fbpx

911 in Motorsport: European Le Mans Series preview

After the Porsche Supercup visited the Hungarian Grand Prix venue in July, it is now the turn of the faster, LMGTE-spec Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs to take to the track at the Hungaroring.

Proton Competition Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
Porsche 911 ace, Nick Tandy will take to the wheel of the Proton Competition 911 GT3 RSR.

Round four of the 2013 European Le Mans Series will see three of the 997-type RSRs competing for honours in the three-hour endurance race. The Proton Competition Porsche 911 is the highest placed in the championship standings, running fourth, 30 points off the class-leading Ferrari.

The German team, based just 90 minutes from Porsche’s home in Zuffenhausen, has enlisted the help of ace 911 racer, Nick Tandy to support it’s regular two drivers, Christian Ried and Klaus Bachler (the latter of whom took his maiden Supercup victory at Spa three weeks ago).

IMSA Performance 997 GT3 RSR
IMSA Performance will be looking to find the form that took them to GTE-Am honours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Another Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to look out for will be the IMSA Performance Matmut driven by another Supercup racer, Jean-Karl Vernay, and Patrice Milesi. The IMSA Performance team took victory in the GTE-Am class at Le Mans and know how to run a perfect strategy across the twists and turns of an endurance race.

Talking of twists and turns, a tight layout will await the ELMS competitors at the Hungaroring. The circuit is typified by a number of slow corners and chicanes. This should play into the hands of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR’s superior traction, a virtue of its rear-engined layout.

Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
Prospeed will be wanting to emerge out of the shadows of their Porsche 911 compatriots.

The Porsches of Proton Competition, IMSA Performance, and Prospeed Competition (driven by Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo) should therefore have a chance to make inroads into the championship lead of the all-conquering Ferrari 458s.

Qualifying takes place on the Saturday morning at 9:35am (CET), with the three-hour race getting underway, after two formation laps, at 3:55pm later the same day. Look out for the Total 911 race report on Monday morning.

Comments (0)