Florian Latorre and Larry ten Voorde lock out the first grid row at Le Mans
Florian Latorre (CLRT) has secured the best starting position for the Porsche Carrera Cup Le Mans. The Frenchman takes up Saturday’s joint race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland and the Porsche Carrera Cup France from pole position. At Friday’s qualifying session, Latorre turned the fastest lap in his 485 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with a time of 4:04.359 minutes. As the best driver from the German Carrera Cup, Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Nebulus Racing by Huber) lines up alongside Latorre on the first grid row. A 53-strong field tackles the Porsche Carrera Cup, which is contested as support to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Pole position was only decided shortly before the end of the 60-minute qualifying session. On the 13.626 kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, Latorre promptly set the fastest time at his first attempt. After 30 minutes, ten Voorde replaced him at the top of the timesheet – only to be trumped by Latorre at the last minutes. Posting a time of 4:05.156 minutes, the Dutch Huber driver ten Voorde clinched the second grid spot as the fastest from the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland contingent. “I’m really happy with this result, even though pole was possible. On my flying lap, I used Max van Splunteren’s slipstream. That was the decisive factor,” said the 23-year-old champion of the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.
In the German Carrera Cup, the two youngsters Leon Köhler and Laurin Heinrich claimed positions two and three. For the two T3/HRT Motorsport drivers, this means they take up the Porsche Carrera Cup Le Mans from sixth and seventh on the overall grid. “Unfortunately, I made a mistake during my first hot lap on my first set of tyres. Otherwise, I could’ve produced a better result. If you want to set top lap times here, you definitely need to get a tow on the long straights,” explained Köhler. Laurin Heinrich was pleased with his first qualifying session in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. “On the one hand, I did a bit better in the free practice but on the other hand I wouldn’t have thought such a good result was possible. The challenge here is to avoid getting caught behind slower vehicles in the large field.”
Dylan Pereira (Förch Racing) experienced bad luck in qualifying. The Luxembourger had to abandon his hunt for a top time due to a puncture. Pereira managed to qualify fourth in the German Carrera Cup and takes up Saturday’s race from P11. The rookie Diego Bertonelli (Italy/Fach Auto Tech) shares the sixth grid row. As the best ProAm driver from the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, Carlos Rivas (Luxembourg/Black Falcon Team Textar) concluded the qualifying on P30.
Michael Fassbender joins the grid line-up of the Porsche Carrera Cup Le Mans. For the German-Irish actor, this is the next step on his “Road to Le Mans” project. Next year, Fassbender plans to contest the endurance classic in a Porsche 911 RSR. Porsche AG also fields a second vehicle driven by Max van Splunteren (Netherlands). The Dutchman earned himself a grid spot as the rookie champion of the 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.
The 45-minute Porsche Carrera Cup Le Mans race gets underway at 9.15am on Saturday. The French TV channel Eurosport and the German channel Sport1 broadcast the race. Fans can follow the action live on the YouTube and Facebook accounts of the two Porsche one-make cup series as well as on the Porsche Motorsport Hub.