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On the legendary Road America racetrack in the US state of Wisconsin, the best Porsche 911 RSR qualified on fourth. In the 15-minute qualifying session of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor turned his fastest lap in a time of 2:03.114 minutes. Nick Tandy from Great Britain planted the #911 sister car on the eighth spot in the hotly contested GTLM qualifying on the 6.515-kilometre racetrack. In North America’s premier sports car championship, Vanthoor and the New Zealander Earl Bamber share the cockpit for Sunday’s race. For round eight of the season, Tandy shares driving duties with his teammate Patrick Pilet from France.

In the GTD class, Porsche works driver Patrick Long (USA) celebrated his second pole position of the season for Wright Motorsports. He is joined in the cockpit for the race by Porsche Selected Driver Christina Nielsen (DK). The second ca. 500 hp Porsche 911 GT3 R is fielded by Park Place Motorsports, for whom drivers Patrick Lindsey and Porsche factory driver Jörg Bergmeister qualified on P6.

The race takes off on Sunday at 13.35 hrs local time (20.35 hrs CEST) and is contested over 2:40 hours. The race can be viewed via live streaming and live timing on www.imsa.com.

Qualifying quotes

Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 911 RSR #912): “In fourth we were a little off the leader, but I’m not concerned about this. The car was good, the balance was right. I managed to turn a good lap and I’m satisfied with fourth place.”

Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 RSR #911): “We’d actually already anticipated we wouldn’t be on the first grid row. Still, it’s frustrating. It simply didn’t work for us. We didn’t have the perfect setup for qualifying. Now we have to take a close look so that we’re better prepared for the race.”

Pascal Zurlinden, Director GT Factory Motorsport: “Our qualifying wasn’t the strongest. The result is somewhat disappointing for us. We still have some work to do and now we need to focus on the race.”

Qualifying result

GTLM class
1. Hand/Müller (USA/D), Ford GT, 2:02.479 minutes
2. Briscoe/Westbrook (AUS/GB), Ford GT, 2:02.650 minutes
3. Magnussen/Garcia (DK/E), Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, 2:02.746 minutes
4. Vanthoor/Bamber (B/NZ), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:03.114 minutes
5. Gavin/Milner (GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, 2:03.170 minutes
6. Krohn/Edwards (FIN/USA), BMW M8 GTE, 2:03.331 minutes
7. Sims/De Phillippi (GB/USA), BMW M8 GTE, 2:03.645 minutes
8. Tandy/Pilet (GB/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 2:03.673 minutes

GTD class
1. Long/Nielsen (USA/DK), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 2:06.593 minutes
2. Marcelli/Baumann (CAN/A), Lexus RC F GT3, 2:06.850 minutes
3. Sellers/Snow (USA/USA), Lamborghini Huracan GT3, 2:07.226 minutes
4. MacNeil/Jeannette (USA/USA), Ferrari 488 GT3, 2:07.317 minutes
5. Keating/Bleekemolen (USA/NL), Mercedes-AMG GT3, 2:07.561 minutes
6. Lindsey/Bergmeister (USA/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, 2:07.944 minutes
7. Legge/Parente (GB/P), Acura NSX GT3, 2:08.280 minutes
8. Foley/Auberlen (USA/USA), BMW M6 GT3, 2:08.402 minutes
9. Potter/Lally (USA/USA), Audi R8 LMS GT3, 2:08.947 minutes
10. Marks/Aschenbach (USA/USA), Acura NSX GT3, 2:12.272 Minuten
11. Hawksworth/Heinemeier Hansson (GB/DK), Lexus RC F GT3
12. Piovanetti/Negri (USA/BR), Ferrari 488 GT3
Full results are available at: http://results.imsa.com