Tomorrow, Andy Lefevere will debut his brand new Porsche 997 GT3 in the Staden Rally. The Yprauto business manager worked on this Porsche for a year and a half. “Of course this was going to be possible much faster, but I didn’t want just any Porsche… Except for the engine, we scrutinized all the parts. You can’t compare our car to any other 997 at all. “
Andy’s orange Porsche has a very different suspension, the car is slightly higher than the other GTs. This gives a much longer stroke, which should certainly give an advantage on the Belgian. They are also working with a different gearbox, Sadev was chosen. In terms of performance this will not be an advantage, but the Sadev gearbox is cheaper to maintain and also much easier to work on yourself. “We got permission from the RACB for this gearbox on the condition that the car would have a lesser top speed. Our Porsche stops at 206, but that’s more than fast enough for me…. “
“We won’t see until tomorrow whether we made the right choices. After all, there is no manual for building a rally car. I see this season as a year to learn, but of course with a car like this the times should also be good in a learning year. ” laughs Andy who gets Patrick Snijers as a reference in Staden. “I’m definitely not going to be rushed, and if I have to leave 10 seconds to try something out I will. Hopefully it stays dry because I haven’t driven a meter with the car in the rain yet .”
After the Staden Rally, Andy’s home race, the ConXion Omloop van Vlaanderen and the Hemicuda are still on the program. After Roeselare, we will see if there is still budget to possibly add the East Belgian Rally to the program.
“I especially want to thank my sponsors who make this possible, and especially Pedro who sacrificed a lot of his free time to help build the Porsche.” concludes Andy.
