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Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC, round 7 in Shanghai/China

Stuttgart. At the Shanghai International Circuit, the new Porsche 911 RSR celebrates its race debut in China on 9 November. Porsche's factory pilots Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) are aiming to safeguard their title chances with a top result at the seventh and penultimate round of the sports cars World Endurance Championship. The pair competes for Porsche AG Team Manthey in the 911 RSR sporting the starting number 92.

The Porsche drivers
Facing strong opposition in their bid for the title, Le Mans winners Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz currently sit a promising second in the battle for the World Endurance Cup for GT drivers. Their works driver colleagues, Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Pilet (France), share the #91 Porsche 911 RSR for the race on the Formula 1 circuit in the Chinese metropolis of millions. Porsche AG Team Manthey also fields this vehicle in the GTE-Pro class. Two customer teams contest the GTE-Am class with last year's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR: IMSA Performance Matmut with the French Le Mans winners Raymond Narac and Jean-Karl Vernay, backed up by Finland's Markus Palttala, as well as Proton Competition with team owner Christian Ried (Germany) and his Italian teammates Paolo Ruberti and Gianluca Roda.

The Porsche 911 RSR
The 470 hp Porsche 911 RSR is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car. As the successor to the winning 911 GT3 RSR, with which Porsche customers scored many victories and titles since 2004, it is characterised by its consequent lightweight design and sophisticated aerodynamics. The look is dominated by the flared fenders and the distinctive cooling air intake at the front. The exceptional vehicle livery honours the anniversary "50 years of the 911".

The schedule
The six-hour race at the Shanghai International Circuit starts on 9 November at 11.00 hours local time (04.00 CET). Eurosport International sends a live broadcast from 08.35 to 10.00 hours CET, and televises highlights on 12 November at 22.30 hours CET. The race can be viewed live on the internet website www.fiawec.com.

Quotes before the race
Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport: "We're looking forward to now showing our motorsport fans in China how our 911 RSR performs on the race track. From a sporting perspective, our main priority is to achieve the best possible result in Shanghai so that we have a good shot at the title at the final round of the season in Bahrain."
Joerg Bergmeister (# 91): "Shanghai is a totally unfamiliar track for me. So it's hard to gauge how the 911 RSR will perform there."
Patrick Pilet (# 91): "I'm never been to China, so I'm particularly looking forward to the race. I only know the circuit from Formula 1 broadcasts and video games."
Marc Lieb (# 92): "Shanghai is only a two-day event so the main thing is to find the right set-up as quickly as possible. The track is very demanding and we need to find a set-up compromise between downforce and top speed."
Richard Lietz (# 92): "We went really well in Shanghai last year. I'm confident that we can further optimise our car for this race. We're testing there beforehand so I hope that the data we gather from these tests help us achieve a podium result in China."

The Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC
In the sports car World Endurance Championship WEC, sports prototypes and GT vehicles start in four classes: LMGTE-Pro, LMGTE-Am, LMP1 and LMP2. They all compete together in one race but are classified separately.

Please note: Photo and video material of the sports car World Endurance Championship WEC is available for accredited journalists from the Porsche Press Database under the internet address http://presse.porsche.de. On this website you can also activate the Porsche Motorsport SMS Info Service to receive the latest news and information from race tracks around the world via text messages. On the internet address http://presse.porsche.de/motorsport journalists have access to the new digital Porsche Motorsport Media Guide 2013.