The prologue on the Circuit Paul Ricard at Le Castellet in the south of France marked the start of the countdown to round one of the World Endurance Championship for sports cars (WEC) on April 20th at Silverstone. After the first test session on Friday morning, the #92 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Porsche works drivers Marco Holzer (Germany), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Richard Lietz (Austria), topped the time charts in the GTE-Pro class.
Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche Team Manthey: Marco Holzer, Frédéric Makowiecki, Richard Lietz
The trio will contest the season-opening round in Silverstone with the 470 hp GT racer from Weissach, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car and received many improvements for the 2014 season. Sharing driving duties in the second 911 RSR with the starting number 91 for the season-opener on the Formula 1 race track in the British Midlands are Porsche factory pilots Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Patrick Pilet (France) and Nick Tandy (Great Britain).
“We are pleased to present our winning 911 RSR to the many fans here at Le Castellet this weekend, with which Porsche won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year as well as this year’s endurance classics in Daytona and Sebring,” said Porsche’s Head of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen. “Because of our additional factory program in the USA, we have put together new driver combinations for this season. From what I have seen at these initial tests, I’m certain they work together perfectly.”
Fielding a 911 RSR in the GTE-Am class, the customer squad Proton Competition also used the test days in southern France to determine how they compare. Porsche junior Klaus Bachler from Austria completed his first kilometers with the car, which he shares in his maiden WEC season with Christian Ried (Germany) and Khaled Al Qubaisi (Abu Dhabi).
“I’m delighted that Klaus Bachler reinforces our customer squad Proton Competition in the WEC,” stated Hartmut Kristen. “This is yet another example of the success and sustainability of our junior programme.”
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