Bamber's Porsche on front row in Mid-Ohio

The Porsche GT Team has continued its good run in qualifying for round four of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

In the hunt for top times for the race in Lexington, Ohio (USA), the Belgian Laurens Vanthoor turned the second quickest lap in his ca. 510 hp Porsche 911 RSR with the starting number 912.

After claiming pole position at Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach, a 911 from Weissach once again starts from the first grid row. In the No. 911 sister car, Patrick Pilet (France) achieved the eighth quickest time.

The qualifying at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course took place under difficult conditions. After rain in the morning, the track gradually dried during the 15-minute session. With each lap, the track condition improved and times got quicker minute by minute.

Laurens Vanthoor, who shares the No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR with Earl Bamber (New Zealand), was only beaten to pole in the final seconds after a gripping duel.

“The track didn’t offer much grip, so it took attack mode and many fast laps to get the tyres up to the required temperature,” commented Vanthoor. “I had to go flat-out in every lap – it was like a race. In my opinion, we have a perfect starting spot for round four. More than second place wasn’t possible today. We aim to go for victory in the race so that we can expand our top position in the championship.”

His factory driver colleague, who shares driving duties at the wheel of the No. 911 car with Nick Tandy (Great Britain), never quite got the tyres into the ideal operating range and was thus unable to fight for a top position.

Qualifying result
GTLM class