Porsche Carrera Cup: Home victory for Bleekemolen, Tandy gives chase

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 2 in Zandvoort/Netherlands

Home victory for Bleekemolen, Tandy gives chase

Stuttgart. Round two of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland in Zandvoort delivered everything that makes racing gripping: a clear winner, non-stop two-way fights – and a spirited charge through the field like no other. Jeroen Bleekemolen (Deutsche Post by tolimit) from the Netherlands clinched a clear pole to flag home victory. Second by 3.3 seconds was former Porsche-Junior Martin Ragginger (Austria, Schnabl Engineering). But the ultimate hero after 19 laps on the 4.307 kilometre dune circuit was Nick Tandy. Taking off into the race from the very last spot on the grid, the Briton from Konrad Motorsport ploughed his way through to snatch third. With this, the winner of the season-opening race retains his points’ lead after the Zandvoort race.

For pole-sitter Bleekemolen, double Porsche Mobil1 Supercup champion, everything worked to his favour at his home race. After a rocket start, he won the sprint to the first corner and was away, with the rest of the field following along behind champion Nicolas Armindo (France) like beads on a necklace. The Hermes Attempto Racing pilot was not able to repeat his good qualifying result in the race, held on to second for a several laps, but was promptly overtaken, by one after the other, to be finally pushed into spin by a competitor. With this, last year’s champion has yet to earn points this season and is deeply disappointed. Martin Ragginger, however, was thrilled with his second place at his first race of the season, not least because the 23-year-old’s 911 had only been delivered to his team on the Wednesday prior to the race and was prepared just in time.

Celebrations as well in the Konrad camp – and all the more so because they hadn’t really expected to achieve third. Last year’s winner Nick Tandy secured the twelfth grid spot but was relegated to start from the back of the pack after ignoring a yellow flag during Friday’s practice. After a brilliant start and an equally brilliant first lap, the Briton had already passed six opponents to slot into position ten. On a track not known for its overtaking manoeuvres, the inspired Englishman worked his way through to third. He was only foiled in an attempt to nab Ragginger when he made a mistake in braking on his badly worn tyres.

Stefan Wendt (Attempto Racing) also had no answer to the Briton’s foray to the front. Yielding fourth, the young German narrowly missed out on clinching his first podium place in Germany’s fastest one-make race series. Sean Edwards (Britain, Deutsche Post by tolimit) was also not able to defend himself against his compatriot and finished fifth. Sixth went to Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (Land Motorsport), who last year secured second here in Zandvoort. Also the battle-tested and well-versed Uwe Alzen couldn’t hold off Tandy’s charge and only managed to claim seventh on one of his favourite race tracks. Finishing in eighth, ninth and tenth respectively were Denmark’s Nicki Thiim (Hermes Attempto Racing), Jan Seyffarth (Germany, SMS Seyffarth Motorsport) and Robert Lukas (Poland, Förch Racing).

Jeroen Bleekemolen (winner): “To win at home is perfect. The race was almost boring for me. I took off at the start and could extend my lead because the boys behind me were squabbling amongst themselves. I slowed the pace a little towards the end because I didn’t want to risk my win.”

Martin Ragginger (second): “A huge thank you to my team. They had only received the car on Wednesday evening and in that short time had managed to get it ready to race. Early on in the race I was held up a little by Armindo, and because of that I lost the chance to catch Jeroen later. But second is fantastic. Now I’m looking forward to my home race on the Red Bull Ring in three weeks.”

Nick Tandy (third): “What a great Sunday. My bad luck yesterday made today’s race great fun. We knew from free practice on Friday that my car was perfectly set-up and that made me very quick in Zandvoort. You might think I’m crazy, but this morning I thought to myself that second might be possible. I can’t count it as the best race of my life – I didn’t win.”


Race result
1. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, 33:04.431 min. (148,455 km/h)
2. Martin Ragginger (A), Schnabl Engineering, + 3.350 seconds
3. Nick Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 4.902
4. Stefan Wendt (D), Attempto Racing, + 6.176
5. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 10.486
6. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Land Motorsport, + 14.761
7. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive, + 16.479

Drivers’ classification after 2 of 9 races
1. Nick Tandy (GB), 36 points
2. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), 34 points
3. Sean Edwards (GB), 28 points
4. Uwe Alzen (D), 21 points
5. Jaap van Lagen (NL), 19 points

Team classification after 2 of 9 races
1. Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, 62 points
2. Konrad Motorsport, 47 points
3. Förch Racing, 32 points

Round three of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland takes place on 5 June on the new Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Public Relations and Media
Motor and Sports Press
Oliver Hilger

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 1 in Hockenheim

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 1 in Hockenheim

Nick Tandy’s gamble pays off to yield season-opening win

Stuttgart. A rain shower shortly before the start turned the season-opening race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland into a lottery. Britain’s Nick Tandy (Konrad Motorsport) played the right cards in the tyre poker, stayed on slicks – and like last year celebrated his first win of the season. Separated by 1.072 seconds, the reigning champion of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, René Rast (Germany, Förch Racing), saw the chequered flag on the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg in second. Third over the line after 18 laps was Sean Edwards (Great Britain, Team Deutsche Post by tolimit).

Lady Luck was not smiling on several prominent pilots. Pole-sitter Robert Renauer (Germany, Herberth Motorsport), title defender Nicolas Armindo (France) as well as his Danish teammate Nicki Thiim driving for the championship winning team from 2010, Hermes Attempto Racing, switched to wet tyres prior to the start only to fall back once the track started to dry.

Second qualifier, Nick Tandy, played all his cards right. The Briton virtually inherited the pole position because Renauer started the race from the pits after changing to rain tyres. Putting in a perfect start, Tandy then quickly pulled away while the rest of the field were busy fighting amongst themselves. The strategically clever runner-up from last year could increase his lead so much that his rivals René Rast and Sean Edwards were able to close the gap in the second half but had no chance of snatching the lead from the Briton.

Fourth at the flag after a turbulent race was Jeroen Bleekemolen from the Netherlands, who drives for the Team Deutsche Post by tolimit as Edwards’ teammate – and not only promptly lived up to his new team’s high expectations. Thanks to Edwards and Bleekemolen’s results this weekend, the squad occupies first place in the team classification. In the very final moment, double Supercup champion Bleekemolen had snatched position four off two-time Carrera Cup title winner Uwe Alzen. The German, who runs his own team ‘PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive’ this season, had to settle for fifth, just 0.2 seconds behind the Dutchman.

Sixth and seventh place went to Jan Seyffarth and Jaap van Lagen. The German (SMS Seyffarth Motorsport) and the Dutchman (Land Motorsport) delivered a spirited duel which saw Jaap van Lagen take a spectacular journey off the track but thanks to his ultra fast reflexes he brought his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup off the wet grass and back on to the track to finish the race.

Huge delight in the Förch Racing camp, not least due to the podium result of seasoned campaigner Rast, but also due to Robert Lukas. The 23-year-old Pole achieved a commendable eighth place under difficult track conditions. Even more astounding, however, is the performance of the pilots who finished ninth and tenth: Both the 21-year-old Swiss racer Philipp Frommenwiler (Attempto Racing) and the 19-year-old Austrian Johann Ledermair (Konrad Motorsport) are newcomers to Germany’s fastest brand trophy series. For these two, the top ten placing with the 450 hp Cup-Porsche on the slippery track signalises a truly impressive start to the season.

Nick Tandy (winner): “Under such conditions, the race was really difficult, but it was great fun for exactly this reason. I gave more than 100 percent, particularly in the first few laps in order to build up a decent gap. Around the mid-way point I slackened off the pace a little. And in the last laps René put the pressure on and came closer and closer. So I had to put my foot down again to bring home victory.”

René Rast (second): “It was a difficult race for me. Unfortunately, my start wasn’t the best and Uwe Alzen got past me. By the time I overtook him, Nick had already put a decent gap between us. Okay, I managed to reduce the gap but it wasn’t enough to win. Still, I’m happy with our start to the season with my Förch team.”

Sean Edwards (third): “What a race! Because I only started from 14th on the grid I lost a lot of time in the first half. I got caught up in duels between drivers who’d started on wet tyres and came from behind. I couldn’t regain that time again. But I’m happy with third place.”


Race result
1. Nick Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, 33:26.830 minutes (147,693 km/h)
2. René Rast (D), Förch Racing, + 1.072 seconds
3. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 5.752
4. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 8.492
5. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive, + 8.688
6. Jan Seyffarth (D), SMS Seyffarth Motorsport, + 13.890
7. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Land Motorsport, + 19.319
8. Robert Lukas (PL), Förch Racing, + 37.530
9. Philipp Frommenwiler (CH), Attempto Racing, + 58.844
10. Johann Ledermair (A), Konrad Motorsport, + 59.145

Drivers’ standings after 1 of 9 rounds
1. Nick Tandy (GB), 20 points
2. René Rast (D), 18 points
3. Sean Edwards (GB), 16 points
4. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), 14 points
5. Uwe Alzen (D), 12 points
6. Jan Seyffarth (D), 10 points
7. Jaap van Lagen (NL), 9 points

Team classification after 1 of 9 rounds
1. Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, 30 points
2. Konrad Motorsport, 26 points
3. Förch Racing, 26 points

Round 2 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland takes place on 15 May on the Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands.



Public Relations and Media
Motor and Sports Press
Oliver Hilger

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 1 in Hockenheim

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 1 in Hockenheim

First pole position goes to Robert Renauer

Stuttgart. A surprising start to the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland: After many changes at the top of the time charts, Robert Renauer snatched the first pole position of the new season in his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with 1:41.822 minutes. Driving for Herberth Motorsport, the German not only relegated last year’s pole-sitter, Nick Tandy (Great Britain), to the second grid by 0.247 seconds, but also many other former champions of Porsche one-make race series down the grid. Particularly disappointed was title defender Nicolas Armindo (France), who only qualified on ninth position due to a driving error.

This marks the second pole position for 26-year-old Robert Renauer, now in his seventh year of contesting Germany’s fastest brand trophy series. His first pole was in the 2009 season when Renauer was the fastest in qualifying in Barcelona but only saw the flag in second. Victory still eludes him. But when tomorrow’s race takes off at 10.20am for the sprint over 18 laps on the 4.574 kilometre Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg circuit, many race drivers will be determined to prevent his maiden win.

One is reigning vice-champion Tandy from Konrad Motorsport, who is eager to repeat his win from last year. Behind the five-time season winner of 2010, Carrera Cup returnee Nicki Thiim (Hermes Attempto Racing) made an impressive start to the season with third position. The 22-year-old Dane, son of former DTM champion Kurt Thiim, contested the 2009 Carrera Cup and achieved fifth overall at the end of that season. Taking up the season-opening race in fourth alongside Thiim is René Rast (Germany, Förch Racing). The 24-year-old was champion of the Carrera Cup in 2008 and last year celebrated his title win of the international Porsche Mobil1 Supercup.

The fifth spot on the grid went to 21-year-old Stefan Wendt. Driving for Attempto Racing, the German was the best newcomer in the 450 hp Cup-Porsche last year. As a highlight, he celebrated fifth at the race in Great Britain. Wendt shares the grid row with another Carrera Cup returnee, Jan Seyffarth (Germany, SMS Seyffarth Motorsport). The 24-year-old secured runner-up honours in the 2008 Carrera Cup and now heads into his fifth season after a year’s break.

The fourth grid row is occupied by two former Porsche brand trophy series champions. Jeroen Bleekemolen won the Supercup in 2008/2009, Uwe Alzen the Carrera Cup in 1992/2007 and the Supercup in 1994. Both the Dutchman, who joins the Deutsche Post by tolimit squad this season, and the German are tactically clever and very strong race drivers. Alzen has entered his own team for the first time under the name of ‘PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive’. Title defender Nicolas Armindo (Hermes Attempto Racing) and Austria’s Clemens Schmid (Herberth Motorsport) round off the top ten qualifiers.

Carrera Cup fans that cannot witness the race directly from the track can follow the action via live-streaming on the official Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland website (www.porsche.de/carreracup).

Robert Renauer (pole-sitter): “I’m pleased because that was the best lap I’ve even managed to do here in Hockenheim. Not one skid or slide in the slightest. The key to success was probably that I had a very fast guy in front of me – Nick Tandy. In each corner I could get a little closer to him under braking.”

Nick Tandy (2nd in qualifying): “I’m very surprised about Robert’s fantastic lap time, you can only congratulate him. But I’m still very pleased with my second grid spot and hope that I succeed in fighting for victory tomorrow.”
Nicki Thiim (3rd in qualifying): “It’s a very emotional moment for me to come back after a year and immediately achieve third in qualifying – that’s just amazing. I took the last corner too fast and ran a little wide, otherwise I could have perhaps set pole.”


Qualifying result:
1. Robert Renauer (D), Herberth Motorsport, 1:41.882 minutes
2. Nick Tandy (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.247 seconds
3. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 0.252
4. René Rast (D), Förch Racing, + 0.374
5. Stefan Wendt (D), Attempto Racing, + 0.403
6. Jan Seyffarth (D), SMS Seyffarth Motorsport, + 0.440
7. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 0.465
8. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive, + 0.551
9. Nicolas Armindo (F), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 0.586
10. Clemens Schmid (A), Herberth Motorsport, + 1.659



Public Relations and Media
Motor and Sports Press
Oliver Hilger

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 1 in Hockenheim

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, round 1 in Hockenheim

Grid line up with prominent names

Stuttgart. The Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland heads into an exciting year. The season opens on 1 May on the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg with a top-class starter field. Some of the prominent drivers with title aspirations are reigning champion Nicolas Armindo (France), Uwe Alzen (Germany), Jan Seyffarth (Germany) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands). Now entering its 22nd season, Germany’s fastest one-make race series will again feature the 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup - the strongest Cup-911 in history.

One of the keys to the success of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland is its mix of seasoned campaigners and talented youngsters. Nicolas Armindo is particularly eager to kick off the season in Hockenheim. “I’ve always very much enjoyed the Grand Prix circuit,” says the Frenchman, for who 2011 marks his seventh Carrera cup season. “After claiming the championship title here last year, my bond with this track has become even stronger.” The 29-year-old race professional from Alsace again joins forces with Hermes Attempto Racing, the team champions of 2010. His new teammate is 22-year-old Nicki Thiim (Denmark). The son of the former DTM star Kurt Thiim has already contested one season in the Porsche Carrera Cup in 2009.

Returning to contest the series is Carrera Cup veteran and arguably the most experienced Carrera Cup pilot, Uwe Alzen. The former DTM driver is a true all-rounder and has already taken home titles in both the Porsche Carrera Cup and the international Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. Alzen has also claimed many victories in endurance events. After securing third overall last year, the 43-year-old tackles this season with his own squad - PZ Aschaffenburg Uwe Alzen Automotive. The Deutsche Post by tolimit team has signed on a strong line-up this season, with Sean Edwards (Great Britain) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands). As double Supercup champion, the Dutchman returns to the Porsche Carrera Cup after a season’s break. In 2009, Bleekemolen clinched vice-championship honours. Another prominent returnee is Jan Seyffarth driving for his father’s squad, SMS Seyffarth Motorsport. At just 24-years, Seyffarth has already notched up five years of experience in this popular national series. His greatest achievement to date is the runner-up title of 2008. Joining him in the team is 22-year-old VW-Junior Kris Heidorn (Germany), who last year won the championship title of the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup.

As the season highlight, the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland contests the Porsche Carrera World Cup on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife on 25 June. At the greatest Porsche race in the world, which takes place just prior to the 24 hour classic, around 200 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup take on the challenge of the legendary Eifel circuit witnessed by more than 200,000 spectators. The Porsche Carrera World Cup counts as a championship round not only for the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup as the spearhead of Porsche’s 20 one-make race series worldwide, but also for the Porsche Carrera Cups Deutschland, France, Great Britain, Italy and Scandinavia.

Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland – 2011 calendar
Nine championship rounds make up this year’s calendar, seven of which take place on German race tracks with the two remaining rounds contested in other European countries.

01 May Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg
15 May Circuit Park Zandvoort, Netherlands
05 June Red-Bull-Ring Spielberg, Austria
19 June EuroSpeedway Lausitz
25 June Porsche Carrera World Cup, Nürburgring
03 July Norisring
07 August Nürburgring
18 September Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
23 October Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg

Public Relations and Media
Motor and Sports Press
Oliver Hilger