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Porsche North America - Porsche 911 RSR

Qualifying

Porsche North America - Porsche 911 RSR
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, round 9 in Alton/USA, Qualifying
Alton: Best 911 RSR on the fourth grid row

On the storied Virginia International Raceway, the best Porsche 911 RSR starts round nine of the IMSA SportsCar Championship on Sunday from the fourth grid row. In qualifying on the 5.263-kilometre racetrack near Alton in the US state of Virginia, Nick Tandy (Great Britain) posted the seventh quickest time in summer temperatures of over 30-degrees Celsius. For the race, he shares the cockpit of the 470 hp #911 GT racer, which was built at Weissach based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, with the reigning IMSA GT champion Patrick Pilet (France). In the sister 911 RSR with the starting number 912 fielded by the Porsche North America works team, Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and his teammate Earl Bamber (New Zealand) take up the race from the ninth grid spot.

In the GTD class, Mario Farnbacher (Germany) clocked the sixth fastest time with the only 911 GT3 R in the field. Sharing the cockpit of the 500 hp customer racer with the former Porsche Junior Alex Riberas (Spain), he contests the most important sports car race series in North America for Seattle/Alex Job Racing.

Qualifying quotes
Steffen Höllwarth, Program Manager IMSA SportsCar Championship: “The results of this qualifying are not exactly what we’d hoped for. We didn’t quite get the setup of the 911 RSR sorted, and when the field is so close, as is the case here after position three, then it is the small things that make the difference. Still, we’re not taking up the race without a chance. In practice we saw a lot of competitors slide off the track. So the key to success will be to keep out of trouble, stay cool, and be there at the end when it comes to the top spots.”
Nick Tandy (911 RSR #911): “The qualifying wasn’t as bad as it may seem at first glance. We made several changes to our 911 RSR which have had quite a positive impact. Apart from the two Corvettes, we aren’t that far off the fastest, so I think we have a good chance to do better in the race tomorrow.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (911 RSR #912): “In qualifying it was considerably hotter compared to this morning’s free practice. Under such difficult conditions, our 911 RSR was not able to match the previous performance. We now need to find out what caused this.”

Qualifying result
GTLM class
1. Garcia/Magnussen (E/DK), Chevrolet Corvette, 1:41.557 minutes
2. Gavin/Milner /GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.011 seconds
3. Hand/Müller (USA/D), Ford GT, + 0.260
4. Fisichella/Vilander (I/SF), Ferrari 488 GTE, + 0.668
5. Edwards/Luhr (USA/D), BMW M6, + 0.670
6. Auberlen/Werner (USA/D), BMW M6, + 0.698
7. Pilet/Tandy (F/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.719
8. Briscoe/Westbrook (AUS/GB), Ford GT, + 0.737
9. Bamber/Makowiecki (NZ/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.892

GTD class
1. Snow/Sellers (USA/USA), Lamborghini GT3, 1:44.956 minutes
2. Aschenbach/Bell (USA/USA), Audi R8, + 0.291 seconds
3. Sbirrazzuoli/de George (MC/USA), Lamborghini GT3, + 0.295
4. Liddell/Davis (GB/USA), Audi R8, + 0.346
5. Lewis/Pumpelly (USA/USA), Lamborghini GT3, + 0.416
6. Riberas/Farnbacher (E/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 0.607
7. Balzan/Nielsen (I/DK), Ferrari 488, + 1.041
8. Marsal/Palttala (USA/SF), BMW M6, + 1.280

The 2.40-hour race in Alton starts on Sunday, 28 August, at 13:35 hrs local time (19:35 hrs CEST) and is broadcast live outside the USA on www.imsa.com.



All reports on the previous season can be found in our archive.