The heat, tyre management and the traffic with 30 cars on the short 2.414-kilometre Lime Rock Park racetrack – these are the main challenges that Porsche faces at round seven of this year’s IMSA SportsCar Championship. In the qualifying session on the championship’s shortest circuit in the US state of Connecticut, the defending IMSA GT champion Patrick Pilet (France) posted the seventh quickest time in the GTLM class. For the race on Saturday, Pilet shares the 470 hp Porsche 911 RSR fielded by the Porsche North America factory squad with Britain’s Nick Tandy. The race car is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car and is currently contesting its last season. Setting the ninth fastest time, their team colleagues Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France) take off into the race from the fifth GT grid row.
In the GTD class, Mario Farnbacher (Germany) takes off from sixth place in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The 500 hp customer racer, which Farnbacher shares with the former Porsche Junior Alex Riberas (Spain), is campaigned by the Seattle/Alex Job Racing squad. The pair started the races at Laguna Seca and Bowmanville from pole position.
Qualifying quotesSteffen Höllwarth, Program Manager IMSA SportsCar Championship: “We’ve taken a small step forward today. Our focus was on preparing for tomorrow and we’re expecting a very exciting race. With 30 cars on this very short track it’ll definitely be extremely tight, especially since there is not a great difference in the speeds. With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, tyre management will naturally be another very special challenge. However, I’m confident that we are well positioned.”Patrick Pilet (911 RSR #911): “That was a good qualifying for us. In the race it’s important that we drive consistently over the entire stint, which won’t be easy because we’ll each be turning more than 70 laps. We don’t know how good our tyres will be at the end of a stint as we didn’t have time during practice to turn that many laps. I’m very pleased with our 911 RSR. Now we just have to wait and see how things go in the race. The traffic will certainly play a key role on this very short and difficult racetrack. You have to risk a lot here to overtake. But we all face this same challenge. I’m feeling very confident.”Frédéric Makowiecki (911 RSR #912): “In spite of our position, we’re satisfied with the qualifying. The balance of our 911 RSR was not as good as it was in practice, but we have until tomorrow morning to work on this. I was held up by traffic in the beginning, and afterwards I wasn’t able to turn a decent lap. Still, I’m feeling optimistic. We have a good car for the race.”
Qualifying resultGTLM class1. Briscoe/Westbrook (AUS/GB), Ford GT, 50.748 seconds2. Auberlen/Werner (USA/D), BMW M6, + 0.0863. Gavin/Milner /GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.1104. Fisichella/Vilander (I/SF), Ferrari 488 GTE, + 0.1545. Hand/Müller (USA/D), Ford GT, + 0.2676. Garcia/Magnussen (E/DK), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.5167. Pilet/Tandy (F/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.5989. Bamber/Makowiecki (NZ/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.697
GTD class1. Pumpelly/Lewis (USA/USA) Lamborghini GT3, 53.148 seconds2. Liddell/Davis (GB/USA), Audi R8, + 0.0303. Aschenbach/Bell (USA/USA), Audi R8, + 0.0746. Riberas/Farnbacher (E/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 0.3908. Bergmeister/Lindsey/ (D/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 0.46112. MacNeil/Keen (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 0.63614. Pappas/Pildrim (USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 R, + 1.831
The race at Lime Rock Park gets underway on Saturday, 23 July, at 15:05 hrs local time (21:05 hrs CEST) and runs over 2:40 hours. Outside the USA, the race can be seen live on www.imsa.com.
