ALMS: Sascha Maassen Marches Towards ALMS GT Title in Austrailia [EMAIL] Document from Porsche Motorsports
20 December 2000
ADELAIDE, Australia - December 20, 2000 - Porsche 911 GT3 R team owner Dick Barbour has already clinched the 2000 American Le Mans Series GT team championship. He helped Porsche clinch the manufacturer's title with the success of his two-car team. One of his drivers will win the driver's championship. So why is Barbour nervous going into next week's New Year's eve finale in Australia?"Although points leader Sascha Maassen has the best chance to win the driver's title, Dirk Muller is right on his heels. Even though the two of them are Dick Barbour Racing teammates, the driver's championship means an awful lot for both career enhancemen t and personal pride. I am nervous for both of them," said Barbour.
Maassen, the German GT veteran, has 217 points by virtue of his five ALMS wins in the #51 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. His co-driver, Frenchman Bob Wollek, is only one point behind, but has not chance at the title because he will share the drivi ng duties with Maassen in the #51 car. Although there is an extra point awarded for turning the fastest lap - allowing the possibility for a tie - Maassen has already turned the fastest lap at two previous events, thus he would win the points tie-breaker.
Dirk Muller, the German factory driver who now resides in Monaco, is the only other driver with a chance at the championship with his 210 points. Muller, with co-driver Lucas Luhr, also a resident of Monaco, won three ALMS GT events early in the season in the #5 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Muller needs to win the Adelaide event, with Maassen finishing out of the top three for Dirk to win the title. Of the twelve points races in ALMS this year, only the ten best finishes count towards the ch ampionship.
Randy Pobst and Bruno Lambert, who drove the Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R to two ALMS GT wins this season and contended for the title until the most recent race in Las Vegas, will not be making the trip to Australia.
Other Porsche 911 GT3 R teams who will compete in the 6 hour/1000 KM Adelaide Race of a Thousand Years include the Swiss-based 24 Hour at Daytona champions Haberthur Racing, with Patrick Vuillaume (France), Manfred Jurasz (Germany), and Francesc Gutierrez (Spain) sharing the driving duties; the White Lightning/Petersen Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Michael Petersen, 2000 Porsche Cup winner Mike Fitzgerald, and the above-mentioned Randy Pobst at the helm; and the Canadian-based Kyser Racing Porsche 911 GT 3 R of Kye Wankum (Canada) and Joe Foster (USA) driving.
The final Porsche 911 GT3 R entries come from Perth, Australia-based Skea Racing, where team owner Rohan Skea will enter two cars. Johnny Mowlen, a rising star on the British motorsports scene, will drive one of the cars, and Rohan will be a driver in the other. Additional drivers are still to be named.
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.
For 2001, Porsche will be offering the 911 GT3 RS - an updated version of the car - for racers around the world as well as updates to the present cars to keep them competitive. Specifications for that car will be released shortly. The Adelaide Race for a Thousand Years will receive same-day national coverage on NBC-TV on Sunday, December 21, at 2:00 PM Eastern time. For those who want to listen to the race live - all six hours of it will be broadcast on American Le Mans Radio, found on the ALMS web site at www.americanlemans.com. As the Eastern time zone in the U.S. is 15-1/2 hours behind Adelaide, and the race starts local time at 4:00 PM, the ALMS web broadcast begins promptly at 12:30 AM on December 31. Qualifying will also be broadcast live on the ALMS web site (Friday, December 29 at 10:30 PM Eastern time) as well as night practice (Friday, December 29 at 4:30 AM Eastern time). The ALMS web site will also have live time and scoring available during those times.
Updates on the Porsches contesting this event in Australia can be found all weekend on the official Porsche web site www.porsche.com.