Frankfurt Motor Show:
The 904e concept car is launched – Porsche have surprised the world by additionally unveiling a more extreme racing version, and announce their intention to host an affordable e-racing series with full factory support.
The race series is intended to help promote competitive motor-sports based around Porsche's electric road car platform.
It's set to be a one-make racing formula for the new E-Generation, with close links back to road-car DNA and affordable technology.
Porsche Motorsport Division HQ, Stuttgart: Pre-season press launch
The sponsors, Teams and leading Drivers have just been announced.
The grid looks set to a mixture of professional drivers and established teams - with the added dimension of privateers.
As we can't cram the entire grid into one shot, we thought this image would give you a flavour for some of the front-running Teams and drivers involved - it's going to be spectacular!
Round #1 - Nürburgring - paddock
Grid line-up at the "sharp end" looks to be very strong going into the first round - we're looking forward to a hotly contested championship, and we hope to see some really intense action and close racing out on the track . . .
Round#1 - Nürburgring
The Zuffenhausen team took an early lead, and held position in a very wet race - Underhill in car #90 did a sterling job, but the Joest team completed a strategic driver change - and put Senna hot on their heels in car #7 . . . Given Senna's legendary form in the wet, this was always going to get interesting.
Round#1 - Nürburgring
Thankfully the rain passed, and an interesting battle began to develop in the midfield.
Team Jägermester led a gaggle of cars - but had yet to pit.
BASF #56 remained close behind, but Lapine #3 and Martini #96 were both pushing hard.
MOCGI #57 remained a little way back - but still looked to be in contention.
Round#1 - Nürburgring - race results
What an epic race that was!
The Zuffenhausen team managed to hold off Joest - who sadly had to retire car#7 with engine failure in the closing stages - but from the state of the winning car, it looks like things might've got a little heated between Danks and Johansson - its just a pity our cameras missed that bit of action!
A good result for the Lapine team as well - they benefitted from a mid-race incident involving the BASF and Jägermeister cars of Arnold and Schneider.
We imagine the atmosphere is going to be fairly frosty at the team debrief after their debacle.
Ministry of CGI are delighted to also be on the podium at the end of the first round - Hogenboom putting in a solid drive to clinch third.
Round #2 - Paul Ricard - Race
A fairly quiet race in terms of action on the track - the Martini team found their groove early in qualifying, and Turner dominated all weekend.
Car #96 brought home the win - but was later impounded by the stewards due to technical irregularities found in their power management system.
- let's hope the Team can get that issue ironed out with the FIA as we look forward to Round #3
Round #3 - Suzuka - Merchandising
The locals seem to be getting firmly behind the NewMan / Joest Racing Team as we move to Japan for the third round.
Senna's always been hugely popular out here, so it's no surprise that his return would be immortalised in kit form!
(The race itself proved to be wet - and Senna wiped the floor with the field, as per normal in these conditions)
Round #4 - Monza - Race
The on-track rivalry between Charlie Arnold and Florian Schneider continued throughout the race at Monza - with the lead changing constantly.
In the final stages of the race it looked like Schneider was pulling out a comfortable lead, but when the duelling duo came up against back-markers, it was Arnold who was able to take advantage. This was his decisive overtake against Schneider in the high speed section running down toward Ascari corner.
In the pits after the race, Schneider was evidently fuming - understandably.
Round #4 - Monza - Aftershow Party
Before the teams packed up and left this glorious historic circuit, the TMOCGI / Mokum Mayhem Team put on a superb display run on the old banking.
Hogenboom reported back that the surface was "bumpy as anything" and the car certainly looked twitchy at times - but it didn't stop him putting on a show!
Round #5 - Spa Francorchamps - Race
BASF Racing seemed to be operating on an entirely different level this weekend - Schneider clearly taking no prisoners after his disappointment at Monza.
Here we see him on one of his typical charges - fully committed, daredevil driving from the German maestro.
We're amazed Senna gave him any breathing room to complete this overtake - but we're glad he did, as the duel between them went on to be the highlight of our season so far.
Thankfully Schneider and Numan held it together to take the top step on our podium - but Senna and Johansson still remain in very close contention.
This shot sums up the race (and our one-make racing series) perfectly: high adrenaline, massively entertaining, closely competitive motor-sport from start to finish.
Round #6 - LeMans (Reverse Circuit) - Final race of Season #1
Verhulst leads the field in the MOCGI / Mokum Mayhem car - closely followed by Lapine Porsche #3 as our race heads into the night-time phase.
Sadly, both of these cars were to drop down the leader-board by the time the sun rose again - the victory eventually being handed to the NewMan / Joest Team of Senna and Johansson - a strong performance and a deserving win from these seasoned veterans.
Season #1 - Final standings
Zuffenhausen Porsche team proving the old adage: to finish first, first you have to finish - consistent finishes have been the key for their success all season.
However, there's been some superb racing from all the front runners this season - they've really helped put this new racing formula on the map for Porsche - and have each grabbed a load of column inches in the process!
We look forward to their return in Season Two - and from what we gather, there'll be more drivers and teams joining the fray - the commercial pull of this new E-racing formula certainly seems to be attracting a LOT of popularity.
Thanks for watching - we hope you enjoyed the show.
See you same time next year for Season #2? ;-)
TU
MT
2020 Lock-down Collaboration
To see more on development of 904e Road Car concept, please use the link:
To see more on development of the interior, please use this link:
2020-07-27 Motorsport In Pictures: Salzburg Trio
We’re lucky to have such hugely talented and supportive friends.
Motorsport In Pictures (Dave Rook) runs a gorgeous Instagram account which normally documents the cool photos he takes of classic sports cars and racing events. During lock-down he's turned his hand to producing stunning artworks based on his photos using Procreate.
Dave has very kindly produced a stunning trio of Salzburg inspired liveries based on our 904e Racecar.
These look utterly epic, and confirm to us that there’s still a lot of iconic Porsche liveries we should revisit!
If you love this art as much as we do, please check out Dave's full work via his website - https://www.motorsportinpictures.com
