The Porsche GT Teams have undertaken official pre-testing for the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hour race, with the four Porsche 911 RSR cars covering 4,279km over 314 laps.
The two factory teams from the FIA WEC and the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship completed pre-testing at the Circuit des 24 Heures, with the No. 93 RSR the fastest 911 on the test day, clocking a time of 3:54.233 minutes.
The focus of the test work for the two teams was vehicle setup, pit stop practice and tire comparisons. Drivers could also familiarize themselves with the upgrades made to the 13.626km circuit – at the exit of the Porsche curves the clearance zone has been changed for this year’s race, the tire barrier has been moved in the Arnage corner, and the Ford chicane now has new curbs to prevent shortcuts.
During the two four-hour test sessions, the six Porsche 911 RSRs run by customers teams Dempsey Proton Racing, Project 1 and Gulf Racing covered a total distance of 5,709km (419 laps).
“For the test day, we had an extensive to-do list,” said Pascal Zurlinden, director GT Factory Motorsport. “We divided up the work on our four cars and managed to tick off all the tasks as planned. The focus wasn’t on simulating qualification conditions, but on preparing for the 24-hour race.
“We have a bunch of new drivers in our customer teams who were impressively quick in familiarizing themselves with the Porsche 911 RSR. It’s a pleasure to see so many strong drivers sharing the 10 cars.”
