UPDATE: See Porsche’s results from the 89th Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. Jeff Zwart is a seven time champion at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. This year, not only will Zwart defend his 2WD Time Attack class championship, he’ll do so in the same Porsche he drives over 1100 miles to the event, a street legal 620 horsepower Porsche 911 GT2 RS.
Zwart, along with his crew, will pick-up the car at Porsche Motorsports North America in Orange County , California and drive it over the interstate Highway system to Colorado Springs, arriving sometime Sunday evening.
“We wanted to show the sports car enthusiasts that the Porsche 911 continues to be a car that meets multiple transportation needs, something its owners have known for years. You do not have to hit the top speed of 205 miles-per-hour to enjoy this car on the road, yet we hope to use the 600-plus horsepower to get us up Pikes Peak fast enough to win the class and break our own record,” said Zwart.
Zwart’s attempt will be supported by Porsche Motorsports North America and Michelin Tires. This will be his third time running the race in a 2WD car (out of his 10 previous start). Zwart says that his previous experience will make this year easier (mostly due to last year’s experience), but the Porsche 911 GT2 RS will still be a lot to handle.
“Although I have gained more than 150 horsepower from last year’s car, I have also gained a lot of chassis weight – the difference between a street car and a race car. Also, I made good use of the sequential-shift transmission last year in the race car, and now have a six-speed manual gearbox to operate through Pikes Peaks’ 156 turns,” said Zwart.
Zwart’s Performance with Porsche at Pikes Peak
Zwart has won his class at Pikes Peak – all in Porsche Turbo street cars – in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2002 – plus his 2010 win in the naturally aspirated 911 GT3 Cup, setting new class records four times. Recently, he co-drove a Porsche Cayenne with Pikes Peak veteran Paul Dallenbach at the challenging TransSyberia Rally (Moscow to Mongolia) in 2007. He also has an SCCA PRO Rally Championship (1990 with Rod Millen) and a SCORE Baja 1000 class win (2004) to his credit.
Schedule for the 89th Running of Pikes Peak
The 89th running of Pikes Peak will start official practice on Wednesday, June 22, with Zwart scheduled to run the bottom third of the 12.42-mile course. The Porsche will run the middle part of the course during Thursday practice, and the top part of the course on Friday. Friday is also Fan Fest in Colorado Springs, and the race Sunday begins at 9:00 AM MDT. Results will be posted on the official Pikes Peak web site – www.ppihc.com.
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[Source: PCNA]
