Comments on the race
Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars: “The fight for the world championship remains gripping. Today we managed to narrow the small gap to two points. Hopefully in Bahrain we’ll finally be able to bring home our long overdue maiden world championship win for our new 911 RSR. In the GTE-Pro class it was even closer than usual today. It’s a shame that the incident with the Toyota cost us decisive seconds as well as the chance to be even closer and perhaps even score a victory. The title race in the GTE-Am class is still open.”
Richard Lietz (911 RSR #91): “That was an exciting race. I feel sorry for Michael and Kevin. They were doing so well. Our 911 RSR was running well, too. Fred drove a fantastic double stint and, at the end, the situation with the leading Ford became really close. The incident involving the Toyota cost us a lot of time, and afterwards our car was pretty badly battered. The steering wheel was wonky and I felt strong vibrations. I’m pleased that I managed to salvage second place. We’re still totally in contention for the world championship.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (911 RSR #91): “Obviously we would rather have won. We were so close towards the end. But we’ve again improved our chances of winning the world championship with second place, so I’m satisfied. What I didn’t like was how disrespectful the LMP1 and LMP2 drivers were. That wasn’t the first time we were nudged unnecessarily today. But the most important thing is that it’ll be really exciting at the season finale in Bahrain.”
Michael Christensen (911 RSR #92): “It’s always disappointing to have a race end prematurely. But considering how we’ve improved over the second half of the season, we have no reason to hang our heads. Again, every team member did a great job today and contributed to a great start to the race, possibly our best this year. Now we would like to reap the fruits of our hard work at the season finale in Bahrain.”
Kévin Estre (911 RSR #92): “The beginning of the race went well for us. I had a great start and could move into first place after three laps. Michael then extended the lead. Our 911 RSR ran like clockwork, it was the fastest GT car in the field. But two laps after Michael handed the car off to me, the car suddenly lost power. That was tough because at that point the situation seemed very promising for us to win the race. It’s just bad luck. But we’re looking ahead now and we hope for a good season finale in Bahrain.”
Matteo Cairoli (911 RSR #77): “That was a very tough race. We experienced problems with the tyres over the whole weekend, plus we lacked a bit of speed compared to the frontrunners. Viewed in this light, third place is a good result, even though it means we’ve lost our lead in the FIA Endurance Trophy. Still, the final score will be settled after the last round in Bahrain.”
Complete results of the FIA WEC GT in Shanghai on next page
