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Rally star Sébastien Loeb in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup

At the season-opener of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup on May 12th in Barcelona, one of the most successful race drivers of the present joins the action as a guest driver: Sébastien Loeb, the nine-time rally world champion from France, races the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for the first against Supercup specialists from 13 countries on the Circuit de Catalunya. And at round two of the attractive one-make race series as well he lines up on the grid of the Monaco street course on 26th May at the wheel of the Porsche AG entered VIP vehicle.

"The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is a great challenge for me. We all sit in identical cars and the race is very tough due to the incredibly close competition. It'll be very hard for me to stand up to these quick and experienced Supercup pilots, but I love such challenges," says the 39-year-old native of Alsace, who with 77 WRC victories under his belt is the most successful rally driver ever. Barcelona marks the first race with the 460 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the racing version of the new 911 GT3 (type 991). The near-standard race vehicle is based on the seventh generation of the 911 and is run exclusively in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in 2013. Sébastien Loeb states: "I'm thrilled that Porsche has given me the opportunity to be at this debut."

"It speaks volumes for the attractiveness of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup when world stars like Sébastien Loeb agree to make a guest appearance," says Jonas Krauss, Manager of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. "We are pleased to have one of the most successful sportsmen of racing in our series. And it'll give our drivers an interesting task to pit themselves against such a famous colleague."

With the previous model of the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Sébastien Loeb has already gained a great deal of experience - as a driver and team boss: In the Porsche Carrera Cup France, the squad of Sébastien Loeb Racing not only won the team classification, but the overall winner and the winner of the Gentlemen class also came from this outfit. Sébastien Loeb himself won both races on the demanding street circuit of Pau. This season, his team fields no less than five 911 GT3 Cup vehicles in the Carrera Cup France. He speaks very highly of Porsche's brand trophy series: "In these races you fight hard for every metre. The boys give nothing away. Now that's what I call pure motorsport."

The Frenchman is not the first World Rally Champion to have contested the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Before him such legendary pilots like Björn Waldegard, Walter Röhrl, Ari Vatanen, Stig Blomqvist and Massimo Biasion took up the challenge to compete with the 911 GT3 Cup in the flagship series of the current 20 Porsche one-make cup series worldwide.