Lucas Luhr grabs Australian ALMS GT Pole, Porsche 911 GT3 Rs in Top Two Spots
30 December 2000
ADELAIDE, Australia - December 30, 2000 - The #5 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, qualified by Lucas Luhr, turned in the fastest lap during the short 30-minute qualifying session to earn the GT pole position for Sunday's six-hour Adelaide Race of a T housand Years.Luhr, who has shared three American Le Mans Series victories with co-driver Dirk Muller, bested teammate Sascha Maassen, who put the #51 Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in second position - less than 1/2-second behind Luhr. In the points championshi p, even if Muller/Luhr win the event, Maassen would win the championship if he and Wollek finish in the top three.
Luhr, who downplayed the importance of the pole for a six-hour event, said the track time for car setup was really more critical.
"I have driven the Macao street circuit in Formula III, and I really enjoy this kind of track. If we get our setup finalized, we will be hard to beat," said Luhr, who was surprised to be on the pole as Maassen/Wollek were faster yesterday in practice.
Behind the two Barbour Porsches are the three Prototype Technology Group BMW M3s, led by the #7 van Overbeek/Said Stuck car, followed by the #10 Cunningham/Jonsson/Auberlin BMW and the #6 Borcheller/Lazarro BMWs. Sixth on GT grid is the Petersen Motorspo rts Porsche 911 GT3 R of Michael Petersen/Randy Pobst/Mike Fitzgerald, followed by the third Dick Barbour Porsche driven by Randy Wars/Christian Menzel/John Graham. Defending Daytona 24 Hour champions Haberthur Racing, with drivers Vuillaume/Juraz/Gutierr ez, is eighth in a Porsche 911 GT3 R, with the two Skea International Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Rs ninth and tenth, with Mowlem/Dean 9th and Bundy/Skea/Wall 10th. Canadians Wankum/Foster/Pabst in the Kyser Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R were 11th, with the Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3 R of Orcutt/Palmer/D'Agostin rounding out the GT field.
Randy Pobst, who contended for the ALMS GT most of the season, didn't want to push the car in qualifying to save the tires.
"In ALMS racing, you have to start the race on the tires you qualify with, so we didn't want to wear out the rubber in the qualifying session. We don't have the technology in our Porsche that the Dick Barbour cars have, so there's no point in chasing them in qualifying - we'll stay out of trouble and try to be there at the end of the race," said Pobst.
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 31, 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, foun d 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. The ALMS web site will also have live time and scoring available during the race.