Three successful premieres for Porsche at Nürburgring

Porsche had a very successful start at Nürburgring’s Long Distance Championship. The new Porsche 911 GT3 R claimed victory in its first race, the 911 GT3 R Hybrid also made its debut in Germany clinching sixth place. The weekend also saw Walter Röhrl making his comeback to the tracks after 17 years.

Driving the new 480 hp Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by the Manthey Racing team Timo Bernhard (Germany), Marc Lieb (Germany) and Marcel Tiemann (Monaco) were the winners of the first race of the season at Nürburgring.

Bernhard said, “It is extraordinary to climb to the top of the podium at the first race ever of a new race car.” Team mate Lieb added “It seems the new 911 GT3 R has inherited the reliability of all racing 911.” The Porsche pilots relegated the best Audi RS and the BMW M3 to the lower spots in the podium.

The debut of Porsche’s 911 GT3 R Hybrid was also very promising with Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Richard Lietz and the former Porsche Junior Martin Ragginger (both Austria) claiming sixth place. Bergmeister was positively surprised with the performance of the hybrid racer that is equipped with a combustion engine supplemented by two electric motors delivering 60 kW each to the front axle.

The weekend’s season-opener also saw the comeback of double world rally champion Walter Röhrl after 17 years away from the tracks. Together with Horst von Saurma-Jeltsch (Germany) and Chris Harris (Great Britain) he drove the standard 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3 RS through a test under race conditions. At the end of the race Röhrl said “The car exceeded my highest expectations and I had a great time at the wheel. We were able to match the pace of thoroughbred race cars. The 911 GT3 RS was particularly sensational in fast corners and under braking”, he added.

The action will return to Nürburing on the 10th of April with a four hours midday race.