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At the Sebring 12 hour race, the new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR celebrated a successful race premiere. At the wheel of the 911 fielded by the Felbermayr-Proton team, Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb (Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Patrick Pilet (France) secured second place in the GTE Pro class at the long distance classic in Florida and with this made a very promising start into the new World Endurance Championship.

“Second place is a great result. Right from the start, our new 911 GT3 RSR was reliable and that’s very positive,” said Marc Lieb. “But we lacked the speed to win off our own bat.” Richard Lietz, who had to start from the back of the field because the cockpit temperature of his Porsche in qualifying was one degree over what was permitted, said, “I’m very satisfied with how the race went. For twelve hours our 911 ran without the slightest technical problem. Which is, of course, not something you take for granted at the first race with a new car.”

Christian Ried (Germany) and his Italian teammates Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti made a superb start to the season. With the second Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (2011 model year) run by Felbermayr-Proton they celebrated victory in the GTE Am class. “This win is a perfect way to kick off the season,” Ried commented. “The last one and half hours of the race were incredibly tough for Paolo, because he had to cope without power steering.”

Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche motorsport, regarded the start of the season as positive. “Compliments to the Felbermayr-Proton team for their victory in GTE-Am class and second place in GTE-Pro class. This was almost an optimum result,” he said. “I am extremely pleased with the reliability of the new 911 GT3 RSR. As far as the time difference to our fastest rivals in qualifying and in the race is concerned, we will be analysing that gap to determine whether the performance balancing influenced this.”

Round two of the World Endurance Championship takes place on 5 May 2012 in Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium.

GTE Pro class
1. Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci (I/MC/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 307 laps
2. Lieb/Lietz/Pilet (D/A/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 306
3. Mücke/Fernandez/Turner (D/MEX/GB), Aston Martin Vantage, 291
4. Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander (I/I/SF), Ferrari F458 Italia, 215
5. Melo/Makowiecki/Vernay (BRA/F/F), Ferrari F458 Italia, 183

GTE Am class
1. Ried/Roda/Ruberti (D/I/I), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 298 laps
2. Bourret/Gibon/Belloc (F/F/F), Chevrolet Corvette, 297
3. Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy (F/F/P), Chevrolet Corvette, 288
4. Kaufmann/Waltrip/Aguas (USA/USA/P), Ferrari F458, 283
5. Krohn/Jönsson/Rugolo (USA/S/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 265
6. Binnie/Palttala/Camathias (USA/SF/CH), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 251

Points’ standings
Manufacturer's World Cup GTE class
1. Ferrari, 34 points
2. Porsche, 33
3. Chevrolet, 22

Team Trophy GTE Pro class
1. AF Corse, Ferrari, 26 points
2. Felbermayr-Proton, Porsche, 18
3. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin, 15

Team Trophy GTE Am class
1. Felbermayr-Proton, Porsche, 25 points
2. Labre Competition, Chevrolet, 18
3. AF Corse-Waltrip, Ferrari , 12