Absolute Racing made a solid debut in the European Le Mans Series (17 April) when the Chinese-based team Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Andrew Haryanto, Martin Rump and Alessio Picariello placed eighth in the LMGTE category on its championship debut at Paul Ricard, France.

Starting from sixth on the LMGTE grid for the opening round of the six-race series, Haryanto was able to keep the front-runners’ pace during his two-hour double stint. The Indonesian gentleman driver managed to run in third for a while, and passed the car over to series rookie Martin Rump in fifth position.

The Estonian driver came under pressure through traffic, but handled himself brilliantly to keep the No.18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 close to front pack during his stint. With one hour to go, Rump pitted the car to hand over to Picariello in sixth. The Belgian driver left the pits in eighth, and struggling with grip couldn’t make up any place despite the strong pace demonstrated several times over the 4 Hour of Le Castellet weekend.

The second ELMS round is staged at Imola in Italy on 15 May.

EAM QUOTES:

Andrew Haryanto (Absolute Racing - Driver): “It was a good weekend for the team to learn and see how competitive the series is. Martin was quickly up to speed in the car, which was great to see. The race didn’t really go our way and we ended up finishing lower than we would’ve liked but it was still a solid debut for Absolute Racing in ELMS.”

Matin Rump (Absolute Racing - Driver): “We gave it our all today but things just didn’t go our way. We have things to analyse, and to improve. Also, there are some positives to take with us from here. One thing is for sure, we’ll be going for it in Imola!”

Alessio Picariello (Absolute Racing - Driver): "Today’s race was a tough one for us, we didn’t achieve the result we were looking for, but it was still a solid debut for the team. We have five races left to go in the season, so we’ll have our sights set on bouncing back at the next round."

Michael Schneider (Absolute Racing - Project Manager): “Andrew had a great race start and went up to P3. He got stuck in traffic while fighting for second place and had to run wide to avoid a collision, which cost him several positions. He recovered well from this, and his lap times have been very good, especially at the end of the stint. Martin picked up pace after a few laps and drove an incredible stint at the end. Unfortunately, the Safety Cars and FCY periods didn't work out well for us and we got overtaken from cars that benefited from it. Alessio could only manage to keep the position in the last stint. I’m very happy with the pace of all the three drivers, but I'm not satisfied where we ended up in the results. All in all, we learned a lot this weekend, and I'm convinced that in the coming races, we'll be stronger and hopefully luckier."