The Porsche 911 GT1 represents an absolutely glorious time in the history of endurance racing, when manufacturers built some of the wildest road-legal cars to homologate some of the greatest Le Mans racers of all time. This 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Rennversion – raced at the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours by Le Mans winners Allan McNish and Stéphane Ortelli – will headline the Broad Arrow Monterey Jet Centre Auction on 14-15 August.
This one isn’t one of the 25 road legal versions, but one of the nine customer race cars versions, production no ‘993 108’. First campaigned by the highly successful German Roock Racing Team as their lead car in the 1997 FIA GT Championship, the start of the season showed promise, with a fifth place finish at the four-hour Hockenheim race – fastest of the five privateer 911 GT1s. This was followed by a DNF at the 4 Hours of Silverstone. The main event was the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours, where sadly the car retired after just eight laps due to a front damper failure.
Upon acquisition by Jochen Rohr's eponymous team, 993 GT1 108 became the first 911 GT1 to race in the U.S
After Le Mans, Roock would sell 108 to the US-based Rohr Racing team, and it became the first 911 GT1 to race in the US. Joining the team for the second half of the IMSA GT Championship, now painted in the current yellow livery, captured two pole positions and four victories in a row at Mosport, Las Vegas, Pikes Peak International, and Sebring. In 1998 the car was sold to Reiser Callas Rennsport, and it continued racing until 2001 in various series, passing through a few more owners.
After its competition days came to an end, the GT1 ended up in The Drendel Collection, and was subsequently sold into another. It’s estimated at $8,500,000-10,500,000.
See the full listing at broadarrowauctions.com
