Estre, Christensen Give Mid-Engined Porsche First GTE-Pro Pole

Photo: Porsche

Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen have taken the mid-engined Porsche 911 RSR’s first FIA World Endurance Championship GTE-Pro pole with a strong performance in qualifying at the Nürburgring on Saturday afternoon.

The drivers set an average lap time of 1:54.007 in the 20-minute session, to take pole by 0.345 seconds over the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen. 

It marks the first pole in the series for the new-for-2017 car and the first Porsche GTE pole since Bahrain 2013, while the sister car driven by Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz will start from third position. 

The Porsche took its first pole in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition last weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with Dirk Werner behind the wheel. 

Stefan Muecke and Olivier Pla were the fastest Ford Chip Ganassi Racing drivers, qualifying in fourth, while Toni Vilander and Davide Rigon could only manage fifth after the Ferrari 488 GTEs looked to be the fastest cars early in the session. 

Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy took the No. 98 Aston Martin to the GTE-Am class pole, with an average lap time of 1:56.721.

The Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche will line up second in class, with the Spirit of Race Ferrari third. 

Several cars had multiple lap times deleted, including the championship-leading Clearwater Racing Ferrari which qualified last as a result.

The race will start at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow. 

RESULTS: Qualifying

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.