At the wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR, Frenchmen Patrick Pilet and Frédéric Makowiecki tackle the penultimate round of the Sports Car World Championship WEC (World Endurance Championship) on the Shanghai International Circuit from the second row of the GT field. For Sunday’s race in Shanghai, the pair planted their 470 hp racing version of the iconic 911 sports car on the fourth grid spot. In the sister 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche Manthey squad, their teammates Richard Lietz (Austria) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) head into the six-hour race directly alongside them on fifth place. Richard Lietz currently leads the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT drivers, with Porsche Team Manthey ranking first in the GTE-Pro team classification.
Qualifying quotes
Marco Ujhasi, Overall Project Manager GT Works Motorsport: “Because we’ve concentration totally on preparing for the race, this qualifying result is not unexpected. Now we need to see what we can turn this starting position into during the race.”
Richard Lietz (911 RSR #91): “We knew we wouldn’t have it easy over just one lap. But we also know that we turn very consistent lap times in the race with our 911 RSR, and we saw this already during the free practice. For this reason, I’m feeling pretty optimistic for the race.”
Michael Christensen (911 RSR #91): “We already saw in free practice that we couldn’t quite match the pace of our competitors on a flying lap. But I’m very confident that we’ll be more competitive in the race.”
Patrick Pilet (911 RSR #92): “The balance of our 911 RSR was really good, and that will be decisive in tomorrow’s race.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (911 RSR #92): “After the free practice we tweaked our 911 RSR and this seems to have had a positive effect. Right from the outset, our strategy was focussed on the race. Looking at it from this perspective, the qualifying ran just as we had expected.”
The six-hour race starts on Sunday at 11.00 hrs local time (Sunday 04.00 hrs CEST). Eurosport broadcasts the entire race as well as the award ceremony live.