Kaffer and Farnbacher on LeMans
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| Pierre Kaffer will make his third career start at Le Mans this weekend. |
Two of the best American Le Mans Series drivers will compete in Ferrari F430 GTs at Le Mans this weekend: Dominik Farnbacher and Pierre Kaffer. Farnbacher is back at Le Mans for the first time since a runner-up finish in GT2 with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR during the 2006 race. Kaffer will drive a Ferrari for the second year in a row and is part of Risi Competizione’s lineup as the Houston-based team shoots for its second straight GT2 championship. They spoke to americanlemans.com on what makes Le Mans special.
Pierre Kaffer, Risi Competizione
Ferrari F430 GT (GT2)
“Le Mans is always special. I remember in 2004 when I did it with the Audi guys, it was just amazing. On my first lap I was really surprised about the speed. For me it’s really special because it’s a lot of history and it’s always nice to be a part of it. I am really looking forward to drive with the Ferrari in the GT2 category this year, especially with such a nice team – such a professional team – with such a team atmosphere and nice colleagues such as Jaime and Mika. It’s special because you can only drive it once a year. Here in America many things are different. In Le Mans you have the (public) roads you drive only once a year with a race car and it is amazing. I like the American racetracks but Le Mans is the big race."
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| Dominik Farnbacher was a GT2 runner-up at Le Mans in 2006. |
Dominik Farnbacher, Hankook-Team Farnbacher
Ferrari F430 GT (GT2)
“It’s such a good feeling if you run there. It’s such a famous racetrack," Farnbacher said. “It has a great history and I had the honor to drive in 2006. I got second place so it was a big, big victory for me. I was very young at that time. Now I am able to go back to the race and I’ll try to win it this time. You see a lot of people at Le Mans, a huge amount; I think it’s 300,000 people there. The track is different (than in the American Le Mans Series); it a very fast track with very long straights. It’s only one race it’s not a whole championship. It’s 24 hours and you have to be very, very careful in that race. In the American Le Mans Series it’s more sprint races – still long races but you have to give everything you can within about two and a half hours. You don’t have that in Le Mans. You have to be more conservative."
The 77th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 3 p.m. CET (9 a.m. EDT) on Saturday, June 13 to 3 p.m. CET (9 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, June 14. SPEED will provide live television coverage. Flag-to-flag coverage of the race, qualifying and practice will be available at radiolemans.com.
The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. The race is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 18. The race will air live on SPEED. American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche and Live Timing & Scoring will be available at Racehub on americanlemans.com. You also can follow the Series on Twitter.
The race also will mark the fifth round of the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. Tickets are available at americanlemans.com and limerock.com.