Zoom A successful first race with the DFI engine

It was a successful race premiere for the new direct fuel injection (DFI) race engine from Porsche: Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) won the LMP2 class at the sixth round of the American Le Mans Series in Lexington/Ohio with the engine that was run for the first time in the RS Spyder.

With this, they further increased their lead in the 2008 championship. For the reigning champions this marked the fourth victory so far this season, and the third in a row on the demanding Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

When Romain Dumas climbed out of the cockpit of the #7 Penske Racing RS Spyder at the finish he was visibly exhausted - and this was not only due to the summer heat of the mid-West.

"That was a fight to the finish," he said. "I gave my all to stay in front, I had nothing else left but luckily it was enough to bring home victory."

With a strong drive in a gripping and dramatic finale, he fended off his toughest rival David Brabham in the Acura and swept over the finish line first in the Weissach-developed and built sports prototype.

"When you're up against someone like David you daren't show any weakness. The tiniest error and the game's over," Dumas reported. "But our car was perfect. This race is not very good for your nerves but it's fantastic for the fans and the championship... And isn't that exactly what we all want."

Timo Bernhard, who secured second one week ago with the Penske Racing RS Spyder in Lime Rock Park, and who drove the first stint in Mid-Ohio, witnessed the battle for class victory from the pitwall.

"That's much worse than driving yourself because you are powerless to do anything," he said. "It was a great race for us. With so much traffic it's sometimes a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. A week ago we lost, this time we won. It's a well-earned success for the whole team. "

Manning the #6 RS Spyder, Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) finished fourth in their class, defending their third place in the championship. Directly behind the pair was the RS Spyder of the Porsche-supported US privateer team, Dyson Racing. Chris Dyson (USA) and Guy Smith (Great Britain) claimed fifth ahead of their teammates Butch Leitzinger (USA) and Marino Franchitti (Great Britain).

"That was a truly exciting race. We provided fans some great racing today," said Dieter Steinhauser, Head of Motorsport Development, after the RS Spyder's fourth win of the season.

"This was a perfect premiere for our new engine. In fact, due to the many breaks in the race today we couldn't even make full use of the direct fuel injection (DFI) technology," Steinhauser added.

Power increased, fuel consumption decreased
On the traditional 3.620 kilometre circuit, on which Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas secured their first overall victory with the RS Spyder in the American Le Mans Series in 2006, the new 3.4-litre V8 engine with direct fuel injection (DFI) was featured in the number 6 and 7 sports prototypes for the first time. Power was increased and fuel consumption decreased – an important element of endurance racing.

Instead of 478 hp, the new racing power unit has an output of 503 hp (370 kW) at 10,000 rpm. Maximum torque rose from 370 Nm at 7,500 revs to 385 hp at 8,500 rpm.

The new engine of the Porsche RS Spyder is the first with direct fuel injection technology that can rev to more than 10,000 rpm. During the development of the engine, synergies in the areas of standard and motorsport design were utilised to a large extent. Above all, in the calculation and evaluation of the engine many important details were developed jointly.

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