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FIA WEC, Race 2, Portimão ... Pole position for Porsche ... Ferrari on the front row (copy 1)


 

Portimao, 11th June, 2021

Porsche tackles round two of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC in Portugal from the front row of the GTE-Pro-class grid. At the debut of the WEC on the 4.684-kilometre Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, works driver Kévin Estre turned the fastest lap with the ca. 515 PS Porsche 911 RSR in 1:37.986 minutes. With this, the Frenchman repeated his qualifying success from Spa-Francorchamps. His Italian teammate Gianmaria Bruni set the third quickest time on the undulating circuit in the backcountry of the Algarve in 1:38.389 minutes and takes up the race from the second grid row. Like at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the highlight of the WEC season, each of the two factory-run 911 fielded by Manthey will be manned by three drivers for the eight-hour race. The championship leaders Estre and Neel Jani (Switzerland) receive support from Denmark’s Michael Christensen. Bruni and the Austrian Richard Lietz join forces in the cockpit with French factory driver Frédéric Makowiecki.


Estre used his second flying lap in the short ten-minute qualifying session to set his top time. Unlike the competition, he kept his 911 RSR within the track boundaries of the Grand Prix circuit. Bruni posted his fastest time in his first hot lap. Ultimately, the native of Rome was a mere three-hundredths of a second off a front-row spot.

“Positions one and three, just like at Spa-Francorchamps: the second qualifying success for us this year,” said a delighted Alex Stehlig, Head of Operations FIA WEC. “Still, the challenges here in Portugal are big – from the demanding circuit to the warm temperatures. But the team did a great job and worked perfectly to plan, which resulted in pole position for our number 92 car. Now we have a great starting position for this very important eight-hour race – there are a lot of points up for grabs at this event. Tomorrow we’ll try to continue our form from today.”

In the GTE-Am class, two Porsche customer teams share the first grid row. Egidio Perfetti drove the fastest time with the Project 1 squad’s No. 56 911 RSR in 1:40.191 minutes. The Norwegian was 0.045 seconds faster than the Dempsey-Proton Racing team owner Christian Ried from Germany in the No. 77 Porsche. Britain’s Michael Wainwright turned the tenth quickest lap in the GTE-Am category at the wheel of GR Racing’s No. 86 car, with the American Dominique Bastien planting the second Dempsey-Proton 911 (#88) on P13.

The AF Corse 488 GTE driven by James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi will start from the front row of the LMGTE Pro class grid for the Portimão 8 Hours, second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. In the LMGTE Am class, the second and third rows were monopolized by Maranello machinery.

LMGTE Pro
Thanks to a great performance from James Calado, the #51 488 GTE, courtesy of AF Corse, will start from second spot on the grid, with the race due to get underway tomorrow at 11:00 local time. The British driver stopped the clocks on 1’38”359 on his third lap, while Daniel Serra in the #52 Ferrari, completed the ten-minute battle for pole in fourth position, 757 milliseconds shy of the #92 Porsche which produced the session’s quickest marker.

LMGTE Am
In the qualifying involving the “Bronze” drivers, the Cetilar Racing-run Ferrari, with Roberto Lacorte at the wheel, secured third spot with a time of 1’40”885, 116 thousandths-of-a-second ahead of AF Corse’s #54 488 GTE driven by Thomas Flohr. Third row for the Iron Lynx Ferrari handled by Manuela Gostner and for the #83 AF Corse of François Perrodo, leader of general standings together with Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera. An excellent performance from Takeshi Kimura in the last Ferrari of the quintet, who posted seventh for Kessel Racing. Sixth row for Claudio Schiavoni in the second Iron Lynx entry.



Drivers’ qualifying quotes
Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 911 RSR #91):
 “My lap wasn’t great. We’re still searching for the last fractions of seconds. We changed two things on the car prior to the qualifying but that didn’t quite pay off. Now let’s see what we can do in tomorrow’s race.”

Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “That was a tough qualifying, to be honest. The conditions were different compared to the third free practice session, where we’d prepared for the qualifying. But I reckon no one managed a really perfect lap here. Everyone made a minor mistake, for example, with the track limits. It was all about having a good car and turning a clean lap. I managed that. I’m thrilled because we‘ve made a mega start to the season. Still, the big day won’t come until tomorrow.”

Egidio Perfetti (Porsche 911 RSR #56): “I’m extremely pleased with pole position, of course. After the accident at Spa-Francorchamps, the team put in a huge effort to repair the car in time for Portimão. Matteo Cairoli also did a fantastic job of setting up our car. We’ve been extremely strong so far this weekend. I’m looking forward to the race. Let’s see what happens.”

Result GTE-Pro class
1. Estre/Jani/Christensen (F/CH/DK), Porsche 911 RSR #92, 1:37.968 minutes
2. Pier Guidi/Calado (I/GB), Ferrari 488 GTE #51, 1:38.359 minutes
3. Bruni/Lietz/Makowiecki (I/A/F), Porsche 911 RSR #91, 1:38.389 minutes

Result GTE-Am class
1. Perfetti/Cairoli/Pera (N/I/I), Porsche 911 RSR #56, 1:40.191 minutes
2. Ried/Evans/Campbell (D/NZ/AUS), Porsche 911 RSR #77, 1:40.236 minutes
3. Lacorte/Sernagiotto/Fuoco (I/I/I), Ferrari 488 GTE EVO #47, 1:40.885 minutes
10. Wainwright/Barker/Gamble (GB/GB/GB), Porsche 911 RSR #86, 1:41.604 minutes
13. Bastien/Seefried/Andlauer (USA/D/F), Porsche 911 RSR #88, 1:43.374 minutes



The schedule (all times local, CEST -1 hour)
Friday, 11 June
3:15 to 4:45 pm – Free practice 1

Saturday, 12 June
9:35 to 11:05 am – Free practice 2
2:00 to 3:00 pm – Free practice 3
6:00 to 6:10 pm – Qualifying GTE-Pro and GTE-Am

Sunday, 13 June
11:00 am to 7:00 pm – Race

Internet coverage of the race
For a fee, the official FIA WEC app offers live streaming and live timing.


Final Results


 

14

1

LMGTE Pro

 

51

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

AF Corse

A. Pier Guidi / J. Calado

15

2

LMGTE Pro

 

52

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

AF Corse

D. Serra / M. Molina

16

3

LMGTE Pro

 

92

Porsche 911 RSR - 19

 

Porsche GT Team

K. Estre / N. Jani / M. Christensen

17

4

LMGTE Pro

 

91

Porsche 911 RSR - 19

 

Porsche GT Team

G. Bruni / R. Lietz / F. Makowiecki

18

1

LMGTE Am

 

47

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

Cetilar Racing

R. Lacorte / G. Sernagiotto / A. Fuoco

19

2

LMGTE Am

 

56

Porsche 911 RSR - 19

 

Team Project 1

E. Perfetti / M. Cairoli / R. Pera

20

3

LMGTE Am

 

54

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

AF Corse

T. Flohr / F. Castellacci / G. Fisichella

21

4

LMGTE Am

 

98

Aston Martin Vantage AMR

 

Aston Martin Racing

P. Dalla Lana / A. Farfus / M. Gomes

22

5

LMGTE Am

 

57

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

Kessel Racing

T. Kimura / M. Jensen / S. Andrews

23

6

LMGTE Am

 

60

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

Iron Lynx

C. Schiavoni / A. Piccini / M. Cressoni

24

7

LMGTE Am

 

85

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

Iron Lynx

R. Frey / M. Gatting / M. Gostner

25

8

LMGTE Am

 

33

Aston Martin Vantage AMR

 

TF Sport

B. Keating / D. Pereira / F. Fraga

26

9

LMGTE Am

 

86

Porsche 911 RSR - 19

 

GR Racing

M. Wainwright / B. Barker / T. Gamble

27

10

LMGTE Am

 

88

Porsche 911 RSR - 19

 

Dempsey - Proton Racing

D. Bastien / M. Seefried / J. Andlauer

28

11

LMGTE Am

 

83

Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 

AF Corse

F. Perrodo / N. Nielsen / A. Rovera