Four customer teams will field six Porsche 911 RSR racers in the GTE-Am class. Australian Porsche Young Professional Matt Campbell, Porsche veteran, the German Christian Ried and the 18-year-old French Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer will race in Dempsey Proton Racing’s #77 car.
Italian Porsche Young Professional Matteo Cairoli, Khaled Al Qubaisi of the UAE and Italian Giorgio Roda will drive the second 911 RSR of the squad created by the actor Patrick Dempsey.
With Patrick Long, Timothy Pappas and Spencer Pumpelly, an all-American crew share the cockpit of the #99 Porsche 911 RSR run by Proton Competition.
The Project 1 WEC team relies on German Porsche works driver Jörg Bergmeister, Egidio Perfetti from Norway and American Patrick Lindsey.
British drivers Michael Wainwright and Ben Barker with Australian Alex Davison will drive the #86 Gulf Racing 911. “We worked on several things with the setup and were able to collect a lot of new data. The RSR handles well, and the balance gives us drivers a good feeling,” said Barker.
The Italian squad Ebimotors competes with Fabio Babini from Italy, Frenchman Erik Maris and Porsche Selected Driver Christina Nielsen of Denmark in the #80 911. A jet-lagged Nielsen explained the advantages of her busy schedule “Le Mans 2018 has certainly begun very adventurously. On Saturday I contested an IMSA race in Detroit. Straight afterwards I caught a night flight to France so that I could be on time to jump in the car for the pre-test. In this respect, it’s the perfect preparation for night and morning stints in the race when you climb into the cockpit with little sleep.”
Dempsey Proton Racing, Proton Competition, Project 1, Gulf Racing and Ebimotors used the pre-test to focus on the setup and tyres. The Dempsey Proton Racing trio of Julien Andlauer, Christian Ried and Matt Campbell set the best time in the GTE-Am class with a 3:55,970 lap.
The race starts on Saturday the 16th of June 2018, at 15.00 hrs CEST.