At the six-hour race in Silverstone, the Porsche 911 RSR heads into the new season of the sports car World Endurance Championship WEC from the first grid row.
At the qualifying session on the storied race circuit in the British Midlands, Porsche works drivers Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain) posted the second quickest time in the GTE-Pro class with the 911 RSR campaigned by the Porsche Team Manthey. The third pilot in the number 91 Porsche 911 RSR is Joerg Bergmeister (Germany).
Porsche factory pilots Marco Holzer (Germany) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France), who are supported in the race on Sunday by Richard Lietz (Austria), planted the second Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR (no. 92) on the third grid spot.
The qualifying in the WEC takes real teamwork. Two drivers must qualify one car for the race. The grid positions are determined by the average of the two fastest timed qualifying laps of each of these drivers.
Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport: “I’m happy with this result. One of our 911 RSR is on the first grid row, the second is right behind. This is a good starting position for the race.”
Patrick Pilet (#91): “The first grid row is a decent result, although it proved difficult today not to overtax the tyres too much. In any case, we have a great car for the race.”
Nick Tandy (#91): “That was a very good qualifying. Our tyres performed really well over the first laps. Our work in free practice paid off. We have a good car for the race. The 911 RSR runs beautifully on the new tyres, and this bodes well for the rest of the season.”
Marco Holzer (#92): “My first laps didn’t go so well, I could have possibly done a little better. But we can be satisfied with third place on the grid.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (#92): “The conditions were a little different today compared to free practice. It was colder and therefore the track temperatures were lower. So first we had to adjust to this. But the car ran smoothly and I’m feeling very confident for the race.”
From Porsche Motorsport press release
Photo: SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT (SILVERSTONE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, UK), 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, QUALIFYING, 19 APRIL 2014. The No.91 Porsche 911 RSR of Pilet-Tandy-Bergmeister qualified on the front row of the LMGTE Pro grid.
