Porsche could be in for another challenging Le Mans 24 Hours based on the Balance of Performance in the GTE Pro class.
Porsche has never been in contention for first place at the Circuit de la Sarthe since the debut of the new 911 RSR-19 in time for the 2020 edition, with performance lagging behind competing marques Ferrari and Corvette last year.
However, Porsche has stated that it intends to make up for its dismal performances in the last two seasons with a victory in its final GTE Pro race, Bruni believes it is difficult to be optimistic given the lack of BoP upgrades for the RSR-19 this time around.
Despite the fact that the Italian’s #91 vehicle which he shares with Richard Lietz and Makowiecki achieved the third-best time on Sunday’s test day, 0.262 seconds slower than the fastest Corvette C8.R.
“It’s hard to say where we will be,” Bruni said ahead of Wednesday’s opening practice session. “Also last year at the test day we looked competitive and then in the race we didn’t have any chance at all.”
“Nothing has changed from last year in terms of our performance from last year.”
“We’ll see how we go in practice and qualifying, but I don’t see a big difference from last year, because nothing has been changed.”
Makowiecki also expressed concern that the 911 RSR-19’s power and weight have not changed since the 2021 race.
“I have not such high expectations, because we were also optimistic for the last two years, and then in the race we were not in the game,” he said. “In the first two hours of the race, we will clearly discover if we are there or not.”
“When you have been disappointed several times, you approach things in a different way. You try to concentrate on the things you can have an impact on.”
“We expected to be there the last two years, and if you see the same BoP this year, then it’s normal to think it can be hard.”
“I have learned in recent years to be satisfied just to do a good job for yourself, because there are too many parameters that are not in your hands.”
Laurens Vanthoor, a part of the last Porsche crew to win in the GTE Pro class in 2018, returned to La Sarthe after a one-year sabbatical with a little more upbeat outlook. The Belgian, who drives the #92 car alongside Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen, expressed confidence in the rulemakers to give Porsche a chance.
“I always try not to think about the BoP, because it can consume a lot of energy and create negativity,” Vanthoor told Motorsport.com. “It’s not something we can control as drivers.”
“This year there have been some rule changes which I think have some influence on how the BoP is working. I think the ACO is doing the best they can to give us a chance.”
“I don’t want to go into the race with the mindset of ‘the BoP is shit, so we’ll have a shit race’, or I might as well stay at home.”
“As far as I understand, it’s the way they look at how manufacturers perform, how things are measured, to stop people not showing their cards. But it’s so hard to know what the others are doing.”
“That’s the difficult thing, you don’t really know until the race starts, and by then it’s too late. That’s what happened the last two years, and then it ends up being a very long 24 hours.”
