This weekend’s six-hour round of the FIA World Endurance Championship went down in Monza, Italy to great fanfare. It would stand to reason that a Porsche would win an endurance race, and win it the Dempsey-Proton team did. With Christian Ried, Sebastian Priaulx, and Harry Tincknell splitting the driving duties, the trio took their 911 RSR to victory in the GTE Am category; winning by over twenty seconds against stiff competition from Ferrari and Aston Martin teams. It all came down to a strategy decision made about two and a half hours into the event when a safety car shook up the order, where the Dempsey-Proton team, as well as the Project 1 Porsche squad, executed perfectly. “That’s the second win within a week for Dempsey-Proton Racing in Monza – last weekend in the ELMS race here, and now in the FIA WEC. That cheers us up a bit after a difficult day,” says Alexander Stehlig, Director Porsche Factory Motorsport FIA WEC.
Meanwhile, the Porsche factory squad wasn’t doing nearly as well up in the GTE Pro class. Neither of the Porsche-entered 911 RSRs could manage the pace necessary at the Monza circuit to keep up with rivals from Corvette and Ferrari. Even in a class with only five competitors, Porsche could do no better than fourth and fifth. “Our cars had a great setup, the drivers did their utmost and the tire choice was ideal,” explains Stehlig and adds: “But that was the end of the good news, the rest was a big disappointment. Before the race weekend, the cars were reclassified. We didn’t agree with this change to the Balance of Performance right from the outset – and rightly so, as we clearly saw in the qualifying and race. Because of this rating, we barely had a chance. Under these conditions, we weren’t able to achieve more than fourth and fifth place.”
Drivers’ impressions of the race
Christian Ried (Porsche 911 RSR #77): “Our Porsche drove beautifully and our strategy was spot on. We’re over the moon about this class win. We decided at the end to go for broke: go flat out and make a splash-and-dash pit stop. That worked perfectly because Harry set a blistering pace. It’s a wonderful day for us.”
Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “At first we found it difficult, but then our pace improved a little. But we were still miles away from the lap times of our rivals. Still, we’ve at least scored a few points for the championship today. Thank you to Fred, who gave me great support today. At the next race, I’ll be back in full force with Richard.”
Kevin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “I fought as hard as I could. We simply didn’t have the speed it took today. But we pulled out all stops and were able to keep within striking distance for long stretches. Pulling out all stops, we managed to stay within striking distance over long stretches. I don’t agree with the pit-lane drive-through penalty towards the end of the race – that was tough but respectful racing. It wasn’t enough for a podium result today.”
Nicolas Leutwiler (Porsche 911 RSR #46):“Third place is a great and, above all, hard-earned result. We made bold strategic decisions that even put us at the top for a while. Unfortunately, this advantage disappeared during the safety car phase – a real shame. In the end, we had to drive without telemetry – so we scored third place flying almost blind – that’s not bad.”
Race result
GTE-Pro class:
1 Milner/Tandy (USA/UK), Corvette C8.R #64, 181 laps
2 Molina/Fuoco (E/I), Ferrari 488 GTE #52, 181 laps
3 Pier Guidi /Calado (I/UK), Ferrari 488 GTE #51, 181 laps
4. Christensen/Estre (DK/F), Porsche 911 RSR #92, 181 laps
5. Bruni/Makowiecki (I/F), Porsche 911 RSR # 91, 180 laps
GTE-Am class:
1. Ried/Priaulx/Tincknell (D/UK/UK), Porsche 911 RSR #77, 179 laps
2 Frey/Gatting/Bovy (CH/DK/B), Ferrari 488 GTE #85, 178 laps
3 Cairoli/Pedersen/Leutwiler (I/DK/CH), Porsche 911 RSR #46, 178 laps
6 Poordad/ Lindsey/Heylen (USA/USA/B), Porsche 911 RSR #88, 177 laps
10. Iribe/Millroy/Barnicoat (USA/UK/UK), Porsche 911 RSR #56, 176 laps
12. Wainwright/Barker/Pera ( UK/UK/I), Porsche 911 RSR #86, 163 laps