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At the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, which traditionally starts in darkness at 5:45am, the other 911 GT3 R have also advanced through the field. Manthey-Racing’s 911 GT3 R, driven by Romain Dumas (France), Dirk Werner (Germany) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France), has so far made up 21 positions thanks to consistent fast lap times and a perfect pit strategy and is currently lying in fifth place. In the 911 GT3 R fielded by the Australian team Competition Motorsports, Patrick Long (USA) took the lead after four and a half hours. With
In the B class, Grove Motorsport leads the field with the 911 GT3 Cup shared by Ben Barker (Great Britain) and the Australians Stephen and Brenton Grove. Fourth place is held by the
Outside Australia, the event can be viewed live on the Internet on www.bathurst12hour.com.au.
Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars: “After our big struggle in qualifying, we’re now going really well in the race. All four 911 GT3 R are running in the top ten. This is a tribute to the experience of our drivers who managed to keep out of any skirmishes during the chaotic early phase. We can’t quite match the pace of the fastest, but we’re very reliable and so far benefiting from our fuel consumption and tyre wear. The situation remains exciting. I’m sure we’ll have to wait until the last 30 minutes of the race to find out where we’ll end up.”
Sebastian Golz, Project Manager 911 GT3 R: “Our 911 GT3 R are experiencing no technical problems. We’re making good strategic use of the safety car phases. Everything is going according to plan.”
Mark Webber,
Dirk Werner (911 GT3 R #911): “The start alone was pretty unusual. I’ve never started a race in the dark. And the fact that we practiced during the day here didn’t make things easier. Luckily the first safety car phase arrived quickly and by the time the race went back to green it was starting to get light. Still, the start was a great experience. We’ve done a good job of making up ground. Let’s see what else we can do in the second half of the race.”
Earl Bamber (911 GT3 R #991): “We took up the race from far down the field, however Laurens made a cracking start off the line and worked his way up to third place. Now we’re holding a steady course. If we can now to establish ourselves in the leading pack, then we’d have every chance in the final phase.”
All reports on the previous season can be found in our archive.