Earlier this week, Flying Lizard Motorsports announced that Patrick Pilet would fill in for Darren Law. With Law out due to scheduling conflicts, Pilet would share the no79 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Seth Neiman and Atlanta’s Spencer Pumpelly.
Pilet rose to the occasion and during todays first qualifying session, put the Porsche on top of the GTE-Am charts with a very fast 3:57.694. The time also put him into 6th in the complete GTE field.
“I didn’t really have to push that hard to secure this time,” Patrick Pilet said. “The car was fast right from the start and easy to handle. The grid position is not that important in a 24 hour race, but of course it’s still an advantage to head off into the race from the front.”
Prospeed Competition with Sean Edwards, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and USA’s Bret Curtis slid into second .0341 down and 8th overall in GTE. Prospeed is running one 911 GT3 RSR car this weekend.
Team Felbermayr-Proton will be running two Porsche 911 GT3 RSR’s, one in each GTE class. Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler landed sixth in GTE-Pro with the sister GTE-Am car of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti secured the fifth quickest time in GTE-Am.
The Flying Lizard Motorsports no80 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marco Holzer at the wheel pulled up in seventh in GTE-Pro.
“The key to a good qualifying result in Le Mans is to get a clear run. I didn’t manage this,” said Marc Lieb. “That’s why our time isn’t that great. Tomorrow we want to be up closer to the front runners. I’m certain we could find a couple of tenths if we can get a free lap.” Joerg Bergmeister stated, “We’ve found a good set-up for the race so that’s great. Today we checked some things out with our tires, but unfortunately it didn’t yield the results we’d hoped for. Still, there are another two qualifying sessions tomorrow for us to go out and secure the best possible grid spot.”
IMSA Performance Matmut wound up eighth in GTE-Am with a 4:00.332
The JWA-Avila team was off pace and last with a 4:08.170
Results: | Complete results
GTE Pro class
1. Gavin/Milner/Westbrook, Chevrolet Corvette, 3:55.910 minutes
2. Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher, Ferrari F458 Italia, + 0.086 seconds
3. Taylor/Garcia/Magnussen, Chevrolet Corvette, + 1.261
4. Fernandez/Mücke/Turner, Aston Martin Vantage, + 1.546
5. Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci, Ferrari F458 Italia, + 1.589
6. Lieb/Lietz/Henzler, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 1.728
7. Bergmeister/Long/Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 2.797
GTE Am class
1. Neiman/Pilet/Pumpelly, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 3:57.694 minutes
2. Al Faisal/Edwards/Curtis, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 0.341 seconds
3. Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen, Aston Martin Vantage, + 1.031
4. Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy, Chevrolet Corvette, + 1.498
5. Ried/Roda/Ruberti, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 1.835
6. Armindo/Narac/Pons, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 2.638
