Three Porsche 911 GT3 R can fight for pole position for the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow Friday evening: they made it into the top 20 in qualifying. The endurance classic starts on Saturday at 16:45 (CEST).

The Porsche customer teams entered the Superpole session with three 911 GT3 R in qualifying for the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours. The austrians Thomas Preining and Klaus Bachler as well as the Frenchman Côme Ledogar drove the fastest nine-eleven to eleventh place. In four 15-minute segments, they set an average time of 2:17.594 minutes for the Dinamic Motorsport team. Factory driver Preining achieved the fastest individual lap in 2:16.899 minutes. The Toksport WRT trio Sven Müller, Marvin Dienst (both Germany) and Julien Andlauer (France) as well as GPX Racing drivers Kévin Estre from France, Michael Christensen from Denmark and Richard Lietz from Austria will also be able to participate in the Superpole session. This final hunt for the 20 best starting places is scheduled for Friday evening between 19:30 and 20:00 (CEST). The 24-hour race on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit starts on Saturday at 16:45 local time.

Both the second and third qualifying segments were interrupted by incidents in the onset of darkness on the "Ardennes roller coaster" – this and in view of 66 GT3 race cars on the 7.004-kilometre race track made overtaking traffic particularly hectic for the 13 Porsches. While the number 54 of Dinamic Motorsport and the 911 GT3 R of Toksport WRT managed to make the leap into the top 20 relatively clearly, the nine-eleven from GPX Racing made it into Superpole mainly thanks to a feat of strength by Kévin Estre: The Frenchman secured progress in the fourth qualifying segment with a lap time of 2:16.943 minutes.

At the wheel of the Number 24 Porsche of Herberth Motorsport, the Germans Nico Menzel and Stefan Aust, together with the Belgian Alessio Picariello and the Swiss Niki Leutwiler, took second place on the grid in the Pro-Am classification. The number 91 of Allied Racing with Florian Latorre (France), Alex Malykhin (UK), Julien Apothéloz (CH) and former Porsche Junior Ayhancan Güven from Turkey finished fourth in the gold category. In the silver class, the sister car finished 16th in qualifying.

The 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is considered the largest event for GT3 cars worldwide and counts for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup and the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC). Drivers and cars receive points for the GT World Challenge after six, twelve and 24 hours. The race will be live streamed on the www.intercontinentalgtchallenge.com website.

Comments on qualifying
Sebastian Golz (Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R): "It was extremely difficult to hit the right lap in the dense overtaking traffic. Regardless, we have fallen short of our expectations. Only three of our 911 GT3 R qualified for Superpole on Friday – we wanted to finish in the top 20 with more cars. But even so, we can fight for the top tomorrow. I think we have found a good set-up and are optimistic about the race. However, we are now focusing on Superpole and keeping our fingers crossed that the three teams finish far ahead."

Thomas Preining (Porsche 911 GT3R #54): "All the drivers did a great job. We didn't get any lap times cancelled due to violations of the track limits and we were able to stay out of all the trouble. Normally, it is said that this is crucial, especially in the race – but with almost 70 starters, qualifying is also more important than most people think. The fact that we qualified for Superpole today was fundamental. Personally, however, I am also quite happy: the day before yesterday I was still sitting at home and already had my eyes on my holiday. Then I was called in at short notice to replace Matteo Cairoli and am now the fastest Porsche driver in my group. That's great."

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 911 GT3R #100): "We couldn't prepare for qualifying as perfectly as we wanted. But in the end, the car worked really well. Qualifying was a difficult affair for everyone involved because of the red flags and a lot of overtaking traffic on the track. My session went satisfactorily: I caught a lap with relatively little overtaking traffic and was able to bring almost everything together to the point. It could have been a little faster, but in the end it was enough. We have achieved our goal: the Superpole. Now we are fighting for pole position."

Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 GT3 R #221): "With our lap time average, we finished in 19th place and thus narrowly made it into Superpole. Qualifying was very chaotic. It was almost impossible to catch a free round. Richard and Michael didn't have much luck with the overtaking traffic – me did, also because the team sent me out at the right time. So I was able to drive a clean lap, which of course makes me happy. For the Superpole, we may have to adjust one or the other little thing here and there. Overall, however, we are already very well positioned, the balance of the car is good."

Nico Menzel (Porsche 911 GT3 R #24): "Second place in the Pro-Am classification is a good result with which we are happy. Our two gentlemen drivers felt very comfortable in the car. Our Porsche should work well in qualifying as well as in the race. Our lap times show that we have potential. If we survive the first few hours of the race and the night well, don't allow ourselves to make mistakes or concede penalties, then we'll see where we end up..."

Results Qualifying
1. Rigon/Serra/Fuoco (I/BR/I), Ferrari 488 GT3 #71, 2:16.920 minutes
2. Molina/Nielsen/Calado (E/DK/UK), Ferrari 488 GT3 #51, 2:17.098 minutes
3. Pepper/Caldarelli/Mapelli (RSA/MC/CH), Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo #6, 2:17.237 minutes
11. Bachler/Ledogar/Preining (A/F/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #54, 2:17.594 minutes
14. Andlauer/Dienst/Müller (F/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #100, 2:17.636 minutes
19. Estre/Christensen/Lietz (F/DK/A), Porsche 911 GT3 R #221, 2:17.824 minutes
22. Campbell/Jaminet/Nasr (AUS/F/BR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #74, 2:18.090 minutes
38. Malykhin/Apothéloz/Latorre/Güven (UK/CH/F/TR), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 2:18.806 minutes
46. Roda/Calamia/Nakken/Pedersen (I/CH/N/DK), Porsche 911 GT3 R #56, 2:19.177 minutes
49. Leutwiler/Aust/Picariello/Menzel (CH/D/B/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #24, 2:19.312 minutes
53. Au/Tse/Pereira/Evans (HK/MAC/L/NZ), Porsche 911 GT3 R #9, 2:19.996 minutes
54. Bhirombhakdi/Hamon/Sathienthirakul/Bamber (T/F/T/NZ), Porsche 911 GT3 R #39, 2:20.077 minutes
55th Fischli/Sturm/Matthiesen/Andronaco (CH/D/DK/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #22, 2:20.356 minutes
60th Da Silva/B. Grove/S. Grove/Payne (MAL/AUS/AUS/NZ), Porsche 911 GT3 R #16, 2:21.908 minutes
64th Tandy/Vanthoor/Olsen (UK/B/N), Porsche 911 GT3 R #47
NC Bohn / A. Renauer / R. Renauer (D/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #911