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ALMS: Porsche Marches Towards ALMS GT Championship at Laguna Seca

12 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

MONTEREY, California - With three events remaining for the Porsche 911 GT3 R race car to complete its first full season of motor sports competition, the accomplishments are already starting to accumulate, with the results of the American Le Mans Series Globalcenter Sports Car Championship at Laguna Seca Raceway this weekend expected to add to the list.

Having swept to victory in the previous nine ALMS GT events - and mounting an ALMS winning streak of 13 class wins going back to last year - Porsche has already clinched the 2000 ALMS Manufacturers title over BMW. And, if either Alex Job Racing or Dick Barbour Racing win the race at Laguna Seca - and the two teams have accounted for all nine wins so far this year - a Porsche team will clinch the GT team championship. Also, a Porsche win at Laguna would assure that a Porsche driver will also win th e individual driver's title as well. Finally, with the Corvettes beating the Vipers two of the last three events in the GTS class, Porsche has remained ahead of Dodge as the winningest manufacturer in ALMS since the series started early last year.

But who will win the driver's title among the Porsche pilots is very much uncertain. The Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Rs have won seven of the nine events so far this year, with current points leaders Sascha Maassen and Bob Wollek having captured four races - Charlotte, Silverstone, Portland, and Petit Le Mans - in their #51 car. The companion #5 Porsche, driven by Dirk Muller and Lucas Luhr, has won at Sebring, Nurburgring and Sears Point - and captured more fast laps points - but unf ortunate track incidents have put Muller/Luhr behind the more experienced Maassen/Wollek in the championship fight.

"Although both of our cars have been punted off the track by careless passing choices made by both prototype and GTS class drivers, I'm afraid Dirk and Lucas have had the worst luck in that department," said team owner Dick Barbour. "Dirk has either won the pole or turned the fastest race lap in seven of the nine races, yet he and Lucas have only won three events."

Currently, Maassen has 195 points (including single points for turning the fast race lap at Nurburgring and Texas), while his co-driver Wollek has 193 points. Muller is third with 178 points, and Lucas Luhr has 164. With 80 first place points sti ll up for grabs (25 each for Laguna and Las Vegas, and 30 points for the finale in Australia), all four drivers still have a shot for the title.

The other drivers with a chance for the title are Randy Pobst and Bruno Lambert, co-pilots in the #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, and currently fifth and sixth respectively in the points. The Lambert/Pobst combination has won two races thi s year - Mosport and Texas - and Randy had a recent success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he scored back-to-back fifth place finishes competing against Europe's top drivers in the Porsche-Pirelli-Supercup. Pobst has 160 points and Lambert has earned 159.

Other leading Porsche 911 GT3 R entries include defending ALMS GT champion Cort Wagner, who will be co-driving in the Aspen Knolls/Mike Collucci Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with Shane Lewis; Doc Bundy, former SCCA and IMSA champion, who suffered brok en ribs when his Skea Racing International Porsche 911 GT3 R hit the wall in Portland, will be co-driving with team owner Rohan Skea; while Atlanta's David Murry, former SCCA World Challenge title holder, will drive with England's Johnny Mowlem in the oth er Skea Porsche.

Built at the Porsche Motorsport in the Research and Development at Weissach, the Porsche 911 GT3 R delivers 410 horsepower from its 3.6-liter normally-aspirated engine. In 1999, its first year of competition, the car finished 1-2 in class at Le Mans, and won its class in the American Le Mans Series. More than 60 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs have been sold so far worldwide, with almost half of those cars having raced in the U.S. this year.

Text Provided By Porsche

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