Autosportfoto

Porsche pilots confident for second half of the season

In the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos, the World Endurance Championship heads into the second half of the season on 15th September. Porsche factory pilots Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) contest the race on the Grand Prix circuit at the gates of the megacity Sao Paulo at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by the Felbermayr-Proton team.

The race
The six hours of Sao Paulo is run on the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos, the 4.309 kilometre Formula 1 circuit on the outskirts of the city of millions. This track also hosts the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Porsche drivers
Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz go head-to-head with rivals from Aston Martin and Ferrari in the hotly-contested GTE Pro class. Christian Ried (Germany) and his Italian teammates Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti share driving duties in the GTE Am class in a Felbermayr-Porsche from last year.

The vehicle
The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR is the top model of Porsche Motorsport's customer racing vehicles. For the 2012 racing season, the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR received extensive modifications. Additionally, the race car was fitted with a new front splitter and an adapted rear wing after Le Mans.

The schedule
The race in Interlagos starts on 15 September at midday local time (17.00 CEST). Eurosport 1 broadcasts the race live from 17.00 hrs to 21.00 hrs CEST and airs highlights on 18 September from midnight to 01.00 hrs CEST.

Quotes before the race

Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport: "The race in Silverstone showed us that the measures taken concerning the Balance of Performance were right. The 911 GT3 RSR is now at the same performance level as our competitors. It'll be interesting to see how the World Endurance Championship works in the new environment of Sao Paulo."

Marc Lieb: "We found a good basic set-up for our car in Silverstone. After we fell back we changed something at every pit stop and we learned a lot from this. For Sao Paulo, we have a couple of good ideas that could make things even better."

Richard Lietz: "We now have the speed to match the pace of the front-runners. Now we have to find a good balance over the whole race distance. In Sao Paulo our aim is to set pole again and finish on the podium."

The World Endurance Championship
Sports prototypes and GT vehicles race in four different classes in the World Endurance Championship: LMGTE Pro, LMGTE Am, LMP1 and the LMP2. They start together but are classified separately.