At 17.10 and 17.20 the first Porsches will appear as Team Felbermayr-Proton's two 911 RSRs will pass through scrutineering.

The No.77 GTE Pro car is first.  The factory-backed team has a strong line up of Richard Lietz and Marc Lieb, who took the car to victory at Spa, and they are joined by Wolf Henzler, the win at Spa may have owed something to the wet conditions but the 2012 reworking of the ageing 997 shape GT3 seems to be a step forward.

The 2010 GT2 Le Mans winning team has one goal, voiced by Henzler: “The team is running the championship and looking for points so the priority is to finish the race and get the double points on offer.  That’s the main goal.  For sure we want to win or at least finish on the podium; there aren’t many cars in the GTE-Pro class but there’s a very high level so it won’t be easy.  The only way for us to achieve our goal is for our car not to break down or have any problems. 

“So far, looking at the best lap times this year in the ALMS and WEC, the Porsche is missing a little bit to the Ferraris and Corvettes.  I can’t say how it will be here at Le Mans with the long straights – if it’s the same or if we’re a little bit closer.  I think it will be open until the green flag drops and then we’ll see where we really are.”

The No.88 GTE-Am car will be driven by Paulo Ruberti, double Porsche Cup winner Gianluca Roda and team co-owner Christian Reid.  They may not be such big factory names, but they won their class in the WEC round at Sebring and were 2nd at Spa.  As as result the team leads the GTE-Am class of the WEC after two rounds with 50 points.

PHOTO: Circuit de 24 Heures,Administrative Checking and Scrutineering, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Sunday 10th June 2012