Porsche AG Team Manthey locked out the GTE Pro front row for the final round of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz overcame a gearbox issue during the 25 minute session to take the #91 911 to pole position in class with an average time of 1:58.833 seconds, while team-mates Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet were just 0.127 seconds behind in the sister #92 car.
“Places one and two in qualifying are a really great result. We knew that it would be very difficult to keep the tyres constant over four laps, but we managed it really well,” said Lieb. “Richie did a great job on the first two laps, and then I just had to bring the thing home. The new car is a real step up – you can see this with the times. And it feels better too. We back in action and can keep up better on the straights. Our engineers in Weissach have done a really fabulous job.”
“This is a perfect result for the team,” added Pilet. “We didn’t expect such a strong showing in qualifying, although our further developed car was already performing well in practice. We’re making a few changes for the race so that we compete with the best set-up, but I’m feeling very confident. It’ll be a great day for Porsche if we do as well tomorrow.”
Porsche also confirmed this weekend that, as well as its return to competing in LMP1, it will field two 911 RSRs in the LMGTE Pro class, run again by Porsche AG Team Manthey.
“The GTE-Pro category of the WEC is the best supported and most competitive sports car class, with races that incorporate all of Porsche’s most important markets over the year,” said Porsche Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “We are keen to continue using this appealing platform. With the 911 RSR we will again take on the strong GT competition and we are eager to follow up on the successes we achieved this year against tough opposition.”
