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Stuttgart. The new Porsche 911 RSR have secured good starting positions for the 12 Hours of Sebring: The Porsche GT Team-campaigned 510 hp race cars from Weissach take up the oldest sports car race in the USA from the second grid row of the GTLM class on Saturday. In qualifying for round twoce of the IMSA SportsCar Championship season, which is contested on the 5.954-kilometre Sebring International Raceway, Kévin Estre (France) posted the fourth quickest time in the 911 RSR with the starting number 912. His teammates for the race are Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) and Richard Lietz (Austria). In the second 911 RSR, Dirk Werner (Germany) starts from the seventh grid spot. For the race on the airfield circuit in the heart of Florida, Werner shares driving duties in the number 911 vehicle with Frenchmen Patrick Pilet and Frédéric Makowiecki.

Marco Ujhasi, Overall Project Manager GT Works Motorsport: “Sebring is always a challenge. It’s very difficult to turn really quick laps here with a new car. Dirk and Kevin did a super job and our expectations have been fully met. A very positive development was that Dirk drove his fastest lap at the end of the qualifying session on worn tyres. We’re looking forward to Saturday and we’ll be attacking hard.”

Kévin Estre (911 RSR #912): “The second grid row is good for us. We can be pleased with this. Our 911 RSR was well balanced and fast. In the first lap I pushed a little too hard and made a minor mistake. But then I drove faultlessly on the second lap, although I was a little slower due to the deteriorating tyres.”

Dirk Werner (911 RSR #911): “I haven’t driven a qualifying session in a Porsche for a long time. Compared to free practice, the track had changed noticeably and was somewhat more difficult to drive on. I didn’t really get a perfect lap in, however the gaps are very close. Seventh on the grid is a good starting position for the race, especially when you consider the pace of our 911 RSR.”

The race starts on Saturday at 10.40 hrs local time (15.40 hr CET) and can be seen live outside the USA on www.imsa.com.


Qualifying result
GTLM class

1. Westbrook/Briscoe/Dixon (GB/USA/NZL), Ford GT, 1:55.939 minutes
2. Hand/Müller/Bourdais (USA/D/F), Ford GT, + 0.236 seconds
3. Gavin/Milner/Fässler (GB/USA/CH), Corvette, + 0.313
4. Estre/Vanthoor/Lietz (F/B/A), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.380
5. Garcia/Magnussen/Rockenfeller (E/DK/D), Corvette, + 0.429
6. Pla/Mücke/Johnson (F/D/USA), Ford GT, + 0.502
7. Pilet/Werner/Makowiecki (F/D/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.548
8. Edwards/Tomczyk/Catsburg (USA/D/NL), BMW M6, 0.678
9. Auberlen/Hand/Bourdais (USA/USA/F), BMW M6, 0.721
10. Fisichella/Calado/Vilander (I/I/SF), Ferrari 488, + 1.536

GTD class
1. Vautier/Habul/Said (F/USA/USA), Mercedes AMG, 1:59.738 minutes
2. De Phillippi/Mies/Gounon (USA/D/F), Audi R8, + 0,752 seconds
3. Lewis/Mul/Sandberg (USA/NL/USA), Lamborghini, + 1.229
12. De Quesada/Morad/Pumpelly/Christensen (USA/CAN/USA/DK), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 2.014
13. Bergmeister/Lindsey/McMurry (D/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 2.228
19. Bennett/Braun/Jonsson (USA/USA/S), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 3.934


Please note: Photos and video material of the Sebring 12-hour race and the IMSA SportsCar Championship are available for journalists from the Porsche Press Database on https://presse.porsche.de. The Twitter channel @PorscheRaces provides live updates with the latest information and photos from race tracks around the world. Journalists also have access to the digital Porsche Motorsport Media Guide on https://presse.porsche.de/motorsport. Porsche Communication provides a new service for journalists, bloggers and online multipliers under www.newsroom.porsche.com. Up-to-date video news can be downloaded from www.vimeo.com/porschenewsroom.