Hard-Charging KCMG “Didn’t Have the Pace” on Sunday

Laurens Vanthoor assessed that KCMG’s Porsche 911 GT3 R “just didn’t have the pace” on Sunday to challenge for the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa overall win, after it charged up from last on the grid.

Vanthoor, Dennis Olsen and Nick Tandy were given a leviathan task for the race when a braking issue prevented Tandy and Vanthoor from setting lap times in qualifying.

That meant the No. 47 Porsche would take the start in 66th position, far behind its main competitors in the Pro class.

Tandy delivered a noteworthy opening few stints, making up 18 positions in the first dozen minutes and accessing the top 30 during the second hour.

KCMG became one of the protagonists at the sharp end of the field as night fell and even led for a short spell after Tandy overtook Iron Lynx Ferrari driver Davide Rigon at La Source during the 15th hour, at around 7 a.m.

Despite looking at that point to be one of the potential victory contenders, the No. 47 Porsche ultimately didn’t feature in the podium fight during the latter stages, which Vanthoor attributed to the conditions.

Olsen crossed the line seventh in the best Porsche, five seconds behind the puncture-affected No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3.

“I think we were very good in the night, in the cooler conditions,” Vanthoor told Sportscar365.

“But as soon as the sun came out and the temperatures came up, we just started losing pace. I think everybody saw the tire dramas which were going on, and we had to be careful, running a bit higher pressures to prevent tire failures.

“We were close to having a couple. We were always playing with that limit, but I saw on the Mercedes onboard videos that they were running with a low pressure.

“So they were not having that issue. With our engine in the back, there’s more stress on the rear tires.

“In the end, we just didn’t have the pace. We tried some other things, going crazy off-sequence, but we needed luck and it didn’t work out.

“At night it was looking promising. But I know Spa: I know how different it gets when the sun comes out.

“It changes quite a bit and you lose a lot of grip. We seemed to struggle with that more than the others.”

Olsen described KCMG’s Spa as a race of “ups and downs” that required a delicate combination of hard-charging and careful management of the car and regulations.

“We had a really rough start, we had to kind of make up positions but it was all about trying to not get track limits,” the 2019 IGTC champion told Sportscar365.

“We managed as good as we could but it was extremely difficult.

“Then it was kind of a calm phase in the middle of the night, but then it ramped up again at the end where we were not quick enough simply.

“I think the team has done an exceptional job. We didn’t have the best starting point starting 66th and we did not really know what to expect.”

Starting from 66th on the grid caused KCMG to adapt its approach toward the race.

“I think the mentality for the race changed a little bit for everyone but we had to be opportunistic and look at every possibility we had,” Olsen said.

“Also we set up the car to have good straight-line speed with low downforce.

“I think in general it was the best package we could have and we finished as the best Porsche… and we finished at least, where many others didn’t.

“That’s something we have done right and the team has been prepping the car very well; that’s how we could finish.

“Generally, the car is still in very good shape. Great job by everyone.”