World Rally Champion goes Racing
Last season it was nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb and five-time Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro who risked their reputation and pitted themselves against the best Porsche sprint race pilots in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and this coming weekend the reigning World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier races one of the fearsome 460 bhp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars for the Project 1 team at round three of the championship at Spielberg Austria. There he will face a quality field of 27 of the established Porsche specialists. The 30-year-old Volkswagen WRC pilot has already had a taste of the Supercup action last year when he contested the race in Monaco.
"Obviously racing on a circuit is very different from rallying. But every race driver has a passion for speed and so it's always exciting to gain new experiences," said Ogier. In 2013, the Frenchman clinched the world championship title for Volkswagen and has won four of six WRC rounds he has contested so far this year. Before Ogier tackles the Lotos Rally Poland later this month he is eager to produce a good showing at the Red Bull Ring at Spielberg.
The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is contested as support to Formula 1 nine times this season. One race is held at each of the eight European rounds, with the season wrapped up with a newly-scheduled double-header in Austin Texas. Regarded as the pinnacle of Porsche's 19 national one-make race series, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has become a launching platform into professional motor racing. "We are delighted that famous guest drivers are always keen to take up the challenge in our series. Having Sébastien Ogier at Spielberg and Patrick Dempsey at Hockenheim for Porsche AG we have two prominent guest drivers with us again this season," says Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Manager Jonas Krauss.
19th June, 2014