Nicki Thiim secures his second pole position of the season
Stuttgart. It was only at the penultimate round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland that a driver succeeded in snatching pole position for the second time. Denmark’s Nicki Thiim (Hermes Attempto Racing) topped the time sheet on the 3.696 kilometre Motorsport Arena Oschersleben with a lap time of 1:30.134 minutes. In June, the son of former DTM champion Kurt Thiim was fastest in qualifying on the Lausitzring with the 450 hp 911 GT3 Cup – and promptly turned it into his first victory in Germany’s fastest one-make series.
Heading into the eighth of nine rounds, Nicki Thiim ranks fifth in the drivers’ standings, 33 points shy of leader Nick Tandy. The Konrad Motorsport pilot takes up tomorrow’s 22-lap sprint at 11.25 hours alongside the Dane from the first row. This gives the Briton better prospects in the bid for the title over his sole remaining rival and compatriot Sean Edward (Team Deutsche Post by tolimit), who starts from fourth. Both Tandy and Edwards held the preliminary pole during the ten final minutes of the qualifying but finally had to relinquish the best grid spot to Thiim. While Tandy already has two wins to his credit (Hockenheim, Nürburgring) heading to the finale, Edwards was successful just once on the Norisring. For him, the Oschersleben round is decisive: Should Tandy earn 17 more points he becomes the new champion.
René Rast (Germany), the current leader of the international Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, could tip the scales between the two title aspirants, taking up the race from third. Priority for the reigning champion of the Supercup, however, is to bring home a good one-off race result in the German brand trophy series. Ranking seventh in the drivers’ championship, he has no chance to fight for the title.
Another driver waiting for a top result this season is the reigning champion of the Carrera Cup, Nicolas Armindo, who starts from fifth. Driving for Hermes Attempto Racing, the Frenchman has experienced a difficult year. His best result to now is fourth at the Porsche Carrera World Cup on the Nürburgring. In the points he currently ranks 14th. Christian Engelhart takes up the sprint from sixth place alongside Armindo. Making a guest appearance for Konrad Motorsport in Oschersleben, the German has earned one race victory in the Supercup this year.
Occupying the fourth grid row is Jan Seyffarth (Germany, SMS Seyffarth Motorsport) in seventh and his compatriot Robert Renauer on eighth. Renauer took off into the season well with pole position at the first round in Hockenheim for his Herberth Motorsport team but didn’t contest all races this year. In Oschersleben, the German steps in for Zandvoort winner Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) to drive the Team Deutsche Post by tolimit Porsche. The Dutchman contests a race in the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca this weekend, where he secured pole position in the GTC class at the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Clemens Schmid (Austria, Herberth Motorsport) and Spielberg winner Jaap van Lagen (Netherlands, Land Motorsport) round off the top ten starters.
Nicki Thiim (pole-sitter): “I’m over the moon to have clinched pole in this very competitive starter field for the second time this year. For me as a Dane, Oschersleben is virtually a home race because we have many guests from Denmark here. A second victory in the Carrera Cup would be a dream result.”
Nick Tandy (second in qualifying): “I’m very pleased with my grid spot. The main thing is that I’m in front of Sean. Now I just have to get a clean start to avoid problems in the first corner which is very tight. My 911 is handling very well, but I made a couple of minor errors on my fastest lap so there is still some work ahead of me!”
René Rast (third in qualifying): “Perhaps I can profit from standing between the two title aspirants, because neither are going to take any risks. Of course I will respect that they are fighting for the championship but I’m not about to make things easy for them either.”
The race is broadcast live on the official website of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland from 11.20 hours on Sunday (www.porsche.de/carreracup). On 23 September, TV station Sport1 televises a race recap, interviews and reports from 17.05 to 17.35 hours in the ‘Carrera Cup Magazin’.
Qualifying result:
1. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing, 1:30.134 minutes
2. Nick Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.051 seconds
3. René Rast (D), Förch Racing, + 0.063
4. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 0.267
5. Nicolas Armindo (F), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 0.302
6. Christian Engelhart (D), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.373
7. Jan Seyffarth (D), SMS Seyffarth Motorsport, + 0.466
8. Robert Renauer (D), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 0.530
9. Clemens Schmid (A), Herberth Motorsport, + 0.552
10. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Land Motorsport, + 0.623
Porsche Motorsport.
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