VICE PRESIDENT, MOTORSPORT AND GT CARS

DR FRANK-STEFFEN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORLDWIDE GT MOTOR-RACING ACTIVITIES FOR BOTH THE FACTORY TEAM AND PORSCHE’S CUSTOMER TEAMS. THIS INCLUDES THE CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW 911 RSR RACED AT LE MANS.

THE CHALLENGES “This was our first time at Le Mans with the new mid-engined RSR [the engine now sits ahead of the rear axle and not behind it] and it was untested on this circuit. We needed time to learn how the car behaves and reacts; for example, under braking, the telematics and changes in aero. Tyre management here is also key, especially in GT with 13 highly competitive cars.

“The advantages of the new car, however, are that its balance and tyre wear are very good and it’s much easier to set it up. We could see this over the three qualifying sessions. Having no previous Le Mans data to work with, we were a few seconds off the pace at first, but over the two days we were able to improve significantly.

THE RACE “It was more or less what we expected: a hard battle right until the end and I think our RSR was competitive. It’s a shame that we lost our number 92 car in the night due to an accident and we were unlucky to struggle with a slow puncture in the number 91 car during the last few hours which cost us nearly a minute.”

THE ANALYSIS “Fourth place isn’t what you are looking for in motorsport, but in general, I think it was another good showcase for GT racing. Compared with last year, I would say we have improved by three seconds a lap. We are very happy with the progress we made with the RSR and they were excellent from a reliability point of view and that is the most important factor. If you finish, you’re in with a chance for a podium. We put a little extra oil in the one engine, but that was it. It holds great promise and potential. We will be back and better next year.”