In the morning, fog shrouded the storied racetrack, resulting in a delayed
and shortened first training session of the day. As temperatures climbed to
23 degrees Celsius and the sun began to break through, teams were able to
continue with their test programme from the previous day. Crewing the #911
Porsche 911 RSR was the reigning GT champion, Patrick Pilet (France), as
well as his compatriot Kévin Estre and Britain’s Nick Tandy. Sharing driving
duties in the number 912 car were Earl Bamber (New Zealand), Frédéric
Makowiecki (France) and Michael Christensen (Denmark). They not only
contest the Le Mans 24 Hours in this configuration, but also two other long
distance races on the IMSA SportsCar Championship calendar – the
Sebring 12-hour race and Petit Le Mans on the legendary Road Atlanta
racetrack. Their works driver colleagues Wolf Henzler (Germany), Jörg
Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) as well as Porsche Junior
Sven Müller (Germany) completed the official Daytona test in the 911 GT3 R
run by various customer teams, for whom they will contest the 24-hour race
in three weeks’ time.
Quotes
Marco Ujhasi, Overall Project Manager GT Works Motorsport:
“We were able to finish our programme today as planned. The emphasis for
us was to gain experience with the new 911 RSR, and to see, for instance,
how it responds to set-up changes. It was also important to assess the
long-run performance in the 2:45-hour session. These were our main
priorities today.”
Sascha Pilz, Head of GT Customer Racing:
“After a foggy start to the day with the first training session having to be
shortened, our teams used the rest of the day to send all their drivers out
onto the track at least once with the new 911 GT3 R. They worked through
their programmes with high concentration, but still have to get used to the
new car and the high level of downforce. The 911 GT3 R is FIA
homologated, which means that the teams are not permitted to make as
many changes as they could to the cars they drove last year. Everyone
made significant progress in finding a setup today.”
Patrick Pilet (Porsche 911 RSR, No. 911)
“We are very familiar with the 911 RSR. The effects of the 2016
modifications are no surprise to us. But it’s still very early days with the
set-up work. We focussed on long runs today and tried to find the correct
window for the tyres, in other words, to learn when to run what rubber. On
the actual race weekend you don’t have time to find the right setup. At
Daytona, you have to do your homework far in advance.”
Kèvin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR, No. 911)
“My first laps as a Porsche works driver in the 911 RSR on this legendary
circuit was an experience. I’ve always dreamed of this. My expectations
have been exceeded. To drive for Porsche is something very special. The
procedures at Porsche North America are very structured, everyone in the
team knows what he has to do. And for a driver, this immediately gives you
a good feeling. I was warmly welcomed by everyone, I felt very good right
from the start. And we experienced virtually no problems with the 911 RSR.
Of course there are a couple of minor things that need sorting out, but we
have the whole day tomorrow to do this. We’ll use this time well.”
Sven Müller (Porsche Junior, Porsche 911 GT3 R, No. 35)
“To be honest, I didn’t imagine Daytona to be so extreme. The prototypes
and GTLM cars are much faster than our car so we have to be extremely
careful because you’re constantly being overtaken on the left and the right.
Luckily we have a spotter in the stands who forewarns us. Daytona is a
great track with banked turns in the oval and high-speed corners in the
infield. The new 911 GT3 R is easy to drive, it almost feels like my 911 in
the Supercup, except it has much more downforce and you can brake later.
For me it’s a great experience.”
Jörg Bergmeister (Porsche 911 GT3 R, No. 39)
“It has been quite some time since I last drove a GTD car here. The new 911
GT3 R is certainly a step forward. As far as downforce is concerned, it is
very similar to a 911 RSR in the GTLM class. I still have to get used to the
tyres, but basically everything is going very well.”
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