After a troubled start to the 2011 Le Mans Series Mark Lieb and Richard Lietz claimed their best finish of the year, with a fourth place in the 6 Hours of Imola.
After two races of incident and accident at Paul Ricard and Spa-Francorchamps the reigning class champions finally enjoyed a trouble free run in the Team Felbermayr-Proton run Porsche GT3 RSR.
“We had a super race without any technical problems and a perfectly set-up car. We pulled out all stops, but this was the best we could do right now,” said Lieb. Teammate Richard Lietz added: “Due to the balance of performance regulations we are currently not in a position to keep the leaders under pressure over the race distance. Other than that, everything else is perfect, from the set-up of the car to the pit stops.”
The Porsche duo 196 laps, two less than the class winning AF Corse Ferrari, and one lap shy of the other podium places taken by the Italian team's second car and the best of the BMW Motorsport entries.
Patrick Pilet and Wolf Henzler also enjoyed their best LMS outing of the year, reaching the checkered flag for the first time this season in fifth place, a minute behind Lieb and Lietz. “We're mostly pleased about actually finishing a race at last,” Henzler admitted. “In the Aque Minerale we got a slow puncture and dropped one position. I'm particularly happy for our team. They didn't let our bad luck in Le Castellet and Spa get them down and now they've been rewarded.”
Marc Goossens and Marco Holzer rounded out the GTE-Pro Porsche contingent in sixth place, though damage to the left rear tyre cost the pair time, their Prospeed Competition entry five laps down on the lead Porsche.
Nicolas Armindo (left) and Raymond Narac (right) won once more in the GTE-Am class
In the inaugural year of the GTE-Am class Porsche's season continues to go to plan – in stark contrast to the professional ranks. IMSA Performance Matmut pairing Nicolas Armindo and Raymond Narac added another victory to their Spa success in May, taking the class points lead in the process. Proton Competition drivers Partick Long and Gianluca Roda finished second in class, 42 seconds behind the all-French pairing.
The next round of the Le Mans Series takes place at Silverstone on September 9-11
