[wecfia] PORSCHE 919 HYBRID ON POLE IN SHANGHAI

The two Porsche 919 Hybrids will start the six-hour race at Shanghai, China from pole position and third on the grid. After Spa – where round two of the World Championship was held in spring – this is the second pole position for the new and innovative Porsche Le Mans Prototype. Also it is the fifth time it will start from the front row in what is only its sixth race. Round six of the FIA World Endurance Championship will get underway at 11am local time on Sunday.M14_4668

In Shanghai the two drivers sharing qualifying duties were Romain Dumas/Neel Jani in car number 14 and Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber in car number 20. Dumas and Jani achieved pole position with an average lap time of 1:48.300 minutes, which is exactly the same lap time as the second placed Toyota achieved. Hartley/Webber came third in qualifying with the gap to pole position being only 24 thousandths of a second. In WEC qualifying is split into classes and two drivers from each car have to do at least two timed laps each. The averages from the four best lap times determine the grid positions.

After changing weather conditions on Friday, for free practice three on Saturday morning the track was only slightly damp in the beginning, but then completely dry at the end. When preparing for qualifying, the number 20 car with Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber was fastest overall with a lap of 1:48.173 minutes. The sister number 14 car of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb came fifth (1:49.751 min) in free practice three.
Quotes from qualifying:

Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Board, Research and Development, Porsche AG: “It is almost unbelievable that the average time from four laps set by two different cars resulted in exactly the same three digit time. For us P1 and P3 is a fantastic result and we’re very much looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”

Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1: “It is a great achievement after a difficult Friday. Three of our six drivers didn’t know the track before, we had a battery change in the first session, changing weather conditions, very little running in the dry – not easy at all. It was good to have a dry qualifying, as it is also forecast to be dry for the race. Now we have to focus on our race performance and try to bring both cars home with hopefully one crew on the podium.”

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: “A big thank you to the entire team. Today’s pole position is well deserved after two days of hard work here. Indeed we had a difficult Friday, but the drivers and engineers managed to improve the car a lot overnight. This became obvious for the first time in free practice this morning when we were up to speed. In qualifying we transferred this errorless performance into an excellent result – remarkably by doing only the minimum number of laps required by the rules. Nevertheless, the race will be on for six hours and we expect high tyre wear over the distance. It will be exciting to see what’s within reach tomorrow.”

Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 14
Neel Jani (30, Switzerland): “I am super happy! Especially when considering the circumstances which led to this lap time. We’ve had a difficult Friday and then yellow flags in the third session this morning – before qualifying I didn’t do a single clear lap on new tyres. But, nevertheless, the team managed to improve the car every session. Tomorrow’s race is gonna be a different story, but for today we can be really happy.”

Romain Dumas (36, France): ”This is a very nice success for us. We didn’t have perfect practice sessions at all. The first one we almost missed completely because of a battery change. But we were able to learn from the sister car and improved step by step. We now have a good balance for the car.”

Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 20
Brendon Hartley (24, New Zealand): “The top three cars in qualifying are only divided by 24 thousandths of a second – this competition is crazy. My first flying lap could have been a fraction better, but the second lap was very good. It was really a good job from everyone today.”

Mark Webber (38, Australia): ”Today’s qualifying was a super tight competition for all of us and I really enjoyed it. The 919 is great to drive. My first lap was good, but the second one not quite as good. But overall we did our best here. In the long race tomorrow the tyres will play a crucial role, as on long distances we’re not that strong compared to the others. Whatever the result will be: I am looking forward to the race.”

Promising grid positions for the Porsche 911 RSR at the six-hour race in Shanghai. Frenchmen Patrick Pilet and Frédéric Makowiecki take up round six of the Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC on Sunday from the first grid row of the GTE-Pro class after setting the second quickest time in qualifying on the 5.451 kilometre Shanghai International Circuit, just one tenth of a second off pole position. The 470 hp 911 RSR with the starting number 92, which is based on the seventh generation of the iconic 911 sports car, is the winning vehicle of the season-opener at Silverstone. Occupying the third grid position behind their team colleagues are Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) in the second 911 RSR fielded by Porsche Team Manthey, which puts the pair on the second grid row.

Star gymnast Marcel Nguyen witnessed the gripping qualifying session right up close from the pits. The two-time silver medallist at the 2012 Olympic Games is a huge motorsport fan and drives a Porsche Cayman GTS. Nguyen attends the Shanghai race as Porsche’s VIP guest. Because he trains regularly in China and enjoys almost a pop star status amongst fans here, he will join the drivers on Sunday for the traditional autograph session before the race.

Quotes from the qualifying

Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche Head of Motorsport: “I’m very pleased. We got everything we could out of the 911 RSR and it’s very tight at the top. If we can continue like this in the race then I’m very confident.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “We’ve got a good car. The team did a great job in putting a perfectly set-up vehicle on the track for us, particularly in the third free practice. Patrick did really well. Unfortunately I got caught up in traffic and that possibly cost us pole position.”

Patrick Pilet (Porsche 911 RSR #92): “That was a very close qualifying. We were only a tenth of a second off pole. We can be happy with the performance of the 911 RSR. The car was consistently fast, but unfortunately Fred came up against a slower competitor and lost time because of that. Still, we’re on the right path. I’m feeling very optimistic for tomorrow’s race.”

Jörg Bergmeister (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “That was an interesting qualifying. The organiser’s lap time display didn’t work which made it very difficult to orientate yourself and get a feeling of where you are. Compared to free practice we lost a little grip, particularly at the rear axle, but we’re still looking good.”

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR #91): “Our car ran consistently in qualifying and that’s good for the race. Third on the grid is a decent result. We’re a touch off the pace of the front-runner in our fastest lap time, but I still have a better feeling than I did recently at Fuji. Tomorrow we’re aiming for the podium.”

Marcel Nguyen, world class gymnast: “It was incredibly exciting to witness the qualifying with the team first hand from the pits. Congratulations on such a great result. I’ve now come to know the drivers personally and I was able to share ideas on many topics that concern us professional sportspeople. Gymnasts and race drivers have more in common than you might think.”



Audi took fifth and sixth place in qualifying for round six of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). In the race, Audi – currently the runner-up in the manufacturers’ standings – is aiming to make up positions with a consistently good performance throughout the six-hour race. audi_motorsport-141101-7751

Audi has thoroughly prepared for round six of the season in three free practice and one qualifying sessions in China. The 5.451-kilometer track at Shanghai features very specific characteristics. While the various race car concepts are similarly fast in the first two sectors, the differences in the third sector are significant, as the tight turns do not suit the Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Consequently, the two Audi driver teams did not manage to get beyond the third row.

For Audi driver Loïc Duval (F), qualifying began with an unpleasant surprise. On the first lap, an opponent in an LMP2 race car hit the rear of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro. In spite of the incident, the driver of car number 1 achieved the best result within the team. The hybrid sports car from Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm set a lap time of 1m 49.454s, averaged from the four fastest laps, and will be starting the race from grid position five. Duval’s first lap was clocked at 1m 48.620s, the fastest achieved by an Audi driver. Remarkably, Duval managed to set the third-best time of all drivers in the first track sector and in the second the Frenchman was denied the fastest time by a mere 53 thousandths of a second.

Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer/Benoît Tréluyer, last year’s winners at Shanghai, achieved an average time of 1m 50.072s from their four fastest laps. They will be starting the race on Sunday 11.00 local time (4.00 CET) in sixth place. Audi Sport Team Joest is determined to again improve its positions through excellent pit stops, impeccable driving, a good stragegy and clever tire management in the race.

Quotes after qualifying

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “The track with its narrow corners and long straights doesn’t suit us well. We obviously expected a smaller gap to the leaders. But we’re lacking power for the long straights where we lose an extremely large amount of time. Unfortunately, there are no fast turns either where we can use the good downforce of our cars. Nevertheless, we’re hoping to have a chance of clearly improving our performance compared to the qualifying results through good work without any mistakes and consistent lap times.”

Chris Reinke (Head of LMP): “It’s true that the third row today isn’t what we’d been wishing for but this is another weekend on which we’ve been heavily concentrating on preparing for the race. We are hoping to be able to make optimal use of all the factors to improve in the race tomorrow.”

Ralf Jüttner (Team Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “It was a very close and interesting qualifying session with equal times set by the front runners. For us, unfortunately, only the third row was possible. In the first two sectors, the race cars of the three manufacturers are nearly equally fast but in the third sector we’re losing one and a half seconds, which we can’t regain anywhere else. However, across the race distance, we’re going to try and advance again with good tire management.”

Lucas di Grassi (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): “A difficult qualifying session. On a single flying lap, we’re not good enough. But there’s no reason to mope. At Le Mans and at Austin, we had a similar starting base and then clearly improved in the race. We’ve got to keep a cool head on Sunday.”

Loïc Duval (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): “It was a bit strange that an LMP2 car hit me in the rear on the first lap. Fortunately, our car wasn’t damaged. Since Austin, we’ve been struggling a bit with our competitiveness. Still, we’re pleased with our work in the number 1 Audi. We’ve got to wait and see how the tires are going to wear on Sunday. I think in that respect we may be a bit better than some of the others. I hope we can make up ground in the race.”

Tom Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): “It’s a great challenge to repeat last year’s success in the race on this unique track. It’s a race in which we’d like to achieve a good result. Our car was running really well on Friday in mixed weather conditions, while on a dry track today we were struggling a bit.”

Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): “In qualifying, it was difficult to show the full potential that we’ll be able to make good use of particularly in the race. Our strength is that we’re more consistent over the long run. We’re not giving up. The result today was a slight dampener but in the race we’re going to give our all. Across six hours, quite a bit is possible.”

André Lotterer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): “This wasn’t the best result for us in qualifying. Our performance, compared to the competition, wasn’t good enough. On our part, we didn’t extract the best from the car either. On my second lap, I was having problems keeping my consumption in check. Benoît Tréluyer was hardly able to find a clear lap. That’s why our average times weren’t ideal. I hope tomorrow will be better and that we’ll be able to deliver a good race to the Chinese fans.”


Benoît Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): “The situation here is similar to Fuji – we’re not fast enough for the front positions. I pushed too hard in qualifying and didn’t drive a good lap. In the first trial, I didn’t optimally handle the last turn, in the second one I didn’t find a good beginning and on the last lap I hit traffic. I subsequently returned to the pits in order to save our last set of tires for the race. Now we’re going to concentrate on Sunday.”

1 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 1m 48.300s
2 Buemi/Davidson (Toyota) 1m 48.300s
3 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 1m 48.324s
4 Nakajima/Sarrazin/Wurz (Toyota) 1m 48.534s
5 Di Grassi/Duval/Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 49.454s
6 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 50.072s
7 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost (Rebellion-Toyota) 1m 52.431s
8 Belicchi/Kraihamer/Leimer (Rebellion-Toyota) 1m 53.314s
9 Canal/Pla/Rusinov (Ligier-Nissan) 1m 54.327s
10 Bradley/Howson/Imperatori (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 55.301s

Source. Audi




Qualifying result
GTE-Pro class
1. Turner/Mücke (GB/D), Aston Martin Vantage, 2:04.342 minutes
2. Makowiecki/Pilet (F/F), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.101 seconds
3. Bergmeister/Lietz (D/A), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.256
4. Bruni/Vilander (I/SF), Ferrari 458 Italia, + 0.437
5. Rigon/Calado (I/GB), Ferrari F458 Italia, + 0.480
6. MacDowall/O’Young/Rees (GB/HK/BRA), Aston Martin Vantage, + 0.505

GTE-Am class
1. Lamy/Dalla Lana/Nygaard (P/CAN/DK), Aston Martin Vantage, 2:05.072 minutes
2. Collard/Perrodo/Vaxivière (FRA/FRA/FRA), Porsche 911 RSR, + 0.078 seconds
3. Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Stanaway (DK/DK/NZ), Aston Martin, + 0.131
4. Roda/Ruberti/Cressoni (I/I/I), Ferrari F 458 Italia, + 0.444
5. Ried/Henzler/Al Qubaisi (D/D/UAE), Porsche 911 RSR, + 1.116