this car
Starting in 1992, The Racers Group initially focused on running team owner Kevin Buckler in national level club events, with a first international debut at the 1995 IMSA Grand Prix of California.
The team took a significant step forward in 2002, taking on Factory support to win the GT class of the Daytona 24 Hours with a 996 GT3 RS. A fresh car was immediately ordered for that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and that is this car, known as chassis “109”.
The car arrived in time for the Test Weekend, run, as usual at that time, six weeks ahead of the main race weekend. The car ran that weekend in a basic white livery with stickers.
For the race weekend, it was a dream debut for team, team owner and car. The car was on pole position by nearly 2 seconds, with a 4.10 laptime, an impressive feat. Adding to the pressure, team owner Buckler was a genuine gentleman driver, in the rich tradition of sports car racing, supported by two top flight factory drivers but racing against a hugely well-established team in Freisinger Motorsport with not 2 but 3 pro drivers from the Factory roster: Bergmeister, Dumas and Maasen.
As it was, the race went entirely to plan, with the TRG 996 car finishing just 1 lap ahead of the Freisinger car, albeit having set a class fastest lap of over 1 second quicker, a clean sweep of palmares.
Buckler’s success in 2002 took him to the much-coveted title of 2002 Porsche World Cup Champion, a well-deserved result after this incredible season with the cars.
109 returned to the TRG stable and served fully another two seasons of racing, bowing out after the 2004 Sebring 12 Hours race, having finished both that race and the Daytona 24 Hours that year with gentleman racers onboard. Notably, the car also took American Le Mans Series class wins at Mid-Ohio and Mosport Park in 2003.
The car was sold in 2005 directly from The Racers Group to an Australian Porsche enthusiast, who remains the current owner. The car has been used sparingly since, winning a few club races, and kept in exceptional condition and is now available for purchase now, along with a considerable quantity of spares, including a completely unused spare engine, bodywork, wheels and sundry components.
Definitely not too good to race, this 996 GT3 RS must be one of the most recognisable of all the 996 GT3 racing cars built. We very much hope to see her back on-track again soon.
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