Dominant lights-to-flag victory for Alessandro Ghiretti: The Porsche Junior from France has won the third race of the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland season with a lead of almost seven seconds.

In the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by the French team Schumacher CLRT, Ghiretti gave his rivals no chance at the restart after a safety car period. On the Formula 1 circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, Theo Oeverhaus finished second. Behind the Porsche Junior from Osnabrück, who drives for Bonk Motorsport, three drivers from GP Elite crossed the finish line. Ariel Levi finished third ahead of his Dutch teammates Huub van Eijndhoven and Kas Haverkort.

"I was able to defend my leading position at the start and found a good rhythm pretty quickly. Then I concentrated on not putting too much strain on my tyres. My mechanics had prepared my nine-eleven perfectly," Ghiretti praised his team. In fact, the Schumacher CLRT race cars were already in a class of their own in qualifying. Ghiretti's Dutch teammate Flynt Schuring started from second position, but fell back a long way in the race due to a collision through no fault of his own.

"My start went great and I was able to overtake Flynt Schuring on the first lap – but I didn't stand a chance against Alessandro," admitted Theo Oeverhaus. On the contrary, he had to defend his second place against Ariel Levi during the entire race distance of 13 laps. "I think Ariel would have been faster on the open track. We now need to analyse the data so that I can do more in the second race on Saturday."

Levi, who had started the race in fifth place, was happy about third place. "At the beginning of the race, I certainly benefited from the fact that drivers in front of me lost positions due to duels. But I'm also very proud of third place behind the two Porsche Juniors," commented the Israeli.

Behind Huub van Eijndhoven and Kas Haverkort, Sacha Norden (Proton Huber Competition) crossed the finish line. "I'm really sorry that I spun Flynt Schuring around at the restart after the safety car period," the Dutchman apologised to his compatriot. The stewards later imposed a 10-second penalty on Norden for this situation. As a result, victory in the rookie classification went to Dirk Schouten from the Netherlands (lap time performance). Behind Norden, Britain's Joseph Warhurst (Team Proton Huber Competition) finished third in the Carrera Cup rookie classification.

Victory in the ProAm classification was secured by Ahmad Alshehab from Kuwait: "It feels good to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time this season. We're working hard to make sure it wasn't the last time," said the driver from the [a-workx] by Porsche Paderborn team. In addition to Alshehab, the Germans Michael Essmann (Team75 Bernhard) and Kai Pfister (Proton Huber Competition) climbed onto the ProAm podium.

The show of the race was delivered by championship leader Robert de Haan. The Dutch driver of the Proton Huber Competition team did not manage a fast lap in qualifying and had to start from the back row. With full commitment and overtaking manoeuvres worth seeing, he made up a total of 23 positions in the race and was finally classified seventh. "At least I kept the lead in the standings," the 18-year-old breathed afterwards.

Flynt Schuring starts from pole position on Saturday

Tomorrow, Saturday, at 9:20 a.m., the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup will once again take to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The front row of the grid will then again be shared by the two drivers from the Schumacher CLRT team. This time, however, Talent Pool driver Flynt Schuring is at the front, while Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti will start the race from second position.

Fans will be able to watch the second race of the weekend live on the internet, including on the Porsche Motorsport Hub as well as the channels of the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Germany at YouTube and on Facebook. The TV station ProSieben also broadcasts on the Internet portal of ran racing.

Result race 3, Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland, Spa-Francorchamps (BEL)

1. Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti (FRA/Schumacher CLRT), 13 laps 2
. Porsche Junior Theo Oeverhaus (DEU/Bonk Motorsport), +6.768 seconds
3. Ariel Levi (ISR/Team GP Elite), +7.518 seconds
4. Huub van Eijndhoven (NLD/Team GP Elite), +8.429 seconds
5. Kas Haverkort (NLD/Team GP Elite), +9.740 seconds
6. Mikel Azcona (ESP/Hadeca Racing), +12.971 seconds

Full results and standings:
https://racing.porsche.com/de-DE/carrera-cup-deutschland/ergebnisse