According to Andre Lotterer, Porsche doesn’t have the pace “on paper” to compete with Toyota and Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which starts in just a few hours time.
“Well, on paper, not really,” said the German when asked by MotorsportWeek.com about Porsche’s race pace and whether they can compete with the two pacesetting teams.
“The long runs were a bit closer. And the pure pace, as we’ve seen, was reflected the in the lap times that we saw in qualifying. So we’re not in a position to to compete with them, especially in a second sector, as we’re missing the speed they have in the straight line.
“So, let’s see. We’ve improved the car quite a bit since we drove here from the pre test. And we found a good balance with it. So we felt like after the last three practise session that we don’t need to change the car anymore and we’re going into the race with a confident feeling, knowing that we’re not the favourites, but we focus on ourselves. We’re gonna push and stay out of trouble,” concluded the German.
And, regarding the team’s runplan; “It’s always the same in our car crew. Laurens [Vanthoor] always starts because he has the experience with that with all the the procedures. And Kevin [Estre] always qualifies, so he always gets the new tyres.
“I do the long runs and go in third. Let’s see how the race unfolds. We all have good experience at Le Mans, we know the game. We stay focused, don’t get distracted,” said the 3-time Le Mans winner.
While the fastest Porsche qualified fourth in Hyperpole, under a tenth slower than the fastest Toyota, in the hands of Felipe Nasr, both the Brazilian and his teammate Mathieu Jaminet were keen to emphasise that they believe that is not representative pace.
“The Hyperpole was not really representative, I think,” said Jaminet.
“The Toyota didn’t maximise their performance, they had traffic, and they were on old tyres. And they were still in front at the end of the day,” he added.
Nasr, meanwhile, believes he extracted everything he could from his #75 Porsche 963 on the lap.
“That was maximum I had,” he said.
“We had a purple sector three, where I absolutely felt like I delivered the maximum the car could achieve. But we were so off on sector two, which is all straight line and the chicanes on the back straight. So it is what it is, but qualifying is one thing, race is another,” he concluded.
And finally, Lotterer spoke briefly about the chance of adding a fourth victory at the French endurance classic to his resume, plus a first win for Vanthoor and Estre.
“It’s great to be back, first of all. To race for Porsche is always something very special. In 2017 I came close to 4th victory, but unfortunately we had to retire. So I have an open bill here, in that sense. So, hopefully we have a shot at it.
“It doesn’t look like we’re favourites, of course, Toyota is the strongest Ferrari is the quickest. And we are after. So let’s see. I mean, as we know at Le Mans, many things can happen.
So hopefully not too many things will happen to us, and we have a smooth race, and be there at the end to be able to fight,” the 41-year-old concluded.
