News
Qualifying
Stuttgart.
In the hunt for top times, the
In the GTD class, Lars Kern (Weissach) secured a top-ten grid position at the debut of the new 500 hp
The 24-hour race at Daytona takes off on Saturday, 26 January, at 14:35 hrs local time (20:35 hrs CET).
Pascal Zurlinden (Director GT Factory Motorsport):
“The first qualifying of the year and immediately on pole position: you can’t wish for a better start than that. We have to give a little credit to the competition for the nice slipstreaming, but it became clear that we were right up there at the decisive moment. That was the first step, now comes the race. Our goal is clear: We want to defend our position with the pole-setting car and ensure that the sister car makes up a few places.”
Nick Tandy (
“Our aim was to look for a decent slipstream, and that worked perfectly. On the long straights at Daytona this can really help and gives you a lot of time, especially if you catch the slipstream from two cars – as in our case. Sometimes this tactic doesn’t work, but today we were in luck. While pole position is fantastic, it doesn’t mean as much at a 24-hour race as it does at other events. Still, it’s important to start such a weekend with a great result.”
Earl Bamber (
“The qualifying was okay. Congratulations to Nick, Patrick and Fred on claiming pole in the number 911 car. Everything ran perfectly for them, but not so much for us. It’s obvious that we need to do a bit more work on optimising the car before the race. But certainly anything is possible.”
Lars Kern (
“A little more would have been possible. I got stuck behind another car, which gave me a good tow with the slipstream on the straights, but held me up significantly in the corners. That cost a bit of time. But all in all I’m very pleased with the setup and handling of our
GTLM class
1. Pilet/Tandy/Makowiecki (
2. Magnussen/Garcia/Rockenfeller (Corvette #3), + 0.326 seconds
3. Briscoe/Westbrook/Dixon (Ford #67), + 0.377 seconds
4. Rigon/Molina/Pier Guidi/Calado (Ferrari #62), + 0.455 seconds
5. Bamber/Vanthoor/Jaminet (
6. Hand/Müller/Bourdais (Ford #66), + 0.633 seconds
7. Krohn/Edwards/Mostert/Zanardi (BMW #24), + 0.696 seconds
8. Farfus/De Philippi/Eng/Herta (BMW #25), + 0.729 seconds
9. Gavin/Milner/Fässler (Corvette #4), + 0.982 seconds
GTD class
1. Longo/Franzoni/Gomes/Bertolini (Ferrari #13), 1:45.257 minutes
2. Keating/Bleekemolen/Stolz/Fraga (Mercedes #33), + 0.067 seconds
3. Farnbacher/Hindman/Marks/Allmendinger (Acura #86), + 0.139 seconds
8. Kern/Olsen/Robichon/Hargrove (
10. Long/Campbell/Lindsey/Boulle (
13. Werner/Cairoli/Seefried/Pappas (
17. Müller/Bachler/Renauer/Häring/Görig (
All reports on the previous season can be found in our archive.