Porsche 919s dominated LMP qualifying at Spa Francorchamps this evening, eventually claiming the first three grid positions for the 2015 Spa 6 Hours. Bernhard/Hartley took pole position in the number 17 car with a stunning 1:54.767 pole time, three seconds quicker than the previous fastest lap for an LMP car at Spa.
Tandy/Hülkenberg set the second quickest time in 919 number 19, 1:55.025. Marc Lieb/Neel Jani brought up the rear, just two tenths behind on a 1:55.024. The next closest car was Lotterer/Fassler, eight tenths behind the lead Porsche. It was a masterful show of performance from the 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
LMP lap times are worked out on aggregate. Two drivers set their quickest laps, with the average of both lap times counting. Porsche 919 number 17 scored a 1:54.779 from Hartley and a 1:54.755 from Bernhard to go first overall on .767. Number 19 had a 1:55.1 from Hulk with a 1:54.9 from Tandy, giving 1:55.0. Finally, a 55.2 vs 55.3 from Jani and Lieb meant the three 919s were split by just six-tenths of a second. Good going, especially given this is some drivers’ first LMP weekend.
As ever, the times don’t tell it all. “Of course the team is very happy with the qualifying result,” said Marc Lieb. “I lost four-tenths in the first corner of my fast lap because of a slight mistake. That’s why I’m a little bit upset. But the number 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid was unbeatable today.”
Porsche 911 RSRs qualify slowest of the GTE-Pro runners
Down the field, the 911 RSRs suffered as they always do when Spa is dry. Fernando Rees in the GTE-Pro Aston Martin did a magnificent job, taking pole with young team-mate, Richie Stanaway. Behind them, it was Ferrari-Aston-Ferrari-Aston-Porsche-Porsche.
Sven Müller and Kévin Estre outqualified regular works drivers Lietz and Fred Makowiecki by one-tenth of a second on aggregate. The 911 laptimes don’t make for great reading – 2:18.0 for the lead 911 versus 2:16.8 as a pole time – but the RSRs will likely race better than they qualified.
“The result [for the 911s] corresponds to what we expected,” said Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “It was clear that we wouldn’t be up the front on this track. We used these laps predominantly to prepare more effectively for the race.”
In GTE-Am, Patrick Long set a 2:19.9 versus team-mate Patrick Dempsey’s 2:26.0, to qualify P14 overall in GT. I was surprised to learn that this is Dempsey’s first outing at Spa: one might have expected some pre-event testing here in race test days or similar. This means I have currently done more laps than Dr. Dreamy in Belgium.
Spa is a huge track with lots of time out there to lose, so eight seconds off GTE-Pro pole seems OK for a new boy. A number of drivers had fastest quali laps cancelled for running outside of track limits, but Dempsey did better than that.
All is not lost in GTE-Am, as the number 88 911 of Christian Ried, Khaled Al Qubaisi and Klaus Bachler managed third overall in the category, following a sizeable shunt through Pouhon in free practice three. The car looked good out on track: very impressed that they managed to fix it so quickly, as that corner has claimed many Porsche badges that were not resurrected.
The race is TOMORROW, starting at 14:30 CET. I’m at Donington Historics with EB Motorsport – Mark and James racing the 3.0 RS in the 2.5-hour 1000kms tomorrow evening – so will be watching Spa on the FIA WEC app from a trackside position.
German F1 driver Nico Hülkenberg debuts for Porsche Racing at Spa this weekend: part of a three-car Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid line up that is sure to generate serious presence on track and contribute to a very interesting race.
Driver lineups for the 919s numbered 17, 18 and 19 are arranged as follows:
Porsche 919 Hybrid #17: Bernhard/Hartley/Webber
Porsche 919 Hybrid #18: Dumas/Jani/Lieb
Porsche 919 Hybrid #19: Bamber/Hülkenberg/Tandy
Adding a third 919 to the squad creates a huge logistical task for the Porsche WEC team, which has really been racing in its current form for just over a year. Add the massive power boost that comes with the move to an 8-megajoule powertrain and the additional stresses and strains this puts on the race car and there is a lot for the young team to deal with, running three prototypes and a pair of 911 RSRs in a six-hour race at the world’s greatest racetrack.
The power now developed by the 8MJ 919 Hybrid exceeds most other racing cars, including Formula 1 cars and all other prototype racers, but I have it on quite good authority that the primary challenge for the drivers is not just the huge amount of power available, but also how the 919 delivers that power. Four hundred horsepower arriving at the front wheels in one press of the throttle is tough on drivers and on tyres: we’ll have to see how the cars have developed since Silverstone when they get to Spa Francorchamps.
“The speed of the second generation of the 919 Hybrid was convincing at the season’s opening race at Silverstone,” said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President of Porsche’s LMP1 group. “The third 919 Hybrid for Spa is an entirely newly built car for Earl, Nick and Nico. Handling three such complex cars and nine drivers will be challenging. All three 919s will compete in the same aero configuration as raced at Silverstone. Regarding the demands of the hybrid management in the 8-megajoule class, we are constantly learning. Generally speaking, Spa’s track layout should favour our car.”
Putting the threat from Toyota aside for a moment, the biggest issue for Porsche race pace at Silverstone was the corner speed shown by the Audis. If they take a bit of downforce off to try and stay close to the 919s along Spa’s Kemmel Straight, they will slow down in the bends. Audi has already confirmed it will run a variety of aero packages across the three R18 e-tron Quattro prototypes at round two of the World Endurance Championship, but its biggest weapon may take the shape of Rene Rast: awesome former Porsche racer and now number 9 Audi boy, driving with Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi.
Rast has two 24 hour Spa wins to his name, and debuts in LMP1 at the same race as Hülkenberg, Bamber and Tandy. No doubt all three have a huge learning curve ahead of them, but they are supremely talented racing drivers: absolutely amongst the best in the world. This race will be properly mega, so do not miss it! Fox Sports 1 shows WEC live in most of its territories, with Motors TV your friend in the UK. Eurosport will also show part of the race towards the end, or you can watch it via the excellent WEC app.
A Porsche 968 competing in the Britcar 24 Hours of Silverstone has raised thousands of pounds for the Children’s Heart Federation charity. It’s not to late to donate: see below.
Practice lap times placing the Porsche at the back of the field did not tell the full story. Starting towards the back of the grid, the twenty-two year-old Porsche beat faster cars that could not last the distance, eventually coming home twelfth overall and proving the virtue of staying power.
“Beating heart disease is all about teamwork, just like endurance racing,” said Jonathan Evans, a trustee of the Children’s Heart Federation and one of the 968’s four drivers alongside Ben Demetriou, Paul Follett and Alex Eacock.
“This satisfying result is testament to a great team of drivers, pit crew and sponsors. Each team member did their utmost to achieve the best result for a wonderful organisation that supports so many sick children every year. Prepared by EMC Motorsport, the Porsche ran faultlessly throughout the event, outlasting much quicker cars, including two 911s. We have much to be proud of today.”
The team is still taking donations in support of its efforts, with all proceeds going directly to the Children’s Heart Federation. Porsche fans can contribute at www.justgiving.com/team-chf500/. Do it today!
Dale Lomas of the Bridge to Gantry blog has just shared pics of an un-camouflaged Porsche 991 GT3 RS at the Nürburgring, a visit coinciding with rumours of an attempt on the Nürburgring lap record this evening.
“We’ve all seen the new 991-based GT3RS,” writes Dale Lomas, a driving instructor with RSRNurburg, who hosted our most recent track day at Spa Francorchamps. “I’ve seen the camo-clad test cars, and recently the stationary show-queens at Geneva and New York. But there’s nothing like seeing a hot new car in the wild, undisguised. And that’s what happened tonight at the Nürburgring Nordschleife car park.”
Dale’s pictures show a GT3 RS in Silver arriving at the circuit just before the close, then taking to the track during what photographers call ‘Golden Hour’ for pictures shot in end-of-day light. As the Porsche 911 started its laps of the Nürburgring, the track management cancelled this evening’s public touristenfahrten sessions, marking the circuit as closed.
I’m not sure that Porsche would try a speed record in the evening: early morning light and that cold, damp air would make for a better chance of breaking the Nürburgring lap record, if the track was dry enough. Maybe they want to do some more pictures: the evening light is superb for that. Either way, Dale’s pictures are exciting, showing the Porsche 991 GT3 RS in a normal, run-of-the-mill public situation.
Porsche 991 GT3 RS build slots selling over list price
Of course the Porsche 991 GT3 RS is already sold out. Preferential purchase options went to Porsche 918 owners, many of whom seized the option to buy. The cars that were left quickly sold out, and my Facebook feed has thrown up a few Porsche 991 GT3 RS buyers unsure of what colour to go for.
I have steered clear of discussions on what colour to order for maximum residual value, as that sort of stuff drives me nuts, but no doubt those buyers lucky enough to nab a build slot have already done well for their money. Slots that came available just after launch were changing hands at something like £20k over list price, but I now hear that some slots have been making more than £100,000 over list. Nice work if you can get it.
Edit 23/04/15: just spoke to a guy who has sold his for considerably more than £100k over. Ridiculous.
Porsche Racing had a disappointing run at yesterday’s Long Beach Grand Prix in California. Racing in the Tudor IMSA series ‘showcase’ at Long Beach, the 100-minute street race left little time to fight back from a low starting position.
While Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet initially went well in qualifying, running P2 and P3 early on and driving the wheels off their Porsche 911 RSRs (see the video below), the cars started the race further down the field. The tight and twisty street circuit is tough for overtaking, so when Lietz put a move on Oliver Gavin’s Corvette at the start, there was no room for error. Sod’s Law, that is what happened.
“An accident at the start is something you can really do without, particularly on a street circuit like Long Beach,” said Lietz. “You know that the race is short and that overtaking is difficult, so you try everything to make up positions at the start. That didn’t work this time. I didn’t expect the Corvette to swerve towards me. I couldn’t avoid him and ended up in the wall.”
Looks more like he ended up in the Corvette (above), but Pilet made the most of his team mate’s misfortune, to come home in fourth place. “I was lucky in the first corner after the start. While Richard’s car was forced into the wall, I just managed to scrape through. Our car wasn’t easy to drive in the first laps, but it improved over the course of the race and the balance got better. In fact, we weren’t far off the top with our times. Still, on this narrow circuit it was impossible to overtake.”
IMSA Porsche Racing California
The number 911 RSR eventually finished eighth overall, with local driver and polesitter Bill Auberlene on the top step in the BMW Z4. No surprise to see a win from pole on this super short race. If you’re wondering why teams put all that time and money into racing an almost nonexistent event, look at where Long Beach is situated, just south of Los Angeles central. It’s the easiest place to market to those who won’t come to a circuit.
Not done the maths yet, but I think this keeps Porsche at the bottom of the championship table in the GT Le Mans class of the Tudor IMSA series. Next round is Laguna Seca at the start of May: another short race of just 2 hours 40 minutes, but with more room to get past the rest. We’ll have to see how things pan out with Michael Christensen in the number 911 RSR, while some of the boys come home for Spa WEC.
Watch the IMSA Tudor Sportscar Showcase Long Beach qualifying on video here:
The awesome Kévin Estre will join the Porsche works drivers for the second round of this year’s World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) at Spa Francorchamps. The current McLaren factory driver has been let off Woking’s leash to come play with 911s in Belgium.
Estre is a proper racing driver, as proved by his 2013 Carrera Cup Deutschland title. Anyone who wins this series – undoubtedly the world’s most challenging one-make championship – is a monster behind the wheel, especially when they beat Nicki Thiim as their Attempto Racing team mate.
Estre and the Porsche Works Drivers
I was surprised when Kévin did not get a Porsche works drive after winning that championship in such fine style. Stuttgart was rammed with pilots at the time, so I can see why they picked the lineup they went with. It is very exciting to have the 26 year-old Frenchman back in a 911: and the full-fat number 92 factory Porsche Manthey Racing RSR, at that.
Estre went to McLaren at the end of 2013 and made the most of the opportunity, outperforming expectations for the chassis. He also kept his hand in with Porsches, sharing a GT3R with Jaap van Lagen in GT Masters and picking up a couple of wins last year (below at Zandvoort).
Alongside the GT Masters wins and that 2013 Carrera Cup DE championship, Kévin was runner up in the Porsche Supercup that year, Rookie of the Year in 2012, and French Carrera Cup champion in 2011. Estre excels in the wet, so if it rains in Spa (not that unlikely), we are in for a proper 911 race.
Sharing the car is Sven Müller, the quick Porsche Junior who was very impressive in testing following his maiden win in Porsche Supercup at Monza last September. Muller was impressive at Spa, qualifying fourth and finishing just off the podium, behind Bamber, Thiim and Bachler. No shame there.
The Spa-Francorchamps round of the 2015 WEC season runs from May 1-2. You can watch the race live online if you know where to go: WEC rounds are also shown in full on Motors TV and Fox Sports.
Kevin Estre versus Sean Edwards Nürburgring video
Now for some video! Here’s Kévin racing Sean Edwards at the Nürburgring during his 2013 season. Christian Engelhart won this race, but the real action was behind, as Estre and Alex Riberas gave Sean a hard time. Running wide across the grass in the duel with Alex earned Sean a stop/go penalty, hence what happens at the end. Fantastic driving – Edwards was an old-school Nürburgring hero.
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