Heavy rain mixes up classification
Stuttgart. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain showers: The wild weather in Austria’s Styria region played the dominating role in the qualifying session for round three of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. Jaap van Lagen coped best with the difficult conditions. The 34-year-old Dutchman secured pole position on the 4.326 kilometre Red Bull Ring in 1:44.289 minutes. After Robert Renauer claimed pole in Hockenheim and Jeroen Bleekemolen in Zandvoort, the Land Motorsport pilot is the third different pole-sitter at the third race of the season – evidence of the close competition in this year’s field.
However, the reigning champion of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup and Carrera Cup Deutschland struggled: René Rast (Germany, Förch Racing) only qualified in 11th, with Nicolas Armindo (France, Hermes Attempto Racing) having to settle for 15th.
With a mere 0.015 second gap, Sean Edwards secured the second grid spot. Driving for the Deutsche Post by tolimit squad, he underlined his reputation as a rain specialist. Edwards finished the season-opener on the podium and currently ranks third overall in the points. He relegated his compatriot and series points’ leader Nick Tandy to third on the grid. At the end of the gripping qualifying session, the Konrad Motorsport pilot was only 0.102 seconds adrift of the pole-setting time.
Tandy takes up tomorrow’s race at 10.20 a.m. sharing the second grid row with Jeroen Bleekemolen. Like Edwards, the Dutchman, who recently clinched pole and victory at his home race, also drives for Deutsche Post by tolimit. Row three of the grid is also occupied by experienced Cup pilots. 2008 runner-up, Jan Seyffarth (Germany, SMS Seyffarth Motorsport), was very happy with fifth, his best qualifying result so far this season. The two seasoned campaigners behind them, however, were not as happy. After setting first and second in yesterday afternoon’s free practice, Uwe Alzen and Martin Ragginger had banked on a better qualifying result than sixth and seventh. Two-time Carrera Cup champion, Alzen (Germany, PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive), was justifiably hopeful that he could finally bring home another top time after his last in 2008 in Mugello. And Ragginger (Schnabl Engineering) was also keen to perform well in front of home crowds.
The second Austrian in the field, Norber Siedler, takes up the race for Aust Motorsport in eighth on the reopened circuit in Styria. For Siedler, the Spielberg round is his first race of the Carrera Cup season, but he can look back on a victory last year in the international Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. Denmark’s Nicki Thiim (Hermes Attempto Racing) and Poland’s Robert Lukas (Förch Racing) round off the top ten.
TV station Sport1 broadcasts the third race live and on June 11th televises race highlights, interviews and reportages from 13.30 to 14.00 hours in its ‘Carrera Cup Magazin’. Moreover, the Spielberg race can be followed on the official website of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland on (www.porsche.de/carreracup) via live-streaming.
Jaap van Lagen (pole-sitter): “My first pole position in the Carrera Cup! I’m over the moon. Neither my team nor I have experience in rain with the new Michelin tyres. Now everything depends on getting a good start tomorrow.”
Sean Edwards (second in qualifying): “It’s like a curse. I’m only 15-thousandths off my first pole in the Carrera Cup. That’s annoying. But I’m feeling confident for the race, because my team has worked out a very good race set-up. My goal is to get away well, pass Jaap – and win.”
Nick Tandy (third in qualifying): “I have mixed feelings. In the first part of the qualifying I was so slow I was afraid I’d miss out on a top ten placing. So I’m very relieved with third on the grid. I’m also lacking experience with the tyres in rain. The race will be exciting. If it’s dry tomorrow we’ll all be racing on brand new slicks.”
Qualifying result:
1. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Land Motorsport, 1:44.289 minutes
2. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 0.015 seconds
3. Nick Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.102
4. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 0.612
5. Jan Seyffarth (D), SMS Seyffarth Motorsport, + 0.629
6. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive, + 0.943
7. Martin Ragginger (A), Schnabl Engineering, + 1.365
8. Norbert Siedler (A), Aust Motorsport, + 1.515
Public Relations and Media Motor and Sports Press Oliver Hilger
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