RWS Motorsport

Last updated
Flag of Germany.svg RWS Motorsport
FoundedDecember 1995 (1995-12)
Founder(s) Rudi Walch
Base Anger, Germany
Former series BPR Global GT Series
FIA GT Championship
GTR Euroseries
American Le Mans Series
Sports Racing World Cup
Noted drivers Flag of Italy.svg Raffaele Sanguiolo
Flag of Italy.svg Luca Riccitelli
Flag of Germany.svg Günther Blieninger
Flag of Austria.svg Philipp Peter
Flag of Austria.svg Dieter Quester
Flag of Russia.svg Aleksey Vasilyev
Flag of Russia.svg Nikolai Fomenko
Website http://www.rws-motorsport.com/

RWS Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Anger, Bavaria, Germany. Founded in 1995 by former racing driver and engineer Rudi Walch, the team has been involved in multiple international series, primarily the FIA GT Championship. The team were the vice champions of the N-GT category of the FIA GT Championship in 2000 [1] and 2001. [2] Since 2003, RWS has concentrated on historic motorsport and vehicle restoration, repair, and sales.

History

After racing for Schnitzer Motorsport in the 1970s, Rudi Walch became involved with Brun Motorsport as a driver before becoming a technical engineer for the team in 1983. After Brun was liquidated in 1993, Walch acquired much of the former team's equipment as well as hiring former personnel to form RWS Motorsport in 1995. The new team initially competed selectively in the BPR Global GT Series with a Porsche 911 GT2, a car which they would campaign for several years. In 1997 the BPR series became the FIA GT Championship, and RWS with Italian drivers Luca Riccitelli and Raffaele Sangiuolo competed in the bulk of the races in the season. RWS concentrated on the inaugural GTR Euroseries for 1998, a series intended for teams with amateur drivers, before returning to FIA GT in 1999 with the father-son duo of Horst Felbermayr and Horst Felbermayr Jr. The team also added sports prototype racing in the SportsRacing World Cup with a Riley & Scott-BMW with Riccitelli joining Günther Blieninger, and ran a partial season of the American Le Mans Series after one-off visits to the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the United States the previous years.

In 2000 Porsche introduced the new 911 GT3-R for the FIA GT Championship's new N-GT category. RWS, with new drivers Philipp Peter and Dieter Quester and the backing of Quester's sponsor Red Bull, purchased two new cars. The team introduced their new purchase at the Rolex 24 at Daytona where they finished tenth overall and second in the GTU class. Back in Europe, the team won FIA GT races at Circuit Zolder and EuroSpeedway Lausitz en route to second in the teams' championship [1] and Riccitelli finished second in the drivers' championship. [3] Quester and Riccitelli paired up for 2001, winning at Brno Circuit before following it up with a 5th place finish and class victory at the Spa 24 Hours. The team finished the season tied on points with JMB Competition for the N-GT Championship but were deemed second place on the tie-breaker. [2] Riccitelli finished second in the drivers' championship while Quester was third. [4]

RWS split their season in 2002, campaigning the GT3-R in the N-GT category for Russians Aleksey Vasilyev and Nikolai Fomenko while also developing a variant of the GT3-R for the GT category for Riccitelli and Quester. The resulting 911 GT, which featured an enlarged and more powerful motor, struggled and was abandoned after the third round of the season, while Quester and Riccitelli later moved to another team within the series. The N-GT campaign netted a fourth place championship result. Vasilyev and Fomenko increased their involvement in the team in 2003, bringing Russian Yukos title sponsorship as they returned to a two-car N-GT entry, but the season was winless and the duo would take their sponsor and move to Freisinger Motorsport in 2004.

RWS would then turn to the restoration of racing cars and road car repairs, occasionally competing in historic racing and support of other racing teams. An RWS-backed SEAT León won the TCR category of the 2016 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lister Storm</span> British racing car

The Lister Storm was a homologated GT racing car manufactured by British low volume automobile manufacturer Lister Cars with production beginning in 1993. The Storm used the largest V12 engine fitted to a production road car since World War II, a 7.0 L Jaguar unit based on the one used in the Jaguar XJR-9 that competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Due to the high price of the vehicle at £220,000, only four examples were produced before production of the road-going Storm ceased. Only three Storms survive today, although the company continues to maintain racing models. The Storm was the fastest four-seat grand tourer during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup GTE-Amateur class; the American Le Mans Series GT2 class; and the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Heylen</span> Belgian racing driver (born 1980)

Jan Heylen is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Lieb</span>

Marc Lieb is a former German Porsche factory motor-racing driver. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2003 and 2005, and the European Le Mans Series in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring four times, one time the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016, in the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring, in the 2003 24 hours of Spa and in the 2007 Petit Le Mans. He is also the 2016 FIA World Endurance Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Westbrook</span> British racing driver

Richard Westbrook is a British professional racing driver noted for his success in racing Porsche and International sports cars. As a junior, he attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich. He has won both the Porsche Supercup international championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup in his native Britain (2004). At the end of the 2007 season, Richard signed a factory contract deal with the German marque Porsche, and the British ace proceeded to take on the world's best on the other side of the Atlantic. The next year (2009), Westbrook won the highly coveted FIA GT2 Championship, taking four victories in the process, establishing himself firmly on the World motor sport stage and in the upper echelons of elite sports car drivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLaren F1 GTR</span> Racing car

The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the naturally aspirated BMW S70/2 V12 engine. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it won against faster purpose-built prototypes in very wet conditions. The F1 GTR raced internationally until 2005 when the final race chassis was retired.

The BPR Global GT Series was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The series was founded by Jürgen Barth, Patrick Peter, and Stéphane Ratel as an international endurance racing series to replace the World Sportscar Championship which had ended in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seikel Motorsport</span>

Seikel Motorsport was a German auto racing team founded by Peter Seikel in 1968. After running national series, the team moved on to touring car racing before finally grand tourer racing. Peter Seikel officially retired in 2007 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, officially ending the team as well.

Freisinger Motorsport is a German company which has tuned, restored, and raced Porsches since 1967. Founded by Manfred Freisinger in Karlsruhe, the company now is run by his son Manfred Freisinger Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">João Barbosa</span> Portuguese racing driver

João Barbosa is a Portuguese auto racing driver. He currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Sean Creech Motorsport in the LMP3 class.

Lilian Bryner is a racing driver from Switzerland.

Thomas "Tommy" Erdos is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has raced for most of his career in Great Britain and Europe, where he currently resides in Buckinghamshire England with his partner Sheila. He has three children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurens Vanthoor</span> Belgian racing driver

Laurens Vanthoor is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He currently resides in Waiblingen outside of Stuttgart.

Aleksey Igorevich Vasilyev is a Russian auto racing driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Lietz</span>

Richard Lietz is an Austrian professional racing driver and a Porsche Factory driver. He has competed in such series as American Le Mans Series, Formula 3 Euro Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series. He is also a multiple race-winner in Porsche Supercup. Lietz was overall series champion in the 2007 International GT Open season with Swiss driver Joël Camathias. He has won the GT2 class of the Le Mans Series twice, alongside German driver Marc Lieb in both in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Fabien Giroix is a French racing driver from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proton Competition</span> German auto racing team

Proton Competition is a German auto racing team founded by Gerold Ried. The team is based in Ummendorf, Baden-Württemberg. They currently operate a Porsche 911 RSR sports car in the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series

IMSA Performance is a French auto racing team founded by Raymond Narac. The team is based in Saint-Jean-du-Cardonnay, Upper Normandy. IMSA stands for Innovation Mécanique Service Automobile. They currently operate a Porsche 911 GT3-RSR sports car in the European Le Mans Series and International GT Open. They are currently a Porsche Factory Team

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucas Luhr</span> German racing driver

Lucas Luhr is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group GT1</span> Former set of regulations held for grand tourer race cars

Group GT1, also known simply as GT1, was a set of regulations maintained formerly by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), for Grand Tourer racing. The category was first created in 1993, as the top class of the BPR Global GT Series, and was included in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It fell under FIA regulation from 1997, after the BPR series came under the control of the FIA, becoming known as the FIA GT Championship. The category was dissolved at the end of 2011. The category may be split into four distinctive eras, from its debut in 1993–1996, 1997–1998, 2000–2009, 2010–2011.

References

  1. 1 2 "2000 FIA N-GT Teams Championship". FIA GT Championship. Archived from the original on 13 January 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 "2001 FIA N-GT Teams Championship". FIA GT Championship. Archived from the original on 13 January 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  3. "2000 FIA N-GT Drivers Championship". FIA GT Championship. Archived from the original on 13 January 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  4. "2001 FIA N-GT Drivers Championship". FIA GT Championship. Archived from the original on 13 January 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2018.