Porsche has not taken the LMGTE Pro title since 2013. That year, Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Romain Dumas triumphed in the #92 911 RSR. Since then, the Stuttgart team’s rivals have all taken wins: Ferrari in 2014, Corvette in 2015, Ford in 2016, and Aston Martin in 2017. Porsche does not intend to concede victory yet again and is pretty much going for broke. Four of the new 911 RSRs, the German outfit’s first car with its engine positioned in front of the rear axle, will line up on the grid to start the 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans (16 and 17 June).

Having finished fourth in 2017, Porsche hopes to do much better and has been working extremely hard. Frank-Steffen Walliser (head of Porsche Motorsport and GT) gives the reasons for the four-car line-up. “We’ve doubled the number of cars. We have the two cars entered in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) plus two from the US WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.. Ford also has four cars and Ferrari three. We didn’t want to be outdistanced in that respect. We also took note of what happened last year with the two Porsche 919 Hybrids in LMP1: one of them was in the lead but was forced to retire. The LMGTE Pro class is extremely competitive. Last year, our car didn’t spend any time in the pits other than during the usual tyre changes and refuelling operations. Yet we still only finished fourth.”

They therefore had their work cut out at Porsche’s development centre in Weissach. “We have made huge improvements to the car but, as it’s homologated, we are not allowed to make changes to the engine or aerodynamics. We therefore focused on the settings, and optimised the brakes and the suspensions. We mustn’t forget that last season was the car’s first. We know it better this time round. The 24 Hours of Daytona was a bit tricky for us, but we could see the progress we’d made with our win at the 12 Hours of Sebring. We also had a great race at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. We’re pleased with the results we’re getting now. We’re actually leading the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the WEC. And we’ve just won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. We’re more motivated than ever. Everyone’s really excited.”

Kévin Estre (#92 Porsche 911 RSR) was already part of Porsche’s GT line-up in 2017 and can see the progress made since last year: “We’ve done a lot of work this winter, including tyre testing, because we lacked performance last year, especially when the weather was hot. We didn’t touch the car because we’re not permitted to do so by the regulations. So we focused on the settings, and especially the downforce parameter to improve our peak speed and be faster on the straights, but that’s changed the balance. Last season, we didn’t achieve the results we wanted in Europe or in the USA. Our recent results at Sebring and Spa have given us a boost and prove that we are heading in the right direction.”

So the team clearly has one goal: to win! “Porsche always comes to win,” confirms the French driver. “Some years we are more confident than others, that’s all. In 2017, there were a few question marks as the car was brand new and the aero kit was different from the rest of the WEC season. We’re fielding four cars this time so even in the paddock, you can see that we’re ‘bigger’ than in previous years! Porsche’s presence can hardly be missed: out of 30 GTEs on the grid, ten of them are Porsche RSRs. But the pressure is equally high-: we have to come away with a result.”

Photo: Kévin Estre (left) and Frank-Steffen Walliser (right).