WEC: First pole position for the new Porsche 911 RSR

The qualifying

The No. 92 sister car driven by Kévin Estre (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) will tackle the six-hour race from the sixth grid spot. In the GTE-Am class, Porsche’s German customer team Project 1 achieved the first grid position.

Under blues skies and in temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius at the foot of the famous Mount Fuji, the qualifying turned into a gripping shootout. Initially, the Porsche GT Team employed tactics and sent only the number 92 vehicle out with world sports car champion Estre at the wheel. In heavy traffic, the Frenchman made minor errors. Afterwards, his teammate Christensen nudged the barriers slightly in his first flying lap. As a result of the damage to the rear of the car, the Dane was unable to improve on his time.


The tactic of the No. 91 vehicle, however, worked perfectly. Bruni (Italy) found a decent gap in the dense traffic and initially set the third fastest time. Lietz (Austria) then managed to make full use of the immense potential of the new Porsche 911 RSR (2019 model year), which is based on the high-performance 911 GT3 RS road-going sports car. With an average time of 1:37.356 minutes, the WEC front-runners posted the first pole position for Stuttgart sports car manufacturer’s new racer.

In the GTE-Am category, the Brazilian Felipe Fraga and the American Ben Keating set the fastest time at the wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR fielded by Project 1. The pair shares the cockpit of the No. 57 car with the experienced Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen. The No. 56 sister car of the German squad takes up the second race of the season from fifth place. The two identical ca. 510 hp vehicles campaigned by Dempsey-Proton Racing start from the positions six and eight. Gulf Racing qualified on ninth.

Qualifying quotes

Fritz Enzinger (Vice President Motorsport): “Richard and Gimmi turned immaculate laps, we can only congratulate them. The fact that we’re starting from pole after just the second qualifying of the season with our Porsche 911 RSR on the back of our victory from the season-opening round at Silverstone is a clear sign: our brand new car is the real deal. This makes me confident for the six-hour race.”

Pascal Zurlinden (Director Factory Motorsport): “We can all feel proud of the maiden pole position for the new Porsche 911 RSR. So far at Fuji we’ve were at the top in all sessions. That bodes well for a strong performance in the race. I have mixed feelings about the qualifying. Things didn’t go so well with our number 92 car. We have to take a good look at what happened there.”

Alexander Stehlig (Head of Operations FIA WEC): Pole position is the perfect reward for our entire team. In spite of our Silverstone victory, we had some homework to do. It was essential to get more speed over an entire lap out of the car. It seems we succeeded in this. It’s a shame that it didn’t go so well for the sister car, but even from sixth place everything is possible.

Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “Everything ran like clockwork for us. Our team put a perfectly prepared Porsche 911 RSR on the track for us for this morning’s qualifying. We drivers then made the most of the car’s huge potential in the session. Our starting position for the race is perfect. I’m confident that we’ll be strong over the six-hour duration.”

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “We found a great qualifying setup during the free practice. Pole position is a huge success. Now we’ll set the car up for the race. I’m curious to see if our setup for the six-hour race is as good. To set pole position after our victory at Silverstone is the perfect way to start the season.”

Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “The car’s balance wasn’t bad, it was just that we lacked a bit of speed. Now we have to see why. The strategy implemented by our sister car seemed to be better. We’re not really where we want to be, but I still expect our chances to be good for the race.”

Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “I wanted to attempt another flying lap and I went all-out in turn three. Unfortunately I went too wide and I lost the rear of the car on the kerb and the bumps behind it and I hit the barriers. Unfortunately this means additional work for our mechanics. It’s a pity, but that’s how it goes in motor racing sometimes.”

Qualifying result

GTE-Pro class
1. Lietz/Bruni (A/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:37.356 minutes
2. Calado/Pier Guidi (GB/I), Ferrari 488 GTE, 1:37.379 minutes
3. Thiim/Sörensen (DK/DK), Aston Martin Vantage, 1:37.466 minutes
6. Christensen/Estre (DK/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:37.980 minutes

GTE-Am class
1. Keating/Fraga/Bleekemolen (USA/BR/NL), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:38.733 minutes
2. Yoluc/Eastwood/Adam (TR/IRL/GB), Aston Martin Vantage, 1:38.821 minutes
3. Perrodo/Collard/Nielsen (F/F/DK), Ferrari 488 GTE, 1:38.850 minutes
5. Perfetti/Heinemeier Hansson/Cairoli (N/DK/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:39.022 minutes
6. Preining/de Leener/Hoshino (A/B/J), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:39.025 minutes
8. Campbell/Ried/Pera (AUS/D/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:39.549 minutes
9. Wainwright/Barker/Watson (GB/GB/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:39.610 minutes

Full results: http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com

The preview

Porsche heads to round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji (Japan) as the leader of all GTE-Pro classifications. After claiming a one-two result at the season-opener from Silverstone (Great Britain), the successful works squad is aiming to again finish on the podium with the two Porsche 911 RSR racers. In the GTE-Am category, the customer teams Project 1, Gulf Racing and Dempsey Proton Racing field a total of five Porsche 911 RSR in last year’s spec.  The 4.563-kilometre-long Fuji Raceway presents engineers and drivers with special challenges. The racetrack, which was opened in 1965, features a combination of many tight passages and a long 1.475-kilometre start-finish straight. Working out a suitable setup requires a compromise between high speed and a great deal of downforce in the corners. During the Japanese typhoon season, the races contested at the foot of the famous Mount Fuji are often plagued by changeable weather conditions. In 2013, the race had to be red-flagged after 16 laps due to torrential rain. In the 2018/2019 Super Season, the reigning world drivers’ champions Kévin Estre (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) celebrated a decisive victory at Fuji with their Porsche 911 RSR on the way to winning the title. 

The Porsche GT Team drivers

Silverstone winners Richard Lietz (Austria) and Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) tackle round two of the 2019/2020 FIA WEC season in the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR. The second vehicle (No. 92) is shared by the reigning champions Kévin Estre (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark). After the one-two result at the season-opening round with the two new Porsche 911 RSR, the driver crews currently rank first and second in the world championship standings. Porsche heads to the second race of the season as the leader of the manufacturer’s classification. 

The customer teams

The number 56 Porsche 911 RSR in last year’s spec fielded by the customer team Project 1 is shared by Porsche Young Professional Matteo Cairoli (Italy), the reigning GTE-Am champion and Le Mans class winner Egidio Perfetti from Norway as well as David Heinemeier Hansson (Denmark). Sharing driving duties in the No. 57 sister car is the American Ben Keating, Felipe Fraga from Brazil and the former Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup champion Jeroen Bleekemolen from the Netherlands.

The all-British driver line-up of Ben Barker, Andrew Watson and Michael Wainwright will helm the No. 86 racer run by Gulf Racing. In the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing, the Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell (Australia) joins forces with team owner Christian Ried (Germany) and the Italian Riccardo Pera. In the No. 88 sister car, Porsche Young Professional Thomas Preining (Austria) will be joined by Adrien de Leener (Belgium) and Satoshi Hoshino (Japan). With five vehicles on the grid, Porsche is represented by the largest contingent in the fiercely contested GTE-Am class. 

The Porsche 911 RSR

The new Porsche 911 RSR (2019 model year) contests its maiden race in the FIA WEC. The vehicle from Weissach, which produces around 515 hp depending on the air restrictor, is based on the high-performance 911 GT3 RS* road-going sports car. Compared to its extremely successful predecessor model, the car for the GTE-Pro class of the FIA WEC received improvements to areas such as driveability, efficiency, ergonomics and serviceability. About 95 percent of the car is new. The 911 RSR is powered by a 4.2-litre, six-cylinder boxer engine. 


The schedule

The six-hour FIA WEC race at Fuji gets underway on Sunday, 6 October at 11am local time (4am CEST).

The race on TV and the Internet

Round two of the FIA WEC season will be shown in full length on www.sport1.de. The free-to-air station Sport 1 will televise live from Japan on 6 October from 3:55am to 8:00am. The pay-TV station Sport 1+ broadcasts the entire race live from 3:30am to 10:30am. Eurosport televises the final phase live from 8.30am. Motorsport.TV televises the race in Japan in full length. For a fee, the FIA WEC app offers live streaming and live timing. 

The Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC

In the Sports Car World Endurance Championship (WEC), which was first contested in 2012, sports prototypes and GT vehicles compete in four classes: LMP1, LMP2, GTE-Pro and GTE-Am. They all compete together in one race but are classified separately. The Porsche factory squad contests the GTE-Pro class as the reigning world manufacturers’ champions, while the customer teams Dempsey Proton Racing, Project 1 and Gulf Racing fight for honours in the GTE-Am class.