SPORTSCAR

Porsche narrowly missed out on claiming its 13th overall victory after an almost flawless performance. The latest generation of the Porsche 911 GT3 R with the starting number 911 fielded by Manthey-Racing had held the lead for 105 of the 157 laps and ultimately had to settle for second place. Three hours before the end of the race, the nine-eleven lost the top spot after receiving a time penalty and was unable to make up lost ground despite setting the fastest pace in the field.

The Porsche customer teams have started successfully into the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. The nine-eleven (#911) fielded by Manthey-Racing with Kévin Estre (France), Michael Christensen (Denmark), Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) had taken up the race from position three and have now settled in amongst the leading pack. The No. 31 Porsche 911 GT3 R campaigned by Frikadelli Racing initially dropped out of the top ten. However, the crew consisting of Matt Campbell (Australia), Mathieu Jaminet (France), Romain Dumas (France) and Sven Müller (Germany) put in fast lap times to rejoin the top group. Bad luck plagued last year’s winners Patrick Pilet, Frédéric Makowiecki (both France), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain). While leading, their 500+hp Manthey-Racing nine-eleven with the starting number 1 lost 4:30 minutes due to a puncture. They are now battling their way back up through the field. 

The best Porsche customer team takes up the 24-hour classic on the Nürburgring from position three on the grid. At the Top Qualifying session, Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) lapped the 25.378 kilometre racetrack in the No. 911 Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Manthey-Racing in 8:11.567 minutes. With this, he and his teammates Earl Bamber (New Zealand), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Kévin Estre (France) have secured a very good starting baseline to tackle the race.