The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg was the venue not only for the 4th race weekend of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, but also for the official anniversary celebration of the whole series. It was a weekend all about racing history – and rightly so.
Even 30 years after the first race, the international Porsche one-make cup attracts teams from all over the world – the best of them racing in national series like the Porsche Carrera Cup. This was again evident in Spielberg. On the same stage as Formula 1, who held the Austrian Grand Prix here this weekend, two guest teams joined the field: Fragus Motorsport from Sweden – with the same line-up as in Imola – and the recently formed Team ID Racing from Germany with Brazilian #40 Georgios Frangulis and the 10th Dutchman in the field, #41 Michael Verhagen. New Zealander Jaxon Evans, winner of Supercup races at this track in 2020 and 2021, drove CLRT's #13 car.
BWT Lechner Racing strong in training and qualifying.
The entire field was lifted over the weekend, not only by the good weather, but also by the amazing atmosphere created by fans in the stands. The Practice Session on Friday evening went off without any major incidents. The only cause for concern was the track limits, especially for ra
ce control. The fastest driver in practice was #5 Dylan Pereira (LUX/BWT Lechner Racing), showing how much he enjoys racing the Styrian Alpine circuit.
In qualifying on Saturday, all BWT Lechner racing drivers were wide awake, and ready to use their home advantage. Over long stretches they dominated the session and burned one best time after another into the asphalt. Only in the last minutes could drivers from other teams push their way between the three Lechner boys.
In the end, the top four positions in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Overall Standings completed the first two rows of the grid for the 4th Round of the season at the Red Bull Ring: Dylan Pereira on pole, followed by teammate #6 Harry King (GBR), who was only 71 thousandths of a second slower, #25 Larry ten Voorde (NLD/Team GP Elite) and #3 Laurin Heinrich (DEU/SSR Huber Racing).
Following qualifying, officials, celebrities, and active and former participants of the Porsche Supercup gathered for the 30th anniversary celebration of the series. Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport, as well as Bernd Mayländer, the official safety car driver of F1 and former Supercup driver, sat with Supercup veterans like Altfrid Heger late into the evening, reliving the best, most entertaining and memorable stories.
A hard-fought race.
Around 40,000 spectators at the Formula 1 race track near Spielberg enjoyed an entertaining, exciting race on Sunday, even though Pereira was unchallenged in the lead, winning a clear start-to-finish victory. Two safety car phases were proof of hard-fought duels throughout the field. Despite this, the Luxembourg-based soldier ultimately opened up a lead of more than four seconds over second place.
Behind him, Larry ten Voorde, Porsche Junior Heinrich and #12 Marvin Klein (FRA/CLRT) delivered racing action worth seeing. Ten Voorde and Heinrich passed Harry King at the start, while Klein fought his way up from grid position 6, first passing #6 Simone Iaquinta (ITA/Dinamic Motorsport) and then King, to immediately launch one overtaking attempt after another against Heinrich. In the Remus corner at the end of the long uphill straight, however, he misjudged his braking point, flew past Heinrich on the inside and hit Ten Voorde – both were unable to continue the race. Heinrich had seen Klein coming in his rearview mirror and was able to take evasive action. The first half of the season ends with Heinrich in second place in the standings, just two points behind leader Pereira.
In the Rookie Classification, Bastian Buus remained unbeaten in the fourth race. The Dane, who is contesting his first Porsche Supercup season, moved up six positions in the course of the race – no one else in the leading group managed that much.
The spectators were able to celebrate a home victory in the ProAm Classification, which was won for the first time this season by Austrian Philipp Sager from Dinamic Motorsport. The trophy was presented to him by Dr. Wolfgang Porsche himself.
For the 5th Round, the teams now travel to Le Castellet in the south of France. The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup starts the second half of the season at the Circuit Paul Ricard as part of the French Grand Prix. The circuit is new to the Supercup calendar – and the French competitors in particular are looking forward to a hot race in their homeland.
