Maassen fastes in Adelaide ALMS GT Night Practice; Porsche Splits GTS Vipers
29 December 2000
ADELAIDE, Australia - December 29, 2000 - The #51Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Sascha Maassen and Bob Wollek - the top two drivers in the American Le Mans Series GT point standings - was the fastest GT race car on the Adelaide street cour se Friday as the ALMS field ran 70 minutes of night practice for Sunday's Race of a Thousand years.Maassen, who will be looking to clinch the driver's championship after the six-hour event, not only turned the fastest lap in night practice, but went faster than one of the Oreca team's GTS Vipers - a V-10 normally several seconds ahead of the GT continge nt.
"There is not much track time here for chassis and drivetrain setup, but our car is working well," said Maassen, who has won five ALMS events this year.
"Although we won't make any significant changes for Saturday's qualifying session, we will make some chassis adjustments for the long six-hour race," he said.
Second in class - also ahead of the Oreca Viper - is the #5 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dirk Muller/Lucas Luhr. Muller, with an outside shot at the championship, said that things are calm in the Barbour camp. When asked about racing against the #51 car on the track, Muller was clear on his strategy.
"I am really enjoying this competition among the team, which is hard, but fair. The championship would mean a lot to me, but a clean race and respect for my teammates as competitors are most important," he said.
Third fastest in GT night practice was the #10 Cunningham/Jonsson/Auberlin BMW M3, followed by the #7 van Overbeek/Said/Stuck and #6 Borcheller/Lazarro BMWs.
Sixth in GT, despite a late session crash which damaged the right front radiator, was the Petersen Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Michael Petersen/Randy Pobst/Mike Fitzgerald, followed by the third Dick Barbour Porsche driven by Randy Wars/Christian Menz el/John Graham. The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3 R of Robert Orcutt/Darren Palmer/Christian D'Agostin was next, with the Skea Racing International Porsche 911 GT3 R of Johnny Mowlem/Richard Dean rounding out the top GT entries.
Mowlem, whose best finish this year was a second with co-driver David Murry at Sebring, said that traffic on the narrow street circuit will really impact the race.
"We had a GT-only practice session earlier in the day, and drivers would really get into a lap-long rhythm, but with the prototypes on the track, we will have to brake at a moment's notice to let them by. They will be very aggressive as you can lose lots of time here if you miss an opportunity to pass," said Mowlem.
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.