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Qualifying report

Sao Paulo: Porsche 911 RSR starts from row one in GT

Pilet and Makowiecki second on GTE Pro grid.

Patrick Pilet, Frederic Makowiecki, Porsche Team

Patrick Pilet, Frederic Makowiecki, Porsche Team

Porsche AG

#92 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR: Patrick Pilet, Frederic Makowiecki
#92 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR: Patrick Pilet, Frederic Makowiecki
#92 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR: Patrick Pilet, Frederic Makowiecki
#92 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR: Patrick Pilet, Frederic Makowiecki

The best Porsche 911 RSR takes up Sunday’s season finale of the Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC in Sao Paulo from the first grid row. In a gripping qualifying on the Autodromo José Carlos Pace circuit, the French Porsche works drivers Patrick Pilet and Frédéric Makowiecki planted their 470 hp 911 RSR with the starting number 92 on second in the GTE-Pro class. The Shanghai winners were only one and a half tenths of a second shy of pole position. In the Porsche Manthey’s squad second 911 RSR, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, their factory pilot colleagues Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) set the fourth quickest time.

Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche Head of Motorsport: “I’m very pleased with the qualifying results. It underlines that the car runs well on this circuit. Tomorrow’s race will definitely be very exciting.”

Frédéric Makowiecki (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “After our problems in Bahrain we came to know our car even better and we took the right course of action for Sao Paulo. That’s how it should be. Tomorrow we have a good chance to fight for victory and we don’t want to pass up this chance. A lot can happen in six hours but I’m still feeling fairly confident.”

Patrick Pilet (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “The qualifying was good. I tried to get in two perfect laps so that I could hand the car to Fred with relatively fresh tyres. Our 911 ran very consistently today and that’s a good sign for tomorrow’s race. Fred will drive the first stint and I’m sure he’ll try everything to move into the lead in the first lap.”

Jörg Bergmeister (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “I couldn’t use the additional grip of the new tyres as well as my driver colleagues in the number 92 RSR. Still, I’m basically satisfied with fourth place. We’ve found a good setup for the race during the practice session.”

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “The car worked well and ran very consistently and that is very important for the race. Obviously I would have liked to see us further up the grid, but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough today. Tomorrow we have six hours to work our way up the field.”

The six-hour race starts on 30 November at 13.00 hrs local time (16.00 CET). Television station Eurosport broadcasts the last 90 minutes of the race live from 20.30 hrs CET.

Qualifying result

GTE-Pro class
1. Turner/Mücke (GB/D), Aston Martin Vantage, 1:30.111 minutes
2. Makowiecki/Pilet (F/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.148 seconds
3. MacDowall/O’Young/Rees (GB/CAN/BRA), Aston Martin Vantage, + 0.200
4. Bergmeister/Lietz (D/A), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.425
5. Rigon/Calado (I/GB), Ferrari F458 Italia, + 0.453
6. Bruni/Vilander (I/SF), Ferrari 458 Italia, + 0.796

GTE-Am class
1. Lamy/Dalla Lana/Nygaard (P/CAN/DK), Aston Martin Vantage, 1:30.401 minutes
2. Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim (DK/DK/DK), Aston Martin, + 0.092 seconds
3. Wyatt/Rugolo/Bertolini (AUS/I/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, + 0.395
4. Fittipaldi/Segal/Pier Guidi (/BRA/USA/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, + 0.473
5. Roda/Ruberti/Cressoni (I/I/I), Ferrari F 458 Italia, + 1.082
6. Collard/Perrodo/Vaxivière (FRA/FRA/FRA), Porsche 911 RSR, + 1.109
7. Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi (D/A/UAE), Porsche 911 RSR, + 4.464

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