Top Porsche 911 to start from fifth row on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

In Wednesday’s qualifying session, the drivers with bronze ratings took to the track. In the No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R, entered by Manthey DK Engineering, this was Britain’s James Cottingham. In The Bend Manthey’s sister car, Australia’s Yasser Shahin took on the 30-minute time trial. Cottingham benefited from the slipstream of other cars on his final flying lap. This enabled him to set the fastest LMGT3 time in the middle sector of the 13.626-kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures and to move up to fourth place, well ahead of the second Manthey Porsche. Although Shahin dropped back to 15th place, he ultimately qualified for the Hyperpole session as well.

The 15 fastest GT3 race cars lined up for the first Hyperpole segment on Thursday evening. Ayhancan Güven was at the wheel of the No. 91 Porsche. The Turkish Porsche factory driver and reigning DTM champion improved to third place on his third and final timed lap, thereby securing a place in Hyperpole 2, the final featuring the ten fastest drivers. There, his team-mate Timur Boguslavskiy took the wheel. With a lap time of 3:55.610 minutes, he managed to improve on his previous time and ultimately secured ninth place on the grid.

In the number 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R, Riccardo Pera finished 15th in Hyperpole 1, missing out on a place in the second segment. The Italian shares this car with Shahin and factory driver Richard Lietz from Austria.

Further information about the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Photos and videos: Porsche at Le Mans
All sessions at a glance: The schedule
The cars and drivers: The entry list
Results from Le Mans: Alkamelsystems

Driver’s comments ahead of the race

Ayhancan Güven (Porsche 911 GT3 R #91): “We wanted to make it into the Hyperpole 2 session, and that plan worked out. Ninth place is a good grid position for the race. Our Porsche feels good and we’re in good spirits too. But the competition is fierce, with 25 GT3 cars and numerous manufacturers. That makes it all the more exciting.”

Yasser Shahin (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): "Qualifying was pretty stressful. I’d thought my lap time would be enough to secure a place in the Hyperpole, but then I had to fight for it again. However, I kept getting caught up in traffic – at Mulsanne I ran into an Aston Martin, and at Indianapolis I had to get past it. On my final lap, an LMP2 car blocked me at the last chicane. I’m really pleased that we still managed to make it into Hyperpole 1. 15th on the grid is fine for us.”