Mike Rockenfeller - Zhuhai race and championship

Mike Rockenfeller won his second-consecutive sports-car championship on
Saturday, clinching the FIA GT Championship GT2 title with two races
remaining in the 2005 season. Rockenfeller, of Monaco, and his co-driver
Marc Lieb of Ludwigsburg, Germany, collected their fifth class win in nine
starts to share the championship.

 

At 21, Rockenfeller is the youngest driver to win an FIA GT championship. He
also won the 2004 Porsche Carrera Cup championship.

 

Lieb qualified the No. 66 GruppeM Racing Porsche 996 GT3 RSR for the
three-hour race at Zhuhai International Circuit in China. He took the GT2
pole position with a lap of one minute 35.462 seconds (162.15 kilometres per
hour) on the 4.3-kilometre road course. Driving the first race stint, he
relinquished the class lead momentarily at the race start, but quickly
regained it and opened a 17-second lead before handing off to Rockenfeller
just past the one-hour mark. Rockenfeller increased the lead to 20 seconds
and logged the fastest GT2 race lap (1:36.347) before pitting for a driver
change with about 50 minutes remaining in the race. Lieb maintained the
margin for the GT2 victory.

 

"Thanks to Michelin – we had a good tire the whole year – also to the team.
It's great to win the championship already, and it's great for us to have
this result this year, after winning at Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa,"
Rockenfeller said. "Now the next two races we can really enjoy, push hard
and take little risks, because we really want to win."

 

The next FIA GT Championship race is scheduled for 18 November in Dubai,
UAE.