Porsche achieved a podium finish in the highly competitive GTE Pro class at the 89th Le Mans 24 Hours. The works drivers Kévin Estre from France and Neel Jani from Switzerland as well as the Dane Michael Christensen achieved third place in the number 92 Porsche 911 RSR. The sister car with the number 91 of Gianmaria Bruni from Italy, Richard Lietz from Austria and Frédéric Makowiecki from France finished fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in fourth place. The internal battle of the two works cars for the last podium place was decided around an hour before the end: After a slip in the last chicane, the rear of the number 91 had to be repaired and the brakes replaced.

"Our team showed a flawless and great fighting performance," explains Fritz Enzinger, Head of Motorsport. “Unfortunately, we lacked a bit of performance to have an important say in the competition for class victory. The podium for the starting number 92 is still a nice reward for the passionate work that our employees have done on the racetrack and at our location in Weissach. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this achievement. "

The two 515 HP strong nine-eleven from Weissach showed a good pace over long stretches of the long-distance classic in France. Due to bad luck in two safety car phases, however, there was already a gap of around three minutes on the lead in the first third of the race. This gap could not be reduced in the further course of the 24-hour endurance run solely through performance in the competition. The background to this disappointing fact for the Porsche GT Team is a special feature of the event in the French department of Sarthe.

In contrast to other racing events, three lead vehicles are sent out onto the track at the same time in the event of an incident at Le Mans. The reason is the enormous route length of 13.626 kilometers. As a result, the starting field is divided into three groups. If you drive behind the same safety car as the front, you can make up for time. Anyone who has to line up behind the following security vehicle is immediately behind, through no fault of their own, of at least 90 seconds - this is exactly what happened to the two Porsche 911 RSRs of the works team twice.

“The race was not only difficult, it was also disappointing for us. Our expectation was that we would fight for victory, ”summarized Alexander Stehlig, head of operations at the FIA WEC. “Despite good and consistent preparation, we did not have the lap time performance and top speed as we had hoped for compared to the competition. We now have to take our time to analyze everything again with the FIA and ACO in order to determine why we weren't able to go the extra mile for the race like our competitors. "

While the two 911 RSR of the works team in positions three and four repeatedly caused enthusiasm with internal duels, the two customer cars in the GTE Pro class were already in the garages early. WeatherTech Racing's starting number 79 was unable to take part in the race from early Sunday morning after an accident involving the American Cooper MacNeil. The HubAuto Racing vehicle, which started from pole position, retired shortly after sunrise due to a technical defect.

In the GTE-Am category, Dempsey-Proton Racing's number 77 with Porsche works driver Matt Campbell (Australia), team owner Christian Ried from Germany and Jaxon Evans from New Zealand in fifth place was the best 911 RSR. The sister car with the starting number 88 - started from pole position in this class - came in 13th. The customer teams Absolute Racing and Herberth Motorsport finished in seventh and tenth place on their Le Mans debut. Some other Porsche crews also had to give up prematurely here. Project 1 and the number 99 from Proton Competition did not finish with either 911 RSR. The GR Racing team fell far behind due to lengthy repairs after an accident and finished the race in 14th place.

Driver votes after the race
Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 RSR # 92): “We had hoped for more and started the race on the assumption that we could fight at the very front. Unfortunately, this has not come true. The team and we drivers still gave everything. Ultimately, the podium was the maximum we could achieve. To be on the winners' podium in the GTE-Pro class at Le Mans is not something that can be taken for granted. ”

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR # 91):“If you don't have a puncture at Le Mans, do a clean job as a team, implement a good strategy and then only finish third and fourth, then you have to analyze that. The result is not satisfactory. Anyone who has seen the race knows that it was a painful 24 hours for us. We have to see why that was. ”

Dries Vanthoor (Porsche 911 RSR # 72): “ In my stint in the morning, I was approaching the first corner as normal when suddenly nothing worked. I had no chance of pitting the vehicle back - that was it. Up to that point we had already experienced a number of setbacks: a drive-through penalty, a spin and so on. Overall, we have never been able to keep the pace of the other GTE-Pro cars constant. It's a shame. "

Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 911 RSR # 79): “We worked really well as a team. The car was good, the balance was right and we were fast. Unfortunately, Cooper had an accident one night in the chicane before the start and finish. The chassis was irreparably damaged and we had to cancel the sails prematurely. I enjoyed every single lap in the race and felt very much at home in the Porsche 911 RSR. These positive impressions are clearly in the foreground. ”

Christian Ried (Porsche 911 RSR # 77):“I'm super happy - we brought three of our five 911 RSR to the finish. The race was difficult, especially in the starting phase with the changeable weather. There was also an accident and a technical issue. We have to look again. Otherwise everyone did a great job. I myself finished fifth with my car and I'm actually happy with it. My co-drivers Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans made no mistakes under difficult conditions and put in a strong performance. "

Andrew Haryanto (Porsche 911 RSR # 18):“I am completely overwhelmed. It was our first appearance at Le Mans. Seventh place is certainly more than impressive. For me a dream is just coming true. I can’t believe what we’ve achieved straight away. It's an unbelievably great experience. "

Robert Renauer (Porsche 911 RSR # 69):“A great result for the whole team! We didn't expect that we would go that far forward. Of course, the races also contributed to this, but we just got through without a mistake. I didn't expect that on our Le Mans debut - especially in view of the numerous special rules that have to be observed here. Maybe we weren't the fastest. But we learned a lot for that this weekend. Now we would actually be perfectly prepared to tackle the 24 Hours of Le Mans again. ”

Results race
GTE-Pro class
1. Calado / Pier Guidi / Ledogar (GB / I / F), AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GTE # 51, 345 laps
2. Garcia / Taylor / Catsburg (E / USA / NL), Corvette Racing, Corvette C8.R # 63, 345 laps
3. Estre / Jani / Christensen (F / CH / DK), Porsche GT Team, Porsche 911 RSR # 92, 344 laps
4th Lietz / Bruni / Makowiecki (A / I / F), Porsche GT Team, Porsche 911 RSR # 91, 343 laps
5th Serra / Molina / Bird (BR / E / GB), AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GTE # 52, 331 laps
6th Milner / Tandy / Sims (USA / GB / GB), Corvette Racing, Corvette C8.R # 64, 313 laps
7th Martin / Parente / D. Vanthoor (B / P / B), HubAuto Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 72, 227 laps
8th MacNeil / Bamber / L. Vanthoor (USA / NZ / B), WeatherTech Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 79, 139 laps

GTE-Am class
1. Perrodo / Nielsen / Rovera (F / DK / I), AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GTE # 83, 340 Round
2. Keating / Pereira / Fraga (USA / L / BR), TF Sport, Aston Martin Vantage # 33, 339 laps
3. Cressoni / Mastronardi / Illot (I / I / GB), Iron Lynx, Ferrari 488 GTE # 80, 338 laps
5th Ried / Campbell / Evans (D / AUS / NZ), Dempsey-Proton Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 77, 335 laps
7th Haryanto / Picariello / Seefried (RI / B / D), Absolute Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 18, 332 laps
10th Renauer / Ineichen / Bohn (D / CH / D), Herberth Motorsport, Porsche 911 RSR # 69, 330 laps
13th Andlauer / Bastien / Arnold (F / USA / D), Dempsey-Proton Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 88, 327 laps
14. Wainwright / Barker / Gamble (GB / GB / GB), GR Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 86, 322 laps
16. Olsen / Buchardt / Foley (N / N / USA) , Team Project 1, Porsche 911 RSR # 46, 138 laps
21. Perfetti / Cairoli / Pera (N / I / I), Team Project 1, Porsche 911 RSR # 56, 84 laps
22. Inthraphuvasak / Latorre / Tincknell (T / F / GB), Proton Competition, Porsche 911 RSR # 99 , 66 rounds

All results and standings: fiawec.alkamelsystems.com