Porsche LMP1 return for 2014 confirmed!

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

The problem with Graf is: He's one of the quickest. In ALMS. In 2010 and onwards.

See how that argument gets less and less compelling?

He hasn't ever really had a chance to show his stuff against the kind of opposition factory squads from Audi and Toyota would provide, and I think that will huer his chances.

A few years ago Graf put in some great stints at Petite in the rain in the spyder. Turned faster laps than the Audi and Peugeot diesels.

[Jonerz]

Yeah, on a wet Nurburgring circa 2001 he was out of this world good. In the AJR Porsche GT2 car he was a championship contender. In the Muscle Milk Spyder he had to do battle with Highcroft at the top of their game in 2010 and he darn near won the championship if it weren't for Greg's terrible Mid-O crash and the electrical problems they had at Petit. I think the Muscle Milk team has been his best situation in his career and I hold him in very high regard.

Chris

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Klaus Graf:

Solid driver in LMP and GT2, brilliant in Trans Am.
Fast.
Rarely makes mistakes.
Agressive when he needs to.
One of the best wet-weather racers in sportscar racing right now.
Consistent.
Able to match laptimes with a teammate like Lucas Luhr.
Good racecraft.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Yes he has , he raced a Panoz for Don in the LAMS , and didnt do very much at all . He raced a Panoz P1 for Den Bla Avis and didnt do much either .

To be honest , I dont really rate him as brilliant at all .

Do you not really rate Mike Rockenfeller, Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen, Timo Bernard as brilliant either? He's co-driven with these guys and has been on pace or faster than them. He was faster than Timo or Sascha in the RS Spyder. The only co-driver that was quite a bit faster than him was Romain Dumas when he raced the Spyder at Mosport, but of course that could have been down to the fact that once Dumas gave Graf the car they were a lap ahead.

I agree though we won't see him in a factory car, which is a shame, but we'll instead see him in a Pickett customer Porsche LMP1 in the future.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

The problem with Graf is: He's one of the quickest. In ALMS. In 2010 and onwards.

See how that argument gets less and less compelling?

He hasn't ever really had a chance to show his stuff against the kind of opposition factory squads from Audi and Toyota would provide, and I think that will huer his chances.

He went up to P2 overall after making some great moves on factory the diesel P1 cars and lapped the entire P2 field at PLM 2009 in under an hour after starting in the pitlane .

[Simmi]

Graf's got a (probably well-paid) job outside of racing working for Muscle Milk. Think he looks after sales in Europe but not 100%. So he is pretty cushy where he is, but the racer in him would probably still take the works drive.

For the record I don't see Porsche approaching him.

[littleman]

Porsche are a truly global brand so would probably want a genuinely international driver line-up (with a healthy German content!).

Other fast, consistent and now experienced P1/P2 drivers worthy of consideration are:

Olivier Pla
Danny Watts
Neel Jani

[Lipp]

I hope Jeroen Bleekemolen gets a shot in the P1 Porsche.
He has been driving the porsche P2 in the past winning Le Mans, and winning the Porsche supercup two times. He seems to me perfect for the job.

[Speed-King]

How about Alex Wurz?

Won Le Mans with Porsche back in 1996, has intimate knowledge of two recent factory P1 programs - and is just an all around good guy.

He'd be very high on my list, though snatching him from Toyota might not be easy.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by The Badger

What customer car !!! ..... There wont be any Porsche P1 customer cars until at least 2015 . If MM get one , then yes , I can see Graff in it ..... but why wouldnt they want to stay with HPD ..... HPD are looking to get involved more , so why not stay with something they know , and works .

Pickett told RLM at Le Mans that he's talking to Porsche about it.

[The Badger]

Talking and getting are 2 differant things altogether . cant see him opperating a P1 Porsche in 2014 , maybe 2015 though .

[Livininthinair]

I like the "L" team - Long, Lieb, Lietz... But please don't forget Joerg - I don't want to see Flying Lizard break up but would love to see those guys get the attention they deserve.

I think Lieb with his engineering ability will be involved regardless...

- but you have to agree Porsche has by far the largest pool of drivers to choose from + I'm sure many others that would jump at the chance to win Le Mans for Porsche.

[Brake dust]

Nick Heidfel
Simon Pagenaud
Mike Rockenfeller

[Chiana]

Originally Posted by Livininthinair

I like the "L" team - Long, Lieb, Lietz... But please don't forget Joerg - I don't want to see Flying Lizard break up but would love to see those guys get the attention they deserve.

Bergmeister (or Long) would be a great 3rd driver for longer enduros, Lizards can always rent Patrick Pilet or someone of his caliber for the #45/80 as a temporary replacement

[Félix]

All these driver discussions/speculation in endurance racing just make me laugh. Give anyone an Audi and they'll look super fast. Even a kiddo with some F3 experience. Just look at Rinaldo Capello; I could easily think of a hundred drivers who would turn faster laptimes at Audi. Give them sufficient mileage in a factory team with superior equipment and they'll be "stars". Heidfeld pretty much beat everyone at Rebellion this year at LM but he was still a lot slower than the Audi drivers so was he the best driver on track or was he inferior to everyone at Audi??? The only way to look bad in endurance racing is when you crash often - and even then guys like McNish and Bouillon are still stars.

It's auto racing; it's much more about equipment than driver - especially in endurance racing - but we'll never know whether the driver accounts for 40% or 5% of it.