24H. Le Mans - Porsche wants to give the 911 RSR a grand exit

The two official Porsche 911 RSRs in GTE Pro were comfortable in qualifying at Le Mans, before the factory team focuses on LMDh in 2023.

Published on 09/06/2022 à 10:25

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24H. Le Mans – Porsche Motorsport wants to give the 911 RSR a grand exit

The Porsche 911 RSR of Laurens Vanthoor set the best time in Qualifying.© Joao Filipe / DPPI

The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022 constituent la dernière occasion pour l’équipe d’usine Porsche Motorsport de décrocher la victoire en classe GTE Pro. La firme allemande recentrera en effet ses cartes on the LMDh in 2023 for the Centenary edition, leaving it to private teams to continue the adventure with the 911 RSR.

For this last dance, the two official white cars therefore have the sole objective of winning, as Thomas Laudenbach, Vice-President of Porsche Motorsport, explains. “We are well prepared, we are extremely determined, especially since we are leading the World Championship inEndurance (WEC) in GT. Since its debut in August 2019, the 911 RSR has won at just about every circuit on the world calendar. All that is missing is a success in GTE Pro at Le Mans. We want to change that. »

The last triumph of the Stuttgart brand in Sarthe dates back to 2018, where the famous old-generation 911 RSR at the “Pink Pig” livery of Laurens Vanthoor-Kévin Estre-Michael Christensen won ahead of the “Rothmans” Porsche of Richard Lietz-Gianmaria Bruni-Frédéric Makowiecki.

# LeMans24 - @VanthoorLaurens on quali: “Right before turning onto the long straights, a couple of LMP2 cars overtook me, giving me a nice slipstream. That certainly helped in achieving a decent top speed. Overall, it was a clean drive, so we deserve to be on provisional pole.” pic.twitter.com/eXFZ0cUS1V

— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) June 8, 2022

That’s good, it’s Laurens Vanthoor who set the best time in Qualifying in GTE Pro on n°92. A bit of luck allowed the Belgian to beat the Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia and the No. 91 Porsche of Frédéric Makowiecki.

“Just before entering the Hunaudières, several LM P2s overtook me. They gave me great suction, and that certainly had a role in the maximum speed reached. I drove well, so we deserve this provisional pole (before the Hyperpole this Thursday at 19 p.m.). »

# LeMans24 – The 2 GTE-Pro #911RSR fielded by #Porsche have qualified for the Hyperpole @ 24hoursoflemans. Works drivers @VanthoorLaurens and @FredMako1 concluded the qualifying session in positions 1 and 3.

Report and free downloads ⬇️https://t.co/zsi5kvxi67 #WEC @FIAWEC pic.twitter.com/ixmYviZJJs

— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) June 8, 2022

Also present in large numbers in GTE Am (eight units), the Porsche 911 RSR struggled more among amateurs. Only the Porsche driven by Harry Tincknell, Sebastian Priaulx and Christian Ried made it out of Qualification and will continue in Hyperpole.

“Our car felt better than ever in qualifying, rejoiced Harry Tincknell, winner in LM P2 in 2014 with Jota as well as in GTE Pro in 2020 with Aston Martin. The team has moved in the right direction by fine-tuning the settings. Because the pace is so high on this track, little things like that make a big difference.

If the shock absorbers are changed even slightly, or the rear wing is adjusted one degree, it will be noticed immediately. We are well placed. I think we can have a good ride in the Hyperpole. However, it is much more important to finish the race well. »

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