Nicholas Tandy celebrates first Supercup victory at home race
In front of home
crowds on the traditional Silverstone race track,
Nicholas Tandy fulfilled the dream of his first victory in the Porsche
Mobil1 Supercup. At the wheel of Konrad Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3
Cup, the local hero and Supercup rookie won the sixth round of the
season of the world’s fastest international brand trophy series with a
5.572 second advantage over René Rast (Germany). Behind the
points’ leader who races for Al Faisal Lechner Racing, Supercup record
winner Patrick Huisman (Konrad Motorsport) from the Netherlands
finished in third. The decisive moment on the 5.898 kilometre Grand Prix track came already at the start. Nicholas Tandy made the most of his pole position and beat a hard-charging René Rast to the first corner. Setting one fastest race lap after the other, the local hero pulled away from the rest of the field. For the rest of the race René Rast concentrated on fending off Austria’s Norbert Siedler (VELTINS MRS Racing). The Barcelona winner didn’t find a way past his teammate from last year and lost an almost safe podium spot in the penultimate lap to four-time Supercup champion Patrick Huisman.
Kuba Giermaziak (Verva Racing Team) turned out to be the big surprise during the 12-lap race in Britain’s classical motorsport venue.
Two days after his 20th birthday, the Supercup rookie from Poland put in his best performance of the season, drove a faultless race and was rewarded with fifth place. Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza), third place-getter in Monaco, saw the flag in sixth, ahead of Slovakia’s Stefan Rosina (Lechner Racing) and New Zealander Matt Halliday (SANITEC/GILTRAP Racing). Jan Seyffarth (Germany) from VELTINS MRS Racing brought home ninth place, with Supercup returnee Damien Faulkner from Ireland (Al Faisal Lechner Racing) rounding off the top ten.
Sean Edwards turned
heads with his spectacular charge from the last
grid spot. Driving for Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, the Briton had turned
the third fastest lap in qualifying, but left the track with all four
wheels, crossed a sideline and was relegated to the back of the field
by the Stewards of the Meeting. With twelfth, he still managed to yield
championship points.Nicholas Tandy (winner): “What a race. The opening phase was tough but became easier towards the end. The start was quite tight and I had to pull out all stops to keep René behind me. Over the first two laps he kept up the pressure, but afterwards I was able to pull away somewhat and in the last laps I saw on the huge screens lining the circuit how my teammate Patrick secured third place. What a day for Konrd Motorsport!”
René Rast (second): “Apart from the start and the first laps it was quite a relaxed race. Obviously I tried to get past at the start, but didn’t take too many risks. I then attempted to keep Nick under pressure and force him to make a mistake. He didn’t do me the favour. I knew he’d be really quick on this circuit and he was on fresh tyres which is a huge advantage. Still, I’m not too concerned when I think about the next race. We take home good points from second place and that was the maximum that we were able to achieve here.”
Patrick Huisman (third): “We made a big step from the practice to qualifying so that’s why I told my team don’t change a thing with the car before the race, just clean it. My start was good and I made up a couple of places in the first laps. Then I had a minor collision which luckily had no consequences. Towards the end my lap times improved and all of a sudden third place was within reach. Of course it’s great for the team that I made it to the podium in the end.”
Race result
1. Nicholas Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, 25:36.352 minutes
2. René Rast (D), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, + 5.572 seconds
3. Patrick Huisman (NL), Konrad Motorsport, + 8.648
4. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 9.332
5. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), Verva Racing Team, + 11.700
6. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza, + 12.016
Drivers’ classification after 6 of 10 races
1. René Rast (D), 106 points
2. Nicholas Tandy (GB), 90
3. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), 74
4. Stefan Rosina (SK), 73
5. Norbert Siedler (A), 68
6. Patrick Huisman (NL), 56
Round 7 of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup takes place on 25 July as support to the German Grand Prix.
