April - June
Third quickest qualifying time for the Porsche 911 RSRSports Car World Endurance Championship WEC, round 3, Le Mans 24 Hours/France - GT
Stuttgart.
As the best
Normally at the WEC races, two pilots must qualify a car, but in Le Mans only the fastest time of one pilot determines the starting position for the race.
Quotes after the 1st qualifying
Hartmut Kristen, Head of
Joerg Bergmeister (#91): “I just went out and turned my mandatory laps. It was pretty chaotic out there with lots of interruptions. Let’s see how things go tomorrow.”
Patrick Pilet (#91): “The car wasn’t easy to drive, plus during my fastest lap I encountered a lot of traffic. Still, I’m feeling pretty good. We now have some work to do on the balance.”
Marco Holzer (#92): “It was really good to go out and drive at night again. Fred put in a great performance and planted the car on third. It’s important to set a good time in the first qualifying because you never know what tomorrow brings. Our priority though is to keep working on the car’s race setup.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (#92): “Driving on this track at night is never easy. In some spots you really have to take particular care. I think we have a good car. Our main objective today was to find a good setup for the race. Perhaps we can improve on our time tomorrow.”
Patrick Long (#77): “That qualifying was very eventful with a lot of interruptions. For us the main priority was that all drivers completed their mandatory five laps in the dark. Because of the interruptions, Patrick Dempsey didn’t manage that. But he won’t mind at all jumping back into the cockpit tomorrow night. We trialled a new tyre compound and we’re actually quite happy with how it went today.”
Patrick Dempsey (#77): “We’re the best-placed
Klaus Bachler (#88): “Because of the many caution phases I wasn’t able to post any decent times. We’ll have to get out there again tomorrow.”
Result Qualifying 1
GTE-Pro class
1. Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella (I/SF/I), Ferrari 458 Italia, 3:54.754 minutes
2. Turner/Mücke/Senna (GB/D/BRA), Aston Martin Vantage, + 0.313 seconds
3. Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz (D/F/A),
4. Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor (DK/E/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 1.689
5. Bergmeister/Pilet/Tandy (D/F/GB),
6. MacDowall/O’Young/Rees (GB/HK/BRA), Aston Martin Vantage, + 2.504
GTE-Am class
1. Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov (I/RUS/RUS), Ferrari 458 Italia, 3:56.787 minutes
2. Perez Companc/Cioci/Venturi (ARG/I/I), Ferrari F 458 Italia, + 0.132 seconds
3. Dempsey/Foster/Long (USA/USA/USA),
4. Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi (D/A/UAE),
5. Collard/Perrodo/Palttala (F/F/SF),
6. Wowlem/Patterson/Hamilton (GB/USA/GB), Ferrari 458 Italia, + 3.007
9. MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen (USA/USA/NL),
Two more qualifying sessions are held on Thursday from 19.00 to 21.00 hrs and from 22.00 hrs until midnight. The race starts at 15.00 hrs on Saturday.
Please note: Photo and video material of the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC are available for accredited journalists from the
GO
11.06.2014