The new Porsche 911 GT3 R was given a successful three days of testing by the Porsche customer teams in the GTD class at the Roar before the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway this weekend.

Pfaff Motorsports, Park Place Motorsports, NGT Motorsport and Black Swan Racing all got valuable running under their belts ahead of the season opening IMSA race at the end of January for the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Sebastian Golz, Project Manager for the 911 GT3 R was happy with the progress made by the four teams, “The new Porsche 911 GT3 R has passed its first test in the USA. For our customer teams and their drivers, the emphasis on day one was predominantly about getting familiar with the new car.

“On day two we made great progress in terms of the setup. The lap times were strong and the consistency over longer distances looked good as well. With our customer teams I think we should be well prepared for the race week at the end of the month.”

2017 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany champion and Supercup runner up, Dennis Olsen was thrown in at the deep end as lines up with Pfaff Motorsports for the first time, “New team, new car, new drivers – as you can imagine the list of tasks was rather long.

“We sorted out some basic things on the first day and then went on to work intensively on the setup. We made great progress but we still have to implement some other findings before the start of the race week.”

Patrick Lindsay lines up for Park Place Motorsports and while the car is new he has experience of both the old model GT3 R and also the 911 RSR, “A lot is new, but still somehow familiar. The new car immediately feels like a Porsche. I know the previous model and I often drive the 911 RSR.

“For me, the new GT3 R feels like the perfect combination of the two. The brakes are as powerful as those in the WEC car, it’s very user friendly – it’s simply great fun. At the ‘Roar’ we worked on the setup and familiarised ourselves with the car’s many details and the tyres. Bring on the race week.”

2016 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup champion Sven Müller was happy with the development over the course of the test with NGT Motorsport, “We took things slow initially, first running in the brakes, then working on the setup and testing the tyres.

“We gained a lot of insights and we’ll now use these for the race week to make the car even better. There were many new things for our team and the drivers to discover during the test days and that was exciting.”

After a successful year in 2018 which saw Matteo Cairoli secure third place in the European Le Mans Series – GTE class he lines up for Black Swan Racing, “There were so many new things to discover: car, tyres, racetrack. We worked through our tasks systematically and made great progress. That’s precisely what test days are for.

“We’ll also use the first sessions of the race week for setup work so that we get the best possible start into the 24-hour classic. At Daytona the name of the game is to have a car that is predictable and easy to handle. We’re on the right track.”