At the premiere of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in Mid-Ohio, the best Porsche 911 RSR takes up Sunday’s race from the first grid row. In a hotly contested qualifying on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the time-honoured 3.634-kilometre racetrack in America’s Midwest, Nick Tandy posted the second fastest time in the GTLM class with the #911 Porsche 911 RSR. The Briton was only six-hundredths of a second off pole position. His teammate at round four of North America’s premier sports car race series is Patrick Pilet (France), with whom he won the Sebring twelve-hour classic in March.
Earl Bamber (New Zealand) planted the second 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche GT Team on fourth. He shares the cockpit of the #912 car with Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium).
“The team has prepared our 911 RSR very well for the circuit,” commented Bamber. “We definitely have a fast car for the race.”
A look at the times clocked during qualifying shows just how competitive the strongly represented GTLM class is with four automobiles manufacturers: All eight cars were within just six-tenths of a second.
The race starts on Sunday, 6 May, at 13.05 hrs local time (19.05 hrs CEST) and runs over 2:40 hours. A live broadcast outside the USA can be seen on www.imsa.com.
Qualifying result
GTLM class
1. Krohn/Edwards (SF/USA), BMW M8, 1:17.853 minutes
2. Tandy/Pilet (GB/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.066 seconds
3. Sims/de Phillippi (GB/USA), BMW M8, + 0.079
4. Vanthoor/Bamber (B/NZ), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.168
5. Magnussen/Garcia (DK/E), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.261
6. Hand/Müller (USA/D), Ford GT, + 0.354
7. Westbrook/Briscoe (GB/USA), Ford GT, + 0.480
8. Gavin/Milner (GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.599
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