News

Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche Team Manthey: Lietz, Christensen, Bergmeister

Interim report

Porsche 911 RSR, Porsche Team Manthey: Lietz, Christensen, Bergmeister
FIA World Endurance Championship, round 3, 24 Hours of Le Mans/France - GT, Interim report
Porsche 911 RSR make it safely through the night

Stuttgart. The Porsche 911 RSR race cars have made it safely through the night at the Le Mans 24 Hours with both GT classes still looking promising. In the GTE-Pro class, Richard Lietz (Austria), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Jörg Bergmeister (Germany) are maintaining a steady third place with Porsche Manthey’s 911 RSR. In the GTE-Am class, the American race driver and actor Patrick Dempsey with Patrick Long (USA) and Marco Seefried (Austria) have moved into third place with their 911 RSR campaigned by the Dempsey Proton Racing customer squad. The 83rd running of the long distance classic finishes at 15.00 hours.

Comments on the race

Michael Christensen (911 RSR #91): “Night driving is tough. You’re constantly blinded, especially by the extremely bright headlights of the prototypes. It’s a real challenge trying to keep an overview of everything. Under such conditions, I’m satisfied with my stint.”

Richard Lietz (911 RSR, #91): “The cool temperatures help us. Our 911 RSR is well balanced, even over two stints. It’s great fun driving such a car. We made it through the night well. Let’s see whether we can put the top contenders under pressure again. But even with third place we’ve achieved more than we’d expected at the start of the race. A podium would be important for the championship, but this is a tough fight to the finish.”

Patrick Long (911 RSR, #77): “We had some problems with the tyre pressure and had to adjust our pace accordingly. In light of this, our tyres are holding up very well. The balance of our 911 RSR is good. We’re aiming for a podium spot, but at Le Mans you have to be prepared for anything. Under no circumstances can you afford to get too cocky at Le Mans. The most important thing is to have something up your sleeve at the end to go for the top positions.”

Status after 17 hours

GTE-Pro class
1. Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella (I/SF/I), Ferrari 458 Italia, 234 laps
2. Gavin/Milner/Taylor (GB/USA/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, 234
3. Lietz/Christensen/Bergmeister (A/DK/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 233
4. Rigon/Calado/Beretta (I/GB/MC), Ferrari 458 Italia, 231
5. Sörensen/Thiim/Nygaard (DK/DK/DK), Aston Martin, 231
6. MacDowall/Stanaway/Rees (GB/NZ/BRA), Aston Martin, 217

GTE-Am class
1. Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda (CDN/P/A), Aston Martin, 232 laps
2. Bertolini/Shaytar/Basov (I/RUS/RUS), Ferrari 458 Italia, 231
3. Dempsey/Long/Seefried (USA/USA/D), Porsche 911 RSR, 230
4. Sweedler/Bell/Segal (USA/USA/USA), Ferrari 458, 230
5. Bleekemolen/Keating/Miller (NL/USA/USA), SRT Viper, 229
6. Cameron/Griffin/Mortimer (GB/IRL/GB), Ferrari 458 Italia, 227
9. Chen/Vanellet/Parisy (TWN/F/F), Porsche 911 RSR, 222
10. Chen/Kapadia/Maassen (TWN/GB/NL), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 220



All reports on the previous season can be found in our archive.