René Rast half-time champion with fourth win of season
René Rast is
the half-time champion of the Porsche Mobil1
Supercup. With his Al Faisal Lechner Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, he
celebrated his fourth win of the season on the street circuit of
Valencia/Spain and extended his points’ lead. For the reigning
vice-champion, this marks the tenth win of his career in the world’s
fastest international brand trophy series. The fans lining the track at the America’s Cup harbour witnessed René Rast at his best: Fastest in free practice, fastest in qualifying and a clear flag-to-flag victory – the rest of the field didn’t have a chance. Behind the unstoppable German, Austria’s Norbert Siedler (VELTINS MRS Racing) brought home second place. The winner of Barcelona is the only driver who has managed to beat Rast this season. Title defender Jeroen Bleekemolen (Al Faisal Lechner Racing) saw the flag in third place, which was enough to put the Dutchman second overall in the championship behind his teammate. The two-time Supercup champion snatched this position from the Supercup newcomer Nicholas Tandy (Great Britain, Konrad Motorsport), who didn’t find his rhythm this weekend and had to settle for eighth. Tandy, however, still holds a healthy lead in the BBS Rookie classification.
René Rast was able to pull away from his rivals right from the start as he gunned to his tenth win in total. In sweltering summer temperatures, round five of the series provided plenty of mid-field action, albeit with very few overtaking manoeuvres. Taking up the race from the fifth grid row in tenth, Nicholas Tandy was the only driver to make up two places during the race. At the flag, René Rast held a seven second advantage over Norbert Siedler, with Jeroen Bleekemolen more than ten seconds in arrears.
Behind the leading trio, Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza), who had yielded a surprising third from Monaco, narrowly missed out on a podium spot. In the overall classification he moved two places up the points’ table to now rank sixth. Sean Edwards brought home his best result of the season. Driving for the Abu Dhabi by tolimit squad, the Briton occupied fifth position ahead of Slovakia’s Stefan Rosina. With this effort, the Lechner Racing pilot defended his fourth place in the standings. Supercup record winner Patrick Huisman (Konrad Motorsport) from the Netherlands crossed the finish line in seventh ahead of Nicholas Tandy. Rounding off the top ten were Sascha Maassen (Germany) from the Abu Dhabi by tolimit team in ninth and Dutchman Sebastiaan Bleekemolen (Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza) in tenth.
René Rast (winner): “Another perfect weekend. We had an extremely quiet race. I got away very well at the start and took some heat out of the pace to look after the tyres. I reckon that was the key to success today. Actually, I was never driving at the limit and still had plenty of reserve in case I needed to push. During the last weeks we’ve managed to take a huge step forward. I’d like to thank my team for this. It’s still too early to say the title is ours, but we’re holding a comfortable lead.”
Norbert Siedler (second): “I’m very pleased with my race. I tried to match René’s pace at the beginning but I couldn’t. He was simply too fast. But I had Jeroen under control. The only time I could keep up with René was in the middle of the race, but early on and towards the end he was faster. I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Jeroen Bleekemolen (third): “I didn’t really go for Norbert at first because I was convinced he would receive a drive-through penalty for a jumped start. But he didn’t. René drove an immaculate race at the front. He’s looking good for the title. I couldn’t have done better than third today and that’s why I’m quite happy with my result.”
Race result
1. René Rast (D), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, 30:35.701 minutes
2. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 7.259 seconds
3. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, + 10.670
4. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Team Bleekemolen Harders Plaza, + 15.019
5. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, +17.756
6. Stefan Rosina (SK), Lechner Racing, + 18.049
Drivers’ classification after 5 of 10 races
1. René Rast (D), 88 points
2. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), 74
3. Nicholas Tandy (GB), 68
4. Stefan Rosina (SK), 64
5. Norbert Siedler (A), 54
6. Jaap van Lagen (NL), 44
