On a weekend when there’s been plenty of head scratching amongst the majority of the Hypercar teams while trying to match or better Ferrari’s pace on home soil, Porsche’s realistic target for tomorrow’s WEC race in Imola is to put points on the board and stay in the mix for a podium. It’s a stark contrast to the IMSA GTP arm of the programme this season, which has stayed perfect since Daytona in January, winning three out of three races.
Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s managing director, feels the team is in better shape here in Italy than it was in the season-opener at Qatar – where its 963s finished 10th and 11th. But there’s no expectation that the team will be competing for the victory, certainly on raw pace against Ferrari AF Corse, which has emerged as the heavy favourite to win tomorrow evening.
A 499P topped each of the three practice sessions before the #51 claimed pole position with a sizable gap to the fastest car from the competition. Races are not won on Qualifying day, of course, but the safe bet is on the hometown team as it stands.
“We have to score maximum points, we only scored a single point with one car in Qatar, so we are looking to add points to our tally any way we can get there. Ferrari is definitely out front, they’re the ones we are all chasing,” Diuguid told DSC.
“After that, it’s quite tight and race execution comes into play between BMW, Cadillac, Porsche, Alpine and Toyota. If any of those teams get the strategy right or drivers perform well, then they can be fourth and back. Selfishly, we would have preferred a bit of rain tomorrow to spice things up and give us an opportunity. The 963 performs well in the wet, and our drivers do a good job.”
It’s not all doom and gloom at Porsche, though, far from it. Through the first four races of the season (the three in IMSA and the WEC opener), Porsche feels that the suspension update to the 963 for this season has made a positive impact, and there’s a long way to go in the WEC season.
“The updates have shown that they were the right decision, particularly in IMSA on bumpy circuits like Sebring and Long Beach. They’re paying dividends here too, it shows we are going in the right direction, and it keeps us focused on improving the performance of the car.”
“It’s not magic, it’s not night and day,” #6 driver Kevin Estre added after qualifying, “but it certainly helps give us more set-up options. The ruleset is the ruleset, and while we have made gains, others have improved too. This time last year Alpine and BMW were new and they have taken steps. So we need to execute if we want to fight in the top five.”
It’s a similar situation for Porsche in the LMGT3 ranks, where Iron Dames and Manthey 1st Phorm are also confident of a better result here than in Qatar, where the two 911 GT3 R 99s struggled for pace and finished 12th and 13th.
“We are more on pace here,” Iron Dames driver Michelle Gatting, who will start tomorrow’s race 14th, said. “There, it was a shame, we were out of contention for anything. What they managed to achieve last year was always going to be hard to replicate this year.
“We are where we want to be, but we have to take the positives, and that is that we will be better than at Qatar and fighting for points. Tyre management is really important here, on the right side especially, and we are good at that.”
Looking ahead, Penske is focused on maximising its performance at Le Mans in June, when it hopes to deliver Porsche a 20th overall win at the French classic.
“We had a good run when we tested in Imola when the weather was ok. It was productive. Next, we have a test in Paul Ricard after the race at Spa, and we have a team day ahead of that. We are focused on car preparation mostly, as we front-loaded a lot of our testing early in the year to prepare for Le Mans.”
This included a final driver selection for the third car, with Pascal Wehrlein called up from the manufacturer’s Formula E programme to race alongside IMSA GTP championship leaders Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy in the #4.
According to Diuguid, the German made the cut from a shortlist of three drivers after impressing during his outing at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Porsche customer team JDC-Miller.
“He’s been good, he’s been on pace. He raced in Daytona with JDC and got multi-class experience. That’s where his experience is the weakest, not that he didn’t do extremely well there; he excelled with that crew.
“He’s been testing with us on track and getting plenty of simulator time to ensure he is prepared.”
