Porsche locks out first row at world’s toughest long-distance race
Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “Second on the grid is good, because we kept out of all the fights for positions and didn’t have to battle our way through the field. The heavy traffic in the final qualifying session prevented us from beating our best time, so we concentrated on the race.”
Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “The field got really twitchy in the last qualifying session and there were a lot of interruptions so I didn’t get the chance for a clear lap. I’m feeling optimistic, because we’re heading into the race with a well setup vehicle.”
Patrick Pilet (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “As far as going for top times is concerned, the last qualification wasn’t perfect. On the other hand, we made great progress with the race setup – we know what we need to do on the car and we’ll keep improving during the race.”
Earl Bamber (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “The final day of qualifying was okay for us. Patrick turned a good lap, but the track wasn’t as fast as yesterday. With the race setup, we moved in the right direction step by step. We’ll be competitive in the race.”
Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 RSR #93): “We didn’t get much track time during the final qualification, but we ticked everything off our list. For us drivers, it would have been good to have had more time to get used to the dark, but in any case we’re well prepared for the race.”
Sven Müller (Porsche 911 RSR #94): “My qualifying was shorter than expected unfortunately. In my first flying lap I suddenly had no grip at all in Indianapolis 1 and lost the car. Luckily the vehicle can be repaired, but something like this can’t happen in the race.”
Jörg Bergmeister (Porsche 911 RSR #56): “Unfortunately, after being hampered by heavy traffic in the first qualifying, we deliberately focussed on preparing for the race. We drove long runs on soft tyres. The car felt really good and I’m looking forward to the race. For us as a new team, it’s a huge challenge to take on the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a second task.”
Matt Campbell (Porsche 911 RSR #77): “We’d hoped to be able to improve on our times from the previous day. The conditions were simply not good enough. Our setup is not too aggressive, but we still should have been able to improve.”
Christina Nielsen (Porsche 911 RSR #80): “After not getting a lot of track time at the test day, the qualifying sessions were very important for us. In the final session we made progress. Now we’ve found a solid setup for such a long race.”
Matteo Cairoli (Porsche 911 RSR #88): “We stopped working on the race setup during the final qualifying and instead attempted to defend our position. We’re now ready with our setup and our strategy for the race. I’ll drive the first stint followed by Khaled and then Giorgio.”
Ben Barker (Porsche 911 RSR #86): “We were strong in our last qualifying and managed to make up two positions. The balance of the car is good, which bodes well for the race. We’ve gained a lot of important insights during the qualifying sessions and we’re heading into the race on Saturday feeling confident.”
Patrick Long (Porsche 911 RSR #99): “Wednesday was a difficult day for us, but now things are improving. We decided not to attack with a couple of fast laps. Instead we used the time to help get my teammates more familiar with the car. The baseline setup now fits, everyone is focussed and we look forward to contesting this unique race. This is my 15th time in a row here.”
Qualifying results Le Mans 24h 2018 on next page
