Kévin Estre (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) beat the competition in the qualifying on Saturday on the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit with a fabulous combined time of 1:59.579 minutes.
At round three of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship in China, the identical 515 hp sister car driven by Gianmaria Bruni (Italy) and Richard Lietz (Austria) heads into the four-hour race from position six on Sunday.
The Shanghai International Circuit showed its best side during qualifying, with blue skies and temperatures of around 22 degrees Celsius. The two new Porsche 911 RSR used different strategies for the session, as the racetrack on the outskirts of the metropolis with its 23-million inhabitants is famous for putting heavy stresses on the tyres due to its rough asphalt and long, sweeping corners. Estre and Christensen completed the qualifying with two sets of tyres, while Bruni and Lietz used just one set and saved the fresh rubber for the race.
The Porsche GT Team can look back on a positive season so far: After setting the second pole position at the third race and with a victory at the season-opening round in Silverstone, Great Britain thanks to Bruni and Lietz, as well as a podium result in Fuji (Estre and Christensen), Porsche leads the manufacturers’ championship of the FIA World Endurance Championship. These achievements also underline the great potential of the new Porsche 911 RSR (2019 model year), which is based on the high performance 911 GT3 RS* road-going sports car.
In the GTE-Am class, the German Porsche customer team Project 1 secured the first grid spot. Porsche Young Professional Matteo Cairoli (Italy) tackled the qualifying with Egidio Perfetti (Norway). In the race, the pair shares the cockpit of the No. 56 vehicle with David Heinemeier Hansson from Denmark.
The No. 57 sister car of the German squad will take up the race from fifth on the grid.
The three identical, ca. 510 hp vehicles fielded by Dempsey-Proton Racing will take up the race from positions three, eight and eleven. Gulf Racing achieved the ninth quickest time in qualifying.
Qualifying result
GTE-Pro class
1. Christensen/Estre (DK/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 1:59.579 minutes
6. Lietz/Bruni (A/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:00.224 minutes
GTE-Am class
1. Perfetti/Heinemeier Hansson/Cairoli (N/DK/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:00.824 minutes
3. Ried/Pera/Campbell (AUS/D/I), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:01.655 min
5. Keating/ten Voorde/Bleekemolen (USA/NL/NL), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:02.228 min
8. Negro/Bamber/Preining (I/NZ/A), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:02.714 min
9. Wainwright/Watson/Barker (GB/GB/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:02.978 min
11. Prette/Prette/Abril (I/I/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:03.086 min
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