17th pole position for the Porsche 919 Hybrid
The six-hour race will start on Sunday at noon. The weather forecast is still unpredictable.
Before round five in Mexico, reigning world champion Porsche leads the manufacturers’ standings on 155 points from Toyota (114.5 points). Bamber/Bernhard/Hartley top the drivers’ standings on 109 points, having a 31-point advantage to the best placed Toyota crew. Jani/Lotterer/Tandy rank in fourth position (46 points).
The Porsche LMP Team after qualifying
Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1: “After an impressive performance in all three practice sessions, another great team effort led to a front row lock-out. This means the best possible situation for the start of the race in which we hope to take another step closer to our aim of title defence.”
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: “A dream result for us and the first all-Porsche front row since Le Mans 2016. This amazing outcome rewards the entire team for the hard work of the past few weeks. Contrary to all predictions, the track stayed dry for the majority of the day. Team and drivers made a perfect job, both cars got through qualifying with one set of tires each. But the pole position is just a snap shot, the six hours tomorrow will be tough. The weather forecast is very unstable and that could provide more challenges for us. But we feel well prepared and are looking forward to the race now.”
Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid car number 1:
Neel Jani (33, Switzerland): “Our 919 feels quite good, I think we are ready for the race. We used the practice sessions for tyre comparison and evaluation, which is important for a race that may prove unpredictable especially regarding the weather situation. Starting the race with both Porsches on the front row is obviously an ideal situation.”
André Lotterer (35, Germany): “This is a top result for the whole team. Of course I would have preferred to take pole but apparently it wasn’t easy for Nick to get the tyres up to temperature. I took over with the same set and can quite understand that. The fact we used only a single set obviously is good for the race. Already in free practice our two cars looked good compared to Toyota. The circuit lay-out suits our 919 very well, allowing us to lap very efficiently.”
Nick Tandy (32, Great Britain): “It is the best possible result for the team. Whoever occupies the front row always has the chance to control the race. I’m very happy. It was good for me to have some dry running earlier today in free practice. The circuit is new to me and it was good to get some more track knowledge as well as working on the car. The track is very difficult for traffic management. I also talked to our colleagues in the GT cars and they say it is the same for them. It seems the nature of the turns in the middle of the lap makes it very difficult for the classes to interact together.”
