3 R/RS/RSR wins: 72

Porsche Class Poles: 86
Audi – 62
Corvette – 64
Lola/MG/AER – 31

Porsche has won the GT/GT2 ALMS manufacturers title nine of the 11 years of ALMS’ existence. 2006 was Porsche’s first LMP2 title, and Porsche won the drivers, manufacturers, engine and chassis titles in LMP2 for 2006, 2007, and 2008.

# # #

[cmk]

Well, it's a good list - seems most people speculating that Maassen and Collard were goners were totally correct too. Sad to see them go, because both are fast and consistent pilots, but by and large the remaining list is a good one. I still think Pilet is an odd one out though he's been getting faster with time, and I'm guessing he's popular with Narac/IMSA due to his nationality.

I guess the inevitable happened with Henzler going to Falken because there are no other viable Porsche teams. I'd like to hope that the rubber will be up to the task but that seems a little over-optimistic.

[NightStalk3r]

I wasn't too keen on Pillet to begin with but in 2009 he showed that he is one of Porsche's quickest Factory Drivers, Although not a Factory Driver anymore though Westbrook is still the Fastest for me.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by old man

Very sad to see Collard dropped by Porsche, poor reward for a good servant who should be snapped up by some team wanting experience and real speed. He has proved that he can drive anything, in his F3000 days he was as good as any driver in the field and is an excellent example of a driver making it on ability.

I'd agree 100%. Interestingly, rumours have been circulating for a while now that he may be headed for Peugeot.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Mal

Assuming Porsche PR is what it says then rather than criticise is it not better to thank Andy for coming on and giving first hand information?

Look forward to hearing more in the future.

...Makes me want to go out and buy a Porsche

Absolutely right. Thank you Andy.

And Mal, can you buy me one while you're there.......?

[TWK]

I'll add my thanks, Andy. Good information. One little adjustment on the Rolex (ne Sunbank) record, though. I think this is off by a year:

From 1977 to 1988, Porsche had compiled 12 consecutive overall wins

1976 = BMW, 1988 = Jaguar. So 11 consecutive overall wins in between. Still rather dominant, isn't it?

[Fogelhund]

Andy, that is a great deal of code you've written for this post.

Originally Posted by Porsche PR

Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (28, Germany) and Romain Dumas (32, France) are determined to defend their overall win at the Nürburgring 24 hour race in 2010 and are currently involved in intensive preparations and testing. Further events are planned.

Further events are planned, but as of yet unannounced. Speculate away.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Andy, that is a great deal of code you've written for this post.



Further events are planned, but as of yet unannounced. Speculate away.

maybe 2nd Spyder for alms?

[cmk]

Guest appearances in GT Open/Italian GT/Spanish GT cars?! Leitz, Pilet and Maassen all did a bunch of that last year. Further to the Nurby 24, maybe some VLN too?

[Jonerz]

Factory team in the Britcar 24 Hours! :P

Chris

[joeb]

Maybe they could be 3rd drivers for enduro's?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by joeb

Maybe they could be 3rd drivers for enduro's?

IMO, these are Porsche's best drivers. Are they 3rd driver material? I think there is an as of yet unannounced program for them. What that is, who knows.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

IMO, these are Porsche's best drivers. Are they 3rd driver material? I think there is an as of yet unannounced program for them. What that is, who knows.

Could they be for the un-named 997 RSR rumoured to possibly be out there for the ALMS?? Surely not Vici. You did say to speculate away... Speaking of Vici and Porsche, has anyone heard if the T-Mobile money came for the '10 season?

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

IMO, these are Porsche's best drivers. Are they 3rd driver material? I think there is an as of yet unannounced program for them. What that is, who knows.

I'll go out on a limb here: I think the testing has something to do with the possible entry of a hybrid version of a RSR at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I'll go out on a limb here: I think the testing has something to do with the possible entry of a hybrid version of a RSR at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring

Typically when you have racers and testers, your best aren't your testers... typically...

[cmk]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

IMO, these are Porsche's best drivers. Are they 3rd driver material? I think there is an as of yet unannounced program for them. What that is, who knows.

I would tend to agree with you, but I cannot help but wonder whether the other arrangements with customer 997 teams were made while a Cytosport RS Spyder for Bernhard and Dumas was still a possibility. If that fell through, which it seems to have, then they would be left in this situation.