Seven Porsche 911 GT3 R qualify for the Super Pole in Spa

The Porsche customer teams presented themselves in excellent form in qualifying for the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps. A total of seven 911 GT3 R made it into the Super Pole in the rainy race for times in Belgium. The 20 fastest vehicles in today's qualification will take part in the final shootout for the best starting positions tomorrow, Friday from 6.20 p.m. (CEST). The 24-hour race will then start on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

After two training sessions in dry and partly sunny conditions, the teams found completely different conditions in the evening qualifying. Heavy rain had set in shortly before the start of the session. Qualifying was divided into four segments, and in the end the average time of all drivers in a car counted. In extremely slippery conditions in the second section of the time chase, Matt Campbell in the Porsche with starting number 12 of last year's GPX Racing winning team was particularly strong. The young Australian works driver drove the fastest lap in his qualifying segment in 2: 35.013 minutes - with a lead of over 0.7 seconds over the second-fastest car. His French teammates Patrick Pilet and Mathieu Jaminet also followed fast laps.

The sister car from GPX Racing with the number 40 finished the session in seventh place. Both of Rowe Racing's 911 GT3 Rs with more than 500 hp made it into the Super Pole, as did a car from the customer teams Dinamic Motorsport, KCMG and Frikadelli Racing. Porsche brand ambassador Jörg Bergmeister showed a remarkable performance for the German team from Barweiler: The veteran from Langenfeld stepped in for his brand colleague Timo Bernhard at short notice. Without any preparation and without a single training kilometer in the race week so far, Bergmeister drove starting number 22 to eleventh place. During the race he shares the cockpit with the Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki and Dennis Olsen from Norway.

Quotes on qualifying
Sebastian Golz (Project Manager Porsche 911 GT3 R): “From Porsche's point of view, it was a great qualifying. We have seven 911 GT3 R in the Super Pole and are therefore the manufacturer with the most cars in the shootout for the best starting positions. The cooperation with our customer teams works extremely well. The technicians are doing a great job and the drivers are realizing the cars' potential very well. What Jörg Bergmeister has achieved in rain and darkness is almost unbelievable: he has not driven the Porsche often this year and did not even know the tires. You can hardly rate his performance highly enough. "

Matt Campbell (Porsche 911 GT3 R # 12):“Everything went perfectly for us in qualifying. My lap was flawless, the team set up our car perfectly and my colleagues were very strong. Second is a great result. Tomorrow it's about the final starting positions for the race. We attack in the Super Pole with a lot of self-confidence. It will definitely be an exciting shootout. "

Jörg Bergmeister (Porsche 911 GT3 R # 22):“That was definitely the craziest thing I've ever done - before the first qualifying I didn't drive a single lap with the Frikadelli-Porsche at Spa-Francorchamps. It was a pretty intense experience in the dark, in the rain and on Pirelli tires that I have never tried before. Eleventh place in the session can therefore be seen. I am very satisfied with that. Hopefully I'll get even more laps with the car in night practice before the 24-hour race begins on Saturday. "

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 GT3 R # 47):“We don't know the vehicle and especially the tires as well as many of our colleagues. For us, qualifying was part of an intensive learning process. We qualified for the Super Pole and gained a lot of important insights in the process. We'll definitely make further progress before the race. "

Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 GT3 R # 98): " Qualifying was a real test of patience. Again and again I had to break off fast laps because I was held up in the heavy overtaking traffic. At some point there was a halfway clear path in front of me. I used that. My colleagues also did good laps. We have achieved our desired place in the top 20, so we can be completely satisfied. ”

Dirk Werner (Porsche 911 GT3 R # 99):“The conditions on the track were difficult and surprising. We drove in the dark for the first time and then also in the wet. It was a bit like jumping into the deep end when it comes to the chassis set-up, the air pressures and the line on the track. So I'm happy that we made it into the top 20 qualifying. Tomorrow the cards will be reshuffled. We learned a lot from this session in order to better prepare for the Super Pole tomorrow. ”

Matteo Cairoli (Porsche 911 GT3 R # 54):“The conditions were incredibly difficult. The grip conditions changed again and again, there was extremely heavy overtaking traffic on the track. I never got a free lap. It would have been more possible, but that is no longer important. We have secured a place in the Super Pole. That was the goal - and we achieved it. ”

Qualifying results
1. Vanthoor / Mies / van der Linde (B / D / ZA), Audi R8 LMS GT3 # 31, 2: 35.097 minutes
2. Campbell / Pilet / Jaminet ( AUS / F / F), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 12, +0.185 seconds
3rd Drudi / Niederhauser / Vervisch (I / CH / B), Audi R8 LMS GT3 # 66, +1.152 seconds
7th Dumas / Deletraz / Preining ( F / CH / A), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 40, +1.501 seconds 9.Tandy
/ Bamber / Vanthoor (GB / NZ / B), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 98, +1.544 seconds
10. Christensen / Lietz / Estre (DK / A / F), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 47, +1.634 seconds
11. Bergmeister / Olsen / Makowiecki (D / N / F), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 22, +1.681 seconds
12. Cairoli / Engelhart / Müller (I / D / D), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 54, +1.792 seconds
19. Werner / Andlauer / Bachler (D / F / A), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 99, +2.416 seconds
23. Liberati / Burdon / Imperatori (I / AUS / CH), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 21, +2.679 seconds
35. Allemann / Bohn / Renauer / Renauer (CH / D / D / D), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 991 , +4.366 seconds
40. Rizzoli / de Leener / Pedersen / Sbirrazzuoli (I / B / DK / MC), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 56, +5.044 seconds
54. Häring / Konstantinou / Joos / Seefried (D / GR / D / D), Porsche 911 GT3 R # 918, +10.096 seconds

All results at www.total24hours.com/results.