Orbit Racing - Le Mans final qualifying

2003 24 Heures du Mans
final qualifying 12 June
 
crowded pace

Orbit Racing will start the 2003 24 Heures du Mans from third on the GT grid. 
 Marc Lieb of Germany qualified the No. 87 YES Network Porsche 911 GT3 RS in 
four minutes 8.913 seconds on the 13.65-km French course.  He will share 
driving duty with Americans Leo Hindery and Peter Baron, who started fifth in the 
class last year.

"On one hand, I'm a bit disappointed because of the lap time.  There was so 
much traffic, I couldn't get a clear lap," Lieb said.  "But on the other hand, 
the car is very good and it should be okay for the race.  We had a problem 
with the oil pressure, but the car still definitely had the pole in it."

Lieb has had a strong start to the 2003 race season.  Competing in the 
American Le Mans Series, the FIA GT Championship and the Rolex Sports Car Series, he 
has collected four class poles, a victory and two podium finishes to date.

expert assist

American Le Mans Series regulars may be surprised to see Tim Pendergast in 
the Orbit Racing garage at Le Mans.  The International Motor Sports 
Association's special projects director took a vacation from his duties with the 
sanctioning body to join Orbit Racing for the 24 Heures du Mans.  He was team manager 
for the Manthey Porsche team in 2000, but has more varied duties this week.

"I'll do anything!  The reason I want to work is that I'm not a spectator - 
I've got to work," he explained.  "This beats sitting in my office listening to 
Radio Le Mans and watching the computer.  My father used to race vintage cars 
and he always had cars that ran at Le Mans.  In sports-car racing, this is 
THE race."

racing to relax

How does the Orbit Racing crew relax?  With race cars, of course.  The team 
built a 1/32 slot car track in its Florida, USA race shop.  With 90 feet of 
track, it takes up most of the showroom floor.  Team members race a collection of 
their all-time favorite cars.

The team hobby started with release of of the Orbit Racing scale model car.  
It quickly sold out its first run, so manufacturer Scalextric has ordered 
another 2000 cars for sale.

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945