For Emanuele Pirro, the countdown began on Friday for his race debut in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Autodromo Nazionale in Monza. After his Formula 1 career, the 51-year-old Italian went on to become one of the world’s top sports car pilots, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times. Pirro now competes in the 460 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup on his home turf against Supercup specialists from 13 countries. In free practice, where 26 cars went out on the 5.793 kilometre Grand Prix circuit in the Royal Park, he posted the 17th quickest time in the Porsche AG-fielded VIP-car decked out in the legendary Martini Racing Design. He was only one good second adrift of the quickest in the session, Nicki Thiim from Denmark.

“It took a while until I found my rhythm. But after three laps I began to feel very comfortable in the car,” said Emanuele Pirro, who is the 32nd Formula 1 pilot to compete in the popular 1993-inaugurated brand trophy series. “The car is not quite where I want it to be. In every corner I had the feeling it could have gone a little quicker. But I’m very confident that my engineers will sort it out by tomorrow’s qualifying. I’m certain just one small adjustment on the car will make all the difference. Otherwise, this practice has underlined what I already said after my tests with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is an interesting challenge for any race driver. I’ve always been keen to race in one of the world’s top brand trophy series, and I’m particularly thrilled that it now works out in Monza where many of my fans will be watching.”

Emanuele Pirro contested a total of 37 Grands Prix for the Benetton and Scuderia Italia teams between 1989 (France) and 1991 (Australia). For Audi, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.

Source : Porsche