René Rast snatches pole position with stunning time
René
Rast is the man of the day in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup.
At the wheel of his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the points’ leader from
Germany takes up round five of the world’s fastest brand trophy series
from pole position in Valencia on Sunday. Competing for Al Faisal
Lechner Racing, the reigning vice-champion claimed his fourth pole
position this season with a stunning time in the fiercely-contested
qualifying. In sweltering summer temperatures on the demanding 5.419 kilometre circuit in the America’s Cup harbour, René Rast was an impressive 0.684 seconds faster than Austrian Norbert Siedler (VELTINS MRS Racing), the winner of the Barcelona round. Reigning champion and the pole-sitter’s teammate Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) set the third quickest time. René Rast, who has already notched up three victories this season, achieved his best time in an all-or-nothing effort in the final minute of qualifying.
Repeating his Monaco performance, Sean Edwards (Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit) from Great Britain takes up the race from fourth ahead of Slovakia’s Stefan Rosina (Lechner Racing). Once again, Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza) put in a strong drive to claim the sixth spot on the grid ahead of his compatriot Patrick Huisman (Konrad Motorsport). Lining up alongside the Supercup record winner on the fourth row in eighth is Briton Tim Bridgman (Schnabl Engineering Team Parker Racing). Rounding off the top ten qualifiers is Sascha Maassen (Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit) from Germany, who recently underlined his potential with second place in Monaco.
René Rast (pole-sitter): “I can’t really explain how I attained this fabulous time. Actually the lap didn’t feel that good. I simply pushed and braked as late as I could. This was obviously the right tactic for this track – brake, throw the car into the corners and then go flat out again.”
Norbert Siedler (second qualifier): “I wasn’t at all happy with my first set of tyres. I was at the limit but I didn’t manage a decent time. With the second set things ran better. My laps were not perfect, I’m sure I could have gone a bit faster. I suppose I should be pleased with second on the grid, but of course the two extra points for pole position would have been better.”
Jeroen Bleekemolen (third qualifier): “ René’s time is incredible. I could have driven faster but it still wouldn’t have been fast enough for the pole. Still, I’m feeling optimistic for the race. We are both far in front and we’ll be fighting hard tomorrow.”
Qualifying result
1. René Rast (D), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, 2:07.818 minutes
2. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 0.684 seconds
3. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, + 0.904
4. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, + 1.118
5. Stefan Rosina (SK), Lechner Racing, + 1.198
6. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza, + 1.278
