Maiden win for Jaap van Lagen
Stuttgart. A successful comeback in Austria: The first race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland on the reopened race circuit in Styria offered suspense from start to finish. With a 0.788-second advantage to points’ leader Nick Tandy, Jaap van Lagen celebrated his maiden victory in Germany’s fastest one-make race series on the Red Bull Ring. With this, the Dutchman competing for Land Motorsport is the third winner from three rounds.
Taking off from pole position, van Lagen was initially able to put a gap between himself and the field by a couple of car lengths. In the second third of the race, Tandy’s Konrad Motorsport 911 slowly gained ground and stuck to the tail of the leader just 0.3 seconds adrift. Two laps before the flag, the Briton made his move at the end of the finish straight – but misjudged, ran wide and had to back off. The five-time winner of last season brought home second place and further extended his points’ lead.
Whilst the situation at the head of the 20-strong field was somewhat quiet, apart from the late attack, behind them a turbulent scene raged with almost nonstop overtaking manoeuvres. Sean Edwards defended his third place against Jeroen Bleekemolen using every fair trick in the book – the Briton and the Dutchman are, after all, teammates in the Deutsche Post by tolimit squad. Edwards gave a sigh of relief when Zandvoort winner Bleekemolen started getting pressure from behind. Position three for the Briton yields third overall in the standings and keeps him within striking distance to the top of the points. Thanks to the experience of the two-time Supercup champion, Bleekemolen was able to hold off a fierce charge from Martin Ragginger. Driving for Schnabl Engineering, the Austrian clinched fifth on the roller coaster race track of his home.
Uwe Alzen (Germany, PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive) was caught up in many breathtaking duels over the course of the 19-lap race but did not manage to improve on his qualifying result. Finishing in sixth, the new father of a six-day-old daughter, Mina, lost his fourth place in the rankings to van Lagen. Austria’s Norbert Siedler was satisfied with his race. The specialist from the international Porsche Mobil1 Supercup drove an immaculate first race for Aust Motorsport to bring home a respectable seventh. Behind him came Nicki Thiim (Denmark, Hermes Attempto Racing) in eighth ahead of a disappointed Jan Seyffarth (SMS Seyffarth Motorsport). The German had made a good start from the fifth grid spot, but was relegated back in the field as the victim of a group fight. All the more pleasure for David Jahn: The 20-year-old from Germany, a newcomer to Uwe Alzen’s team, celebrated tenth place at his debut in the Carrera Cup Deutschland as if it were a win.
For two of the favourites, the race concluded as disappointingly as yesterday’s qualifying. The reigning champion of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, René Rast (Germany, Förch Racing), retired after an accident. Suffering tyre damage, the champion of the German one-make race series, Nicolas Armindo (France, Hermes Attempto Racing), finished a lowly 17th and went home empty-handed.
Jaap van Lagen (winner): “We’re going to have a huge party today. In our team we discussed what the right set-up might be and finally made the perfect decision together. At the end of the race I got some oversteer, hence Nick caught me. I had to really fight to bring home this win.”
Nick Tandy (second): “Congratulations to Jaap. He was ultra-quick today. I only got the chance in the last laps to catch him. I was so fast at that point that I simply had to take my chances. It wasn’t good enough to win but at least I’m taking home many valuable points.”
Sean Edwards (third): “It was a difficult race for me. After losing the start to Nick I was able to maintain the pace. But then I made a mistake which badly wore my tyres. The duel with Jeroen was hefty, but fair.”
Race result
1. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Land Motorsport, 29:44.155 minutes (165.848 km/h)
2. Nick Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.788 seconds
3. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 6.272
4. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 7.114
5. Martin Ragginger (A), Schnabl Engineering, + 8.049
6. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive, + 9.215
7. Norbert Siedler (A), Aust Motorsport, + 12.231
8. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 14.372
Drivers’ classification after 3 of 9 races
1. Nick Tandy (GB), 54 points
2. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), 48
3. Sean Edwards (GB), 44
4. Jaap van Lagen (NL), 39
5. Uwe Alzen (D), 31
Team classification after 3 of 9 races
1. Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, 92 points
2. Konrad Motorsport, 69
3. Land Motorsport, 39
Round 4 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland takes place on 19 June on the Speedway Lausitz.
Public Relations and Media Motor and Sports Press Oliver Hilger
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