Farnbacher Loles Sebring 12 and GT3 Cup preview

Farnbacher Loles to field 10 cars at Sebring

3.10.06 - Danbury, CT - Farnbacher Loles Racing is marking its first effort in the American Le Mans series at the season's opening round in Sebring, Florida. Driving a Porsche RSR will be a talented trio of seasoned racers. Lars Erik Nielsen, Pierre Ehret and Dominik Farnbacher will share the driving duties at the season opening 12 Hours of Sebring. While Pierre is the only driver of the three to have previously competed in the ALMS, all three have considerable racing experience together and individually. Lars and Pierre have teamed up previously to race in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the European Le Mans series. In 2005, Pierre and Dominik won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Farnbacher Loles in the team's first endurance race. Dominik's father, Horst Farnbacher, is the team technical director and considered to be one of the most skilled in the business. The car is owned by Lars, and sponsored by the "Maldives," "One & Only Resorts," "The Flamingo Resort Hotel" and "Yokohama Tires."

The Sebring weekend also features the opening round of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Michelin. With a series-leading nine cars, Farnbacher Loles Racing is again making a splash. The team includes returning racers, some new faces and a well-known guest driver. Returning from the 2005 series are Shawn Price, Paul Orwicz, Tom Pank, Joe Policastro, and series champion Jay Policastro. Newcomers Bryce Miller, Joe Wong and Dino Loles will be making their GT3 Cup Challenge debuts at Sebring. Also premiering at Sebring will be the Farnbacher Loles IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Guest Driver car. At each of the seven races, a different guest driver will pilot the number 46 997 Porsche GT3 Cup. The Sebring round will feature Road and Track journalist Kim Wolfkill who brings an impressive record of amateur racing. Kim will be writing an article on his Sebring experience in an upcoming issue of Road and Track.

During the 2005 GT3 Cup season, the team ran up an outstanding record including 2 wins, 8 podiums, 11 top 5 and 24 top 10 finishes. The final results showed 5 drivers in the top 10. Team owner Gregory Loles is looking forward to the expanded 7-race season. "I think a lot of people on the outside took this series very lightly at first. But the competition was phenomenal last year and proved the GT3 Cup is really one of the finest racecars on the planet. This year we will be running a combination of the new 997 Cup cars along with the previous generation 996 Cup. There will be 2 classes and 2 points battles for the 2 different cars. The 997 has some significant changes including a sequential transmission and the absence of anti-lock braking which will make the car more challenging to drive at first. Based on last year's experience, and so many talented drivers, I expect this to be an incredibly competitive season, with the championship probably being decided at the final round."

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