When Walter Rohrl beat Micheal Schumacher...

“Porsche engineers were benchmarking the 997 GT2 at the ‘Ring in 2007. They had a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera and a Ferrari 599 GTB. Walter Rohrl was setting the lap times.
“He went out in the Lamborghini first, then the Ferrari. When he came back from setting the lap time in the 599, he had a huge smile on his face, according to one of the engineers.
“The engineer asked him what he was smiling about. Rohrl explained that halfway around the lap he had seen another 599 a few corners ahead. He said to himself, ‘I will catch that other 599.’
“For the second half of the lap Rohrl steadily gained on the leading car until, at the final corner before the long straight, it had a big oversteer moment. Rohrl squeezed trough on the inside, into the lead.”

“Having got back to the paddock Rohrl drove onto the public road to cool the brakes down. The second Ferrari followed and pulled alongside. They both stopped. Rohrl lowered his window. The other 599 lowered its window to reveal its driver - Michael Schumacher.
“The German said to Rohrl, ‘I had to see who was quicker than me. Now I see it is you, it’s okay with me.’
“Later that evening, in the Pistenklause [a well known restaurant in Nurburg], the story was doing the rounds. At some point the Sachs engineers - who had been doing some suspension tuning work with Schumacher - arrived. They said he was furious when he got back to their garage. He instructed the engineers to ‘check every nut and bolt on the car’, refusing to accept Rohrl had been quicker.”

• Dan Prosser (@TheDanProsser) via Twitter