Win for Marino on the famous Nordschleife
The Nordschleife, quite often described as
the most beautiful race track on earth, was
the scene for the 2nd round of the VLN
Championship today. A 4-hour race, with a
start grid of 210 cars, run on the old
Nürburgring circuit (the Nordschleife) and
the shorter Grand Prix track which together
have a combined single lap distance of
24.433kms.
As a precursor to the famous 24 Hour race
that is staged on this track next month,
the team and one of the drivers that Marino
Franchitti will be competing with in that
event came together today for the VLN race.
Marino was partnering Frank Stippler in the
#131 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR newly acquired and
entered by HISAQ Competition.
With just one practice session yesterday,
Marino watched as co-driver Frank Stippler
qualified their car on pole early this
morning with a lap time of 8:19.798 minutes
almost 2.3 seconds ahead of the Porsche
works’ team, Manthey Racing GmbH, with
Porsche works’ driver, Romain Dumas, at the
wheel. “Frank did an incredible job this
morning to put the car on pole, especially
as we had some niggling electrical problems
yesterday which the team worked well into
the night to fix, so all credit to them both
on a fantastic achievement” said Marino.
Just after midday the 210 cars departed the
grid in 3 groups and, as pole sitter, Frank
lead the first group as the race got
underway. Dumas quickly took the lead, only
to have it taken away from him some 12
minutes later when the #131 Porsche overtook
Dumas under braking. Dumas was later to run
into trouble, but the #131 Porsche continued
in the lead dicing back and forth in the
early stages with the Zakspeed Viper. Frank
pitted at 1.15pm handing the car over to
Marino who continued to hold the lead during
his stint. At the pitstop Frank took the car
back to finish the race, but during his
final stint had to make an unscheduled stop
due to recurring electrical problems.
Despite the setback the #131 car finished
the race almost one-and-a-half minutes ahead
of its closest rival.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet” said an
excited, but bemused Marino after the race.
“Standing on the podium with a wreath of
golden leaves around my neck made me
think of all the old pictures I’ve seen in
the past of my heroes doing exactly the
same. This is an incredible track, and
Porsche have done it again, this is my first
time driving the 997 and it’s a fantastic
car. For both the team’s efforts last night
and Frank’s outstanding qualifying lap this
morning, my thanks go to all of them. It was
a huge amount of fun being part of it and I
can’t wait to get back here next month”.
ENDS
Press enquiries: Kaye Wilson, Tel: +44 1753
842 322; UK Mob: +44 7785 227 772
Note to Editors: Marino Franchitti
will co-drive with Frank Stippler and
Porsche works’ drivers, Richard Westbrook
and Emmanuel Collard, in the HISAQ
Competition Porsche 997 GT3 RSR at the
Nurbürgring 24 Hour race on 24th/25th May,
2008. Marino is currently competing in the
2008 American Le Mans Series driving the
Dyson Racing #20 Porsche RS Spyder with
co-driver Butch Leitzinger and lies 4th
