Six hours in Spa are enough to experience the entire range of human emotions. From total euphoria to abject misery. The protagonist in this drama: the Porsche works teams in the 911 RSR #91 and #92.
5/5/2021
2 very different experiences.
Qualifying record.
The race weekend got off to a promising start for our works drivers on Friday. Kévin Estre at the wheel of #92 set a qualifying record for GTE Pro cars on the Belgium circuit and its Eau Rouge: 2:11,219 minutes. Pole position. And that's not all: Richard Lietz confidently steered the #91 to third place on the starting grid. The ideal conditions for the inaugural race of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Customer times with room for improvement.
In terms of the customer teams, Andrew Haryanto achieved third place on the starting grid for Dempsey-Proton Racing in the GTE Am class. Project 1 and the second Dempsey-Proton car failed to achieve any lap times following – separate – crashes.
Despite finishing in 8th place in the qualifying session, the GR Racing squad was unable to start the race. On the way to the pre-start, Britain’s Michael Wainwright damaged the vehicle in an accident. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
In the race itself, our customer teams also suffered a series of setbacks in the 6h of Spa. Dempsey-Proton Racing's car with start number 88 was on track for a podium finish for long periods of the race. Only to receive a drive-through penalty five minutes from the end. The result: fifth place. Its sister car with start number 77 withdrew half an hour before the finish, due to an electronic fault. Project 1 didn't even start.
Eau yeah – Eau no!
Things were very different for the 911 RSR with start number 92. Our works drivers, Kévin Estre from France and Neel Jani from Switzerland, continued their qualifying performance. And totally dominated the fiercely contested GTE Pro class, finishing in first place. It was Estre's second consecutive victory in the Belgian 6h race. While Jani enjoyed major success on his very first outing with the Porsche GT team.
Their sister car, the #91, was unlucky. Or, as Richard Lietz succinctly said: it didn't go well. The 911 RSR driven by him and his Italian teammate, Gianmaria Bruni, became stuck in the melée at the start. Followed by tyre failure. And as if that wasn't enough, there was an involuntary – and unintentional – encounter with a Hypercar that destroyed the rear of the RSR. After swapping vehicles, they could only finish fifth. With the motivation to compete again next time – we're looking forward to seeing them again on 13 June in Portimao!
Their sister car, the #91, was unlucky. Or, as Richard Lietz succinctly said: it didn't go well. The 911 RSR driven by him and his Italian teammate, Gianmaria Bruni, became stuck in the melée at the start. Followed by tyre failure. And as if that wasn't enough, there was an involuntary – and unintentional – encounter with a Hypercar that destroyed the rear of the RSR. After swapping vehicles, they could only finish fifth. With the motivation to compete again next time – we're looking forward to seeing them again on 13 June in Portimao!