Spielberg diaries: Larry ten Voorde is Mr. Invincible again.

While some head to the mountains for hiking, the Dutch go to enjoy motorsport: At the Red Bull Ring, it seemed as if the circuit was an enclave of the Netherlands. Unlike last year, the "Orange Army" along with the entire Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup driver field were fortunate with the weather. Under mostly bright sunshine, they enjoyed good, albeit quite hot, motorsport conditions. Sören Spreng (GER) from GP ELITE did not participate in the race weekend, leaving the field in Spielberg with "only" 28 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Nevertheless, they delivered plenty of thrilling engine sounds in the natural arena of Spielberg. The remaining drivers from a total of 12 nations entertained the nearly 100,000 spectators in the stands each day with excellent racing action.

Practice and qualifying: The championship leaders dominated.

Friday evening's Practice Session ran smoothly, with only a few excursions into the gravel traps. The drivers had to get accustomed to the new gravel strips in turns 9 and 10, which were added to reduce last year's numerous track limit violations. VIP driver Timo Glock (GER) aimed to match his DTM performance at Spielberg in his brand-new Porsche, as the track wasn't on the calendar during his Formula 1 career. He was among the 22 drivers who crossed the finish line within just one second of the best time. Harry King (GBR) set the fastest time towards the end of the session, with BWT Lechner Racing capitalising on their home advantage.

Saturday’s Qualifying Session was a different story. In the intense midday heat, with track temperatures reaching around 50°C, there were many lead changes. On the second set of tyres, Schumacher CLRT dominated the session, securing the front row with Marvin Klein (FRA) and Larry ten Voorde (NLD). “It was a cool, hot quali,” admitted the Dutchman after the session. Keagan Masters (ZAF) and King secured the third and fourth starting positions, giving them strong chances to attack the leaders. The best rookie, Israeli Ariel Levi, started from P5 – his team, GP Elite, could hope for a good points haul. Due to the numerous track limit violations, race control was busy until the evening finalising the starting grid.

K&K reigns in Austria: King & Klein in an open duel.

When the top 19 drivers in qualifying are within a second of each other, the term 'competitive field' is certainly appropriate. Robert Lechner, team principal of BWT Lechner Racing, was reminded of the spectacular race from the previous year before Race 3 – and predicted another motorsport highlight at the Red Bull Ring for 2024. He would be proven right: shortly after the start, Larry ten Voorde managed to overtake his teammate Marvin Klein (FRA) and proceeded to dominate the race unchallenged from lap 2 onwards. However, the rest of the field dazzled the spectators with their performance.

The duel between Klein and King was particularly entertaining. The young Brit needed to get past the Frenchman to avoid losing even more ground to Ten Voorde in the championship. Their first attempt at overtaking saw K&K side by side through Turn 7, before King's Porsche drifted sideways for almost a second after a slight touch, skimming across the asphalt in Turn 8. Managing to regain control of his car at speeds well over 100 km/h was one of the standout moments of the entire race weekend. Following that incident, the rivals continued their battle from P5 (Klein) and P6 (King). Keagan Masters, Lirim Zendeli (GER), and Theo Oeverhaus (GER) seized the opportunity and passed both of them.

In the K&K duel, King regained the lead as early as lap 2, with the assistance of his teammate Oeverhaus, passing Klein. Over the next few laps, the Briton moved up to 2nd place but couldn't shake off Klein. Keeping an eye on his rear-view mirror, King couldn't catch up with Ten Voorde in the remaining laps of the race – the Dutchman secured his 3rd win with a 4-second lead. Marvin Klein rounded off a successful race weekend for Schumacher CLRT with a third-place finish on the podium. Race 3 took an unfortunate turn for Keagan Masters due to technical issues – both he and his teammate Lirim Zendeli slipped down the order. The Ombra Racing drivers finished P4 (Masters) and P15 (Zendeli) respectively. Consequently, the Red Bull Ring witnessed plenty of overtaking throughout the field. The retirement of four cars demonstrated the tough competition, notably affecting Proton Huber Competition, which lost two cars.

Duels, drifts, and track limits – the rookies were giving their all too.

In the Rookie Classification, triumph and tribulation were closely intertwined. Mathys Jaubert (FRA) initially crossed the finish line 4th after starting from P9 but was penalised 5 seconds, relegating him to 8th overall and 3rd on the Rookie Podium. Kas Haverkort (NLD) was retrospectively awarded 1st place among the rookies, with Theo Oeverhaus taking 2nd place on the Rookie Podium. While Oeverhaus found satisfaction in his result, fellow countryman Timo Glock, in the VIP race car, was less pleased with his performance. Like five other drivers, he incurred a time penalty for exceeding track limits. Nonetheless, he thoroughly enjoyed the exhilarating race of Spielberg. Once again, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup delivered top-notch motorsport entertainment to its spectators during the Austrian stop.

We're looking forward to carrying forward this excitement and entertainment. The next race of the international series takes place outside the EU: Great Britain welcomes drivers and teams as part of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. This entails meticulous packing of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cups, completing customs paperwork, and then crossing the English Channel to reach an iconic airfield in Northern England, where we'll unleash our racing prowess.

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Overall Standings after Round 3 in Spielberg

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