When Project 1 crossed the 24 Hours of Le Mans finish line, a dream came true. In the 25th year of its corporate history, the team from Lohne was at the start of the world’s most popular endurance race for the first time. After a tough race, the driver trio consisting of Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti ended the motorsport festival in France with a seventh place in the amateur class. Throughout the whole race, the team had kept pace with the established competition.
“A huge load was taken off our minds when we survived the first crucial test”, said a very relieved team Manager Axel Funke. “After the test day, we improved from session to session. Our aim was to take the chequered flag and we achieved that with our seventh place. This achievement was due to all participants’ selfless hard work and in particular to our bronze-driver Egidio Perfetti, who delivered an outstanding performance.”
The Project 1 team’s fast lap in qualifying gave them a good starting position for the upcoming race and after a turbulent start phase, the trio worked its way steadily forwards to reach second position in the LMGTE Am class.
The early morning hours saw the yellow/black Porsche 911 RSR back to fourth position in the highly competitive LMGTE Am category, however a brakes problem just 90 minutes before race end prevented fighting for a podium finish.
Project 1’s debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was followed by hundreds of thousands of spectators on site and millions of TV viewers. Eurosport offered the German audience a high-quality marathon broadcast platform of over 26 hours, enabling them to follow the entire endurance classic.
After the summer break, the next FIA WEC race is scheduled for 19 August in Silverstone, UK.
Race comments:
Porsche works driver Jörg Bergmeister gave the following feedback on the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans: “That was a race with loads of ups and downs. All in all, the entire team did a great job and persevered to the very end, when we made it to seventh place. The car was running really well, we were always one of the fastest amateur cars in the field and if it hadn’t been for the additional stop, we’d have done even better. But the trend is positive, we’ve come a long way since Spa and are now aiming for a first podium finish in Silverstone.”
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans was an important milestone for the team”, said Patrick Lindsey. “An endurance race like that is never easy, but we collected valuable championship points. Our performance over the entire weekend was first-rate, unfortunately technology beat us during the race. But with seventh place, we managed to make the best out of these difficult circumstances. As I drove into the pits with brake problems, the whole squad worked together perfectly and we could quickly return to the action. A huge thanks to everybody for their fantastic job at the weekend.”
Egidio Perfetti talked about his 24 Hours of Le Mans premiere: “It was a great experience being able to start here. The race demands everything you’ve got and you can’t lose concentration for a single second. We were in a good position for a long time, so it’s obviously disappointing when you fall back with a brake problem shortly before the finish. But on the whole, I’m very pleased with my debut here in Le Mans, the atmosphere has been unbelievable all week. I’m happy with my personal achievement, my stints were all consistent and that was my goal for the race.”
