Benjamin Leuenberger news 2010-10-07

Delayed Panoz GT2-premiere for Leuenberger
Race debut with the new GT2-Panoz in China

Solothurn (CH), 07.10.10. At the end, only two or three days were missing: Benjamin Leuenberger (28) had to abandon his planed start with the brand new Panoz Abruzzi "Spirit of Le Mans" at the "Petit Le Mans" at Road Atlanta. Despite great efforts of the Panoz Team, the all-new Abruzzi GT2 was not ready in time for the 1000-mile race, the final race of the "American Le Mans Series". "The guys of the Panoz team did a hell of job to finish the car in time, but unfortunately time worked against us", Leuenberger said."

"Some parts which were delivered from suppliers just didn't came in time. So in the final stages, the whole schedule came to a halt." One day before the race, the Panoz Abruzzi GT2 was finished and transported to Road Atlanta. The Panoz arrived early Saturday morning at the track, two days too late to take part in the race. But before the race, the Panoz took part in a parade lap, to show the fans for what they can look forward in the next season. "The car didn't drove a meter before we fired it up at Road Atlanta. But as soon as we pressed the starter button, the car ran flawless", Leuenberger was happy with the brand new car.

But the race debut of the Panoz is only a pleasure deferred, the first race of the new American Supercar is now scheduled for the first week of November. Leuenberger and Panoz will take part in the 6 hours of Zhuhai (5th to 7th November), a round of the all-new „Intercontinental Le Mans Cup". But before the car will be shipped to China, Leuenberger will test with the new Panoz Abruzzi. „I just extended my stay in the US for some couple of days", Leuenberger says. „We will test the new Panoz this week. Immediately after the test, car and parts will be loaded into a container and shipped to China. It's too bad that we couldn't race with the Panoz on home turf at Road Atlanta, especially as there was a record crowd this year of more then 120.000 spectators. But now I'm really looking forward to a successful race debut at Zhuhai."

-source: www.benjamin-leuenberger.com