The Porsche GT Team takes up the six-hour race at Watkins Glen (USA) from the fourth grid row. In qualifying for round five of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Nick Tandy (Great Britain) planted the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR on seventh place. His works driver colleague Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) achieved eighth with the ca. 510 hp No. 912 sister car. Since the start of the season, the Porsche GT Team has claimed three pole positions from four events.
The hunt for top times at Watkins Glen took place under completely different conditions: two practices in sweltering heat on Friday and one session in heavy rain on Saturday morning. Prior to the qualifying, the sky had cleared over the storied racetrack in New York State, with temperatures soaring to around 26-degrees Celsius.
In the 15-minute session, the track offered very little grip. Tandy managed to gradually improve during the qualifying, but could not match the top lap times. Bad luck struck Vanthoor, when a puncture signalled an early end to his qualifying attempt in the Porsche 911 RSR.
The six-hour race at Watkins Glen takes off on Sunday, 30 June, at 9:45am local time (3:45pm CEST). The race can be viewed live outside the USA and Canada on www.imsa.com.
Qualifying result
GTLM class
1. Magnussen/Garcia (DK/E), Corvette C7.R, 1:40.799 minutes
2. Briscoe/Westbrook (AUS/GB), Ford GT, + 0.317 seconds
3. Milner/Gavin (USA/GB), Corvette C7.R, + 0.492 seconds
7. Pilet/Tandy (F/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.755 seconds
8. Bamber/Vanthoor (NZ/B), Porsche 911 RSR, + 1.407 seconds
GTD class
1. Farnbacher/Hindman/Marks (D/USA/USA), Acura NSX GT3, 1:44.975 minutes
2. Legge/Nielsen/Figueiredo (GB/DK/BR), Acura NX GT3, + 0.317 seconds
3. Auberlen/Foley/Machavern (USA/USA/USA), BMW M6 GT3, + 0.528 seconds
6. Kern/Robichon/Hargrove (D/CDN/CDN), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 0.864 seconds
9. Miller/Seefried/Werner (USA/D/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 1.122 seconds
14. Long/Lindsey/Boulle (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 3.945 seconds
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