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Zhuhai: Mike Rockenfeller race report

Mike Rockenfeller won his second-consecutive sports-car championship on Saturday, clinching the FIA GT Championship GT2 title with two races remaining in the 2005 season. Rockenfeller, of Monaco, and his co-driver Marc Lieb of Ludwigsburg, Germany, ...

Mike Rockenfeller won his second-consecutive sports-car championship on Saturday, clinching the FIA GT Championship GT2 title with two races remaining in the 2005 season. Rockenfeller, of Monaco, and his co-driver Marc Lieb of Ludwigsburg, Germany, collected their fifth class win in nine starts to share the championship.

At 21, Rockenfeller is the youngest driver to win an FIA GT championship. He also won the 2004 Porsche Carrera Cup championship.

Lieb qualified the No. 66 GruppeM Racing Porsche 996 GT3 RSR for the three-hour race at Zhuhai International Circuit in China. He took the GT2 pole position with a lap of one minute 35.462 seconds (162.15 kilometres per hour) on the 4.3-kilometre road course. Driving the first race stint, he relinquished the class lead momentarily at the race start, but quickly regained it and opened a 17-second lead before handing off to Rockenfeller just past the one-hour mark. Rockenfeller increased the lead to 20 seconds and logged the fastest GT2 race lap (1:36.347) before pitting for a driver change with about 50 minutes remaining in the race. Lieb maintained the margin for the GT2 victory.

"Thanks to Michelin -- we had a good tire the whole year -- also to the team. It's great to win the championship already, and it's great for us to have this result this year, after winning at Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Spa," Rockenfeller said. "Now the next two races we can really enjoy, push hard and take little risks, because we really want to win."

The next FIA GT Championship race is scheduled for 18 November in Dubai, UAE.

-Sylvia Proudfoot

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