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FIA GT: ROOCK Racing Starts Well Prepared to the New Season

8 April 1999

FIA GT-World Championship 1999, 1. Round Monza (I)

o ROOCK developpped: New Porsche 911 GT2 that complies to the changed 99 regularies

o Debut: Former DTM pilot Hubert Haupt will support Ortelli, Hrtgen and Ahrl as ROOCK regular Leverkusen-- All preparations are well finished: Due to its self developped, basically new Porsche 911 GT2 race car, customer team ROOCK Racing is looking very optimistically to the new season that starts this weekend in Monza, Italy, with the first of ten rounds. With regards to its pilots, the Leverkusen outfit stick to driver who prooved their worth: Like the past two years, Stphane Ortelli (F), Claudia Hrtgen (Aachen) and Andr Ahrl (Bonn) will start as ROOCK regulars in 99. As fourth pilot, Bavarian Hubert Haupt belongs to the all-year-long line-up. Allready, the former Audi team member in the DTM has celebrated a brave debut: Together with Ahrl, the Munich based professional won the division GT2 at the "24 hours of Daytona" for his new outfit.

After the win of the FIA GT2 World Championship in 1996 and two vice championships in the following two years, ROOCK Racing has precised its target for the new season: Despite strong opponents like the Chrysler works team Oreca, the German outfit of 33 years old Fabian Roock want to bring back the championship crown to its home base in Leverkusen near Cologne. "We have modified and optimized the Porsche 911 GT2 in nearly every detail", explains Roock the developpment work his team has done to the twinturbo race car during the winter time. "One of the main points of our work was the adaption to the new technical rules" says chief technician Mike Gramke (31). For the season 1999, the GT regularies allows the use of 14 inch wide tyres for the front and the rear axle. In 98, this was reduced to 12 inch. Like last year, ROOCK Racing again will enter its self developped sequential six-speed gearbox as well as modified engines. Result: more output and a higher torque on most of the useable revs. The new minimum weight ... 1100 kg, 100 kg more as in 98 ... allow Gramke to improve the balance of the car.

ROOCK finished the test sessions well prepared: With a lap time of 1.28,321 minutes, Stphane Ortelli set a new lap record for GT2 cars on the French Nogaro race track and completed .. together with Claudia Hrtgen ... a total of 375 laps without major problems. "With this result we can be very satisfied", Gramke (31) said. "The test proved that our developpments work out. The car is fast and reliable." ROOCK tried out more than 200 new tyres supplied by its partner Yokohama and was very satisfied with the results.

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