Porsche 911 RSR qualifies third in class for Le Mans race
The 991 RSR of Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz will line up for the start of the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours race on the second row of the GTE-Pro class grid after qualifying concluded for the iconic endurance race last night.
The #92 Porsche 911 RSR qualified in third place, just eight tenths off the pace of the class leader, after the works drivers improved their time on the very last lap. Their factory pilot colleagues Joerg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard and Patrick Pilet brought the #91 RSR home in seventh.
Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG, is so far satisfied with the the Type 991’s assault at Le Mans: “We are quite pleased with this result. Our aim was to beat Ferrari and we have achieved this. We’re only five-hundredths of a second shy of the first grid row which gives us hope for the race.”
The sentiments of Hatz were echoed by Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport, who congratulated Marc Lieb’s final lap which propelled Porsche AG Team Manthey to the second row of the class grid: “The changing weather conditions and many interruptions made for a pretty exciting qualifying. You could actually forget about a normal programme. Marc’s improvement to third place in the final lap has shown how important it was to push to the end today.”
The main event of the Le Mans 24 Hours begins on Saturday at 3PM, with live television coverage supplied by Eurosport International and Eurosport 2. On the internet, the long distance classic can be followed live on www.fiawec.com, and you can stay up to date on the progress of the two Type 991 RSRs in particular by following Total 911’s Le mans reporter Glen Smale, who will be tweeting updates from the Twitter handle @virtualmotorpix.
Result: 3rd qualifying
GTE-Pro class
1. Bell/Makowiecki/Senna (GB/F/BRA), Aston Martin, 3:54.635 minutes
2. Dumbreck/Mücke/Turner (GB/D/GB), Aston Martin, 3:55.445
3. Dumas/Lieb/Lietz (F/D/A), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:55.491
4. Fisichella/Bruni/Malucelli (I/I/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 3:55.909
7. Bergmeister/Bernhard/Pilet (D/D/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 3:56.573
GTE-AM class
1. Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen (DK/DK/DK), Aston Martin, 3:57.776 minutes
2. Ried/Roda/Ruberti (D/I/I), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 3:58.889
3. Campbell/Goethe/Hall (GB/D/GB), Aston Martin, 3:59.805
5. Henzler/Gibon/Milesi (D/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 4:00.053
6. Collard/Perrod/Crubile (F/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 4:00.682
7. Dempsey/Long/Foster (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 4:00.916
8. Narrac/Bourret/Vernay (F/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 4:01.713
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