Marc Lieb: GT superstar

For anybody not well-acquainted with GT racing over the past 10 years, the name of Marc Lieb may not exactly ring any bells.

But those with more than a passing interest in the genre will know that the German has been one of the category's very best drivers for a decade and racked up countless successes for Porsche during that time.

How's about this for a CV? Since 2002 the German has taken a domestic Carrera Cup crown, four GT2 titles in the Le Mans Series plus two [under the N-GT name] in FIA GTs, a pair of Le Mans 24 Hours class wins and overall victories in both the Spa and Nurburgring [the latter event three times] 24 races. Not bad eh?

The 2011 season has not started well though; his Felbermayr-Proton car one of four Porsches eliminated at the start of the Le Mans Series opener at Paul Ricard following an accident for which officialdom - rather than any driver - was at fault and his Spa 1000km wrecked by a punt from a Ferrari at Fagnes on the opening lap.

None of that should slow he or his Felbermayr co-drivers Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler down at Le Mans this week, though. The trio are aiming to repeat last year's class win, and Lieb is up for a fight too. Here's what he had to say when AUTOSPORT sat him down for a chat.

AUTOSPORT: You've had a difficult start to the Le Mans Series, thanks to the startline problems at Paul Ricard [when a mix-up by officials led to the red lights going out at the start, despite the safety car still being on track] and then at Spa with being punted off on the first lap. Can you rescue the season with a GTE Pro win at Le Mans?

This season has not started well for Lieb and co-driver Lietz © LAT

Marc Lieb: You have up and downs in a career. Like always, you know you can't always go up, sometimes you have to go down because of a number of things. For sure we will try to win at Le Mans, like always. When you win Le Mans it is as important as winning a whole championship

AS: How likely is it that a Porsche will win the GTE Pro class at Le Mans?

ML: From what we saw in the testing days it looks pretty difficult. We weren't really successful in that test. We know the car is fast, but some things in the test showed that it will be difficult at Le Mans. In a straight line we are quite good against the new Ferraris and Corvettes, but we are missing some aero performance, I think. You never know what can happen in 24 hours though. Last year we were not the fastest car, but we still won.

AS: Are the new Ferrari 458s going to be the favourites for the class?

ML: I think it is the BMWs that will be very fast. I watched qualifying [at the Spa 1000km] and saw that on the last laps they both had personal bests in the first two sectors, and suddenly the lap time was slow, even though they did not have traffic in sector three. They are hiding something for sure with the speed of the car. They don't want to make the same mistake as last year. Then they did a fastest lap 1.5s faster than anybody here and then got penalised at Le Mans to make the race more even. Watch out for them.

AS: You've been with Porsche for a long time now, but how did your association with begin?

ML: I'd done Formula Renault in Germany from 1996-99 and also raced in some Eurocup rounds. I was looking for a budget to compete in German Formula 3, but without backing it was looking like a lost cause. I decided to focus on my studies so that I could go to university to study Automotive Engineering, and was also doing my National Service at the time, so my dream of being a racing driver professionally was slipping away from me.

Then I had an invitation from Porsche in the February of 2000 to compete in a shootout for their junior programme [and a seat in the German Carrera Cup]. Lucas Luhr had won the Carrera Cup in '99, and was moving up as a full factory driver, so Porsche were looking for someone as the second driver.

I was surprised to get the call because I wasn't that successful in Formula Renault. I won some races - but not a lot - and I finished third in the championship, but I didn't think that would be enough. It was just me and my Dad working on the car - a very low budget thing. And suddenly here was Porsche ignoring the top guys who were winning the championship with full budgets and coming to see me instead. They said they didn't need drivers with lots of sponsors; they needed drivers who were resourceful and made the best out of every situation.

I won the shootout and I still believe now that it changed my life. Before I'd been sleeping in our truck, racing with nearly no money for parts or testing, and now I was a Porsche junior, driving a Boxster on the road, getting paid a good salary and receiving a new suit, new helmets... Everything you could wish for as a racing driver.

2002 was Lieb's first year in international GT racing © LAT

AS: Was it your dream as a boy to be a Porsche factory driver then?

ML: The funny thing is that I was just living 8km from Porsche when I was growing up in Stuttgart, so to work for Porsche was unbelievable. It's what every boy with an interest in cars wanted to do.

AS: You studied engineering at University. Does that help give an extra facet to your importance as a driver when discussing technical issues?

ML: It helps when you talk to the engineers; it definitely gives you a better understanding of what is going on in the car. Sometimes when you have major problems or issues, it definitely helps you. During a race weekend when I'm driving though, I am a racing driver first. I just give my input and don't try to overrule the engineers.

AS: Do you have a further role within Porsche, one that lets you flex your engineering muscles?

ML: Yes. I do part-time engineering in the motorsport departments and now I'm involved in the 918 Spyder [road car] project as a test and development driver. It's busy driving but it's a good job.

AS: You and Mike Rockenfeller used to be team-mates at Porsche, but he has since joined Audi and won the Le Mans and Daytona 24 Hours plus a DTM race. Do you ever look at what he's achieved and wish you had gone that way?

ML: I think a big part of it was when I decided to go back to university to finish my engineering studies. That was my choice, and when I look back, perhaps that meant that when Porsche was picking the drivers for the RS Spyder [LMP2] project, they looked at Rocky and some other guys first. Maybe it's worked out better for me, because I have won a lot of races and championships in GTs.

I'd still love to do a prototype race and to win a big race like Le Mans in an LMP1 or LMP2 car. It's still a dream of mine, but I'm 30 years old now and the clock never stops ticking. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance, and also, if I do, I don't know if I'll get the time to adapt to driving with high aero levels.

I drove the RS Spyder a couple of times, but never in a proper test. It's a big difference to go from GTE to a prototype with carbon brakes and the amount of downforce, but at the end of the day it's still just a car with a steering wheel.

When we talk about Rocky, I'm very happy to see him running around and winning Le Mans and other things, because I know I'm on a similar level to him. It's not a big deal that he's doing it in prototypes and I'm not, because I have nothing to prove. I love what I'm doing in GTs at the moment and we have an incredible championship here. When you see all the drivers and manufacturers trying to win GTE... I rate the championships and the races we've won in the last three years as the hardest to win.

Flying Lizard has been Lieb's US home since 2006 © LAT

AS: Which has been the best Porsche team you've driven for?

ML: That's very difficult to say. There have been so many good ones. I actually don't think it's fair to rank them because how professional a team is really depends a lot on how much money they have. Flying Lizard, for example, is an amazing team and they have been so successful, but they've always had a good budget, so they are definitely the most professional, and I have driven for them in the USA since 2006. To say they are the best is difficult.

Compare them to Autorlando, who I won an LMS championship with despite them having a very small budget. Gruppe-M was another good one in 2005, but we didn't really have any competition for the championship that year, so it's hard to know just how good they were. They did have fantastic engineers and fantastic mechanics, but the team was still a middle size. Now the times are changing. Tests are getting bigger, cars are getting harder to handle, so you need a proper data engineer and an electronics engineer for your team to be competitive. Look at Freisinger. That was a very small team, but they were very successful for a short period [2002-03]. All the teams I've raced for have done a great job with the resources available

AS: Who has been your favourite co-driver?

ML: I've had lots of very good ones. Whenever you are a factory driver for a manufacturer like Porsche, it's a guarantee that you will have a very good one. In my first year in GTs in 2003, I had Stephane Ortelli [who was defending his FIA N-GT crown] at Freisinger and I learned so much. I was very young - just 22 - and he had won Le Mans. Having a guy like him, who could share his experience with me, was such a huge help.

When we talk about favourite co-drivers though, there have been two that I have had a nice relationship away from the track; my current [Felbermayr-Proton] co-driver Richard Lietz and also Mike Rockenfeller. Working with them is great because together they just want to push so hard to win, and that pushing makes the whole team come together. We have a lot of fun off-track too.

AS: How crucial is it to have a good co-driver, especially at Le Mans?

ML: If you drive on your own and you don't have a quick co-driver, and you go not too fast, you can blame it on the car or on something else. When you have a co-driver like Rocky or Richard, who are in the same car as you on the same tyres and they're lapping two tenths quicker than you, there is nowhere for you to hide. It makes you work harder to improve yourself, which is better for the whole team.

At Spa, for instance, I was a little bit faster than Richard through Eau Rouge and he was a little bit faster through Blanchimont, so we studied the data and came up with a solution. Without a good co-driver, maybe you lean back and get lazy. This is not a problem I've had though.

Lieb rates his Le Mans class win in 2005 as one of his best moments © LAT

AS: Have you ever had a bad relationship with a co-driver, a guy who would not share data perhaps?

ML: You can't do that. If you want to shine, the best way to do it is to make sure your co-driver is going as well as possible. I've heard strange stories about some drivers turning the brake bias in the wrong direction just before they get out of the car so that they confuse their team-mates, but I think this is bullshit. You always have to help your co-driver as much as possible and have faith that he is doing the same for you. Then you can profit from each other. If you compromise each other, then you compromise the whole team.

You have to not be too proud either. In GT racing one driver does qualifying and if the other guy is faster than you are, you have to be prepared to step back and let them do it because it is a benefit for the whole team.

AS: Is it difficult to pick a standout achievement from your career when you've won so much already?

ML: Difficult to pick out one, but very easy to focus on a couple. First there was winning the Carrera Cup Germany in 2002. It was my first championship win in my career - even in go-karts I was always second or third. The Carrera Cup is a very high-profile championship in Germany - maybe only the DTM is bigger - and it led me onto much more with Porsche.

Then there are some single races too; winning the Spa 24 Hours [with Freisinger Motorsport in 2003] with a GT2 [the former name for GTE] car against all the GT1s with Ortelli and [Romain] Dumas, and also winning Le Mans [the GT2 class] with Rockenfeller and Leo Hindery in 2005. Nobody thought we could do it on the Yokohama tyres, and Leo only did one hour, so me and Rocky did the other 23 together - that was really good. Of course there is also the first time I won the Nurburgring 24 Hours too. It's a really big deal because it's the best and most challenging circuit in the world and the competition was very hard that year.

AS: Unusually, the Nurburgring 24 Hours is after Le Mans this year. Does that mean it loses some of its appeal?

ML: No. Last year the entry was unbelievable. Porsche, BMW and Audi all with factory drivers and teams and now Mercedes too this year. The entry is ridiculous! I'm doing it with Manthey again, which is a fantastic team.

AS: Do you have any burning career ambitions left?

ML: I really want to do the 1000k race at Bathurst. This is one of my dreams because the track looks really cool. I really, really want to do it. Not this year though. I'm actually working on getting an invitation to Surfers Paradise [where all V8 teams have to use an 'international' driver]. My friend [V8 driver] Alex Davison is helping me out with that, so maybe this year. We were together in the Carrera Cup in Germany, so we know each other quite well. Also, I'd like to have a race at Le Mans in an LMP car - even if it's only once. It would definitely be faster and more exciting.

Look out for more exclusive features, interviews and news with AUTOSPORT at the Le Mans 24 Hours this week.