Beaten for pole, Porsche remains optimistic for the 24 Hours of Daytona

Two tenths: that's what he missed Porsche to take the first pole position of the season, in Florida. The No. 963 Porsche 7 of Felipe Nasr set the 3rd fastest time in qualifying during the ROAR before the 24 Hours of Daytona, 0 behind pole sitter Pipo Derani and his No. 220 Cadillac. A second row which improves a mixed record for the Stuttgart manufacturer (31th for the No. 7 Porsche, 6th for the No. 9 JDC-Miller Porsche, last for the No. 85 Porsche Proton Competition).

“Third place is good. I got everything I could out of our car today, confided Felipe Nasr after qualifying. The team did an excellent job. I am totally convinced that we will compete in the race with a solid package. We will continue to work on consistency over long distances during the next test sessions which will start on Thursday. We must be fully prepared to fight for victory next weekend. »

Porsche optimistic for race at Daytona

Despite a touch of disappointment in the German clan, this third place gives hope for the 24 Hours of Daytona (January 27-28): the 963 knows how to be quick against the Cadillacs and Acuras. “We would have liked to have taken pole position, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. Congratulations to Cadillac, their team simply did better, comments Urs Kuratle, director of the LMDh program. We made no mistakes. All the teams were very close to each other. We have a good grid position for the race: after all, the event takes place over 24 hours, so anything is possible. The forecast for the race weekend calls for higher temperatures. We are ready for this and therefore we are optimistic for the season opener. »

Porsche Penske Motorsport general manager Jonathan Diuguid is also optimistic. According to him, the Porsche 963 benefits from better settings for racing and its behavior. The reliability of the German mount no longer being as important a problem as it was a year ago at the same place, the German-American team gives itself the right to dream of a first overall victory on Florida soil since the improbable and surprising victory for the Porsche 911 GT3 RS in 2003.