Jan Seyffarth dominates turbulent race
Stuttgart. One day after his 22nd birthday, Jan Seyffarth (Germany) has secured a clear victory at the sixth round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland in Zandvoort (Netherlands). It was the first victory for the former UPS-Porsche Junior in Europe’s fastest brand trophy series – and it was the result of extraordinary driving skills in an extremely turbulent race. Second went to pole-setter and last year’s winner Chris Mamerow (Germany, Mamerow Racing PZ Essen), with the last place on the podium going to the 21-year-old points’ leader René Rast (Germany, MRS Team PZ Aschaffenburg). The race was stopped two laps before the finish as Nicolas Armindo’s vehicle had to be recovered. The Frenchman’s car had hit the barriers, rolled once, but aside from light bruising to the foot he came away uninjured.Shortly before the start a rain shower had put the 4.3 kilometre circuit under water. Whilst the first ten rolled onto the grid with slicks, few pilots gambled with rain tyres. The start and beginning phase of the race was packed with overtaking manoeuvres and spins on the extremely slippery track. Initially, ex-DTM driver Thomas Jäger (Online Leasing Racing Team PZ Nürnberg) moved into the lead with rain tyres. But with the track drying up, the Munich man had to return to the pits to change tyres and he fell back to 20th.
The winning Jan Seyffarth had taken up the race from third with slicks on his car, but was still able to pull away from his pursuers by about 15 seconds in the first three laps. After securing four fourth places this season, the entire SMS Seyffarth-Motorsport team celebrated his first win. Behind him raged a spectacular battle for the other podium places. Fighting amongst themselves for over half the race distance were Chris Mamerow, Uwe Alzen (Germany, HP Team Herberth PZ Olympiapark), René Rast and Alzen’s team mate Jörg Hardt (Germany). From half-time on 23-year-old Mamerow was able to draw away slightly from the rest and bring home second.
Behind him the youngsters outwitted the old-hands. René Rast (21) snatched the last step on the podium from reigning Carrera Cup champion Uwe Alzen (41) in a fair overtaking manoeuvre. Despite coming under pressure from his team mate Joerg Hardt, Alzen was able to beat him to the finish line in fourth.
Both UPS-Porsche-Junior drivers Marco Holzer (Germany) and Martin Ragginger (Austria) put in an excellent drive. Taking up the race from a commendable second with the 420 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup after just eight races, 19-year-old Holzer made a slow get away on the wet track, but under difficult conditions still managed to bring home sixth. Directly behind him came his 20-year-old team mate Ragginger who is now contesting his second year as UPS-Porsche-Junior.
Former DTM star Christian Abt (Germany, tolimit Motorsport), who contests the Porsche Carrera Cup for the first time in 2008, also gave a spirited drive. After setting a disappointing 25th in qualifying, the 41-year-old Bavarian made good use of his race experience to secure eighth place. Trailing him was local matador Patrick Huisman (Netherlands, Hermes Attempto Racing PZ Nürnberg) in ninth with tenth taken by René Rast’s team mate Mario Josten.
Now heading to the seventh round on the Nürburgring in two weeks (27th July), the leading pack have moved closer – promising exciting racing for the three remaining rounds of the season. Rast leads with 100 points, followed by Mamerow (92) and Seyffarth now with 76 points.
Jan Seyffarth (winner): “That was a fantastic race. I had hoped for a podium result, and then to win – awesome! The key to my success was my perfectly set-up race car. I’m especially happy for my team, they really deserved this victory. I had already shown I could win with my Supercup success in Barcelona.”
Chris Mamerow (second): “I’m satisfied. Afterall, under such difficult conditions I still managed to earn 18 points towards the championship. Now I’ve built a small buffer and can concentrate on taking the lead position. Jan did a super job today. You can only congratulate him.”
René Rast (third): “What a turbulent race. At the start I was very fast in the wet and could put the pressure on Chris. Once he closed the door on me. We touched slightly but it was fair – and great fun. Shortly before the flag I overtook Alzen. It was a bit of a risk but it paid off.”
Jos Verstappen gave the 48,000 fans at the track a thrilling show at midday Sunday. The darling of the public turned demonstration laps in the Porsche RS Spyder with which Verstappen, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Peter van Merksteijn (all Netherlands) had claimed LMP2 class victory at the Le Mans 24 hour race mid-June.
Race result:
1. Jan Seyffarth (D), SMS Seyffarth-Motorsport, 28:31.417 minutes (135,898 km/h)
2. Chris Mamerow (D), Mamerow Racing PZ Essen, + 7.962 seconds
3. René Rast (D), MRS Team PZ Aschaffenburg, + 11.774
4. Uwe Alzen (D), HP Team Herberth PZ Olympiapark, + 13.752
5. Jörg Hardt (D), HP Team Herberth PZ Olympiapark, + 13.965
6. Marco Holzer (D), UPS-Porsche-Junior-Team, + 16.174
7. Martin Ragginger (A), UPS-Porsche-Junior-Team, + 19.900
8. Christian Abt (D), tolimit Motorsport, + 27.413
9. Patrick Huisman (NL), Hermes Attempto Racing PZ Nürnberg, + 29.497
10. Mario Josten (D), MRS Team PZ Aschaffenburg, + 30.860
Drivers’ classification after the sixth of nine rounds:
1. René Rast (D), 100 points
2. Chris Mamerow (D), 92 points
3. Jan Seyffarth (D), 76 points
4. Nicolas Armindo (F), 70 points
5. Jörg Hardt (D), 62 points
GO
文本
英語 (Porsche AG)
已归档
M08_1580
108/08
2008-07-13
-
- 赛车运动
- 2008赛季
- Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland
- 最新消息
- Netherlands \ Zandvoort
Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 6 in the Circuit Park Zandvoort, Race report:
Jan Seyffarth dominates turbulent race