Porsche Supercup 2008 - Races 3 # Barcelona

Damien Faulkner was the fastest in the free practice session for the 3. round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Barcelona. The Lechner pilot laps the 4.627 kilometres long track in 1:51.134 minutes. Rene Rast and Jeroen Bleekemolen finished second and third. All four Lechner cars in the Top-6 positions.

Strong performance - Watts on P2

'That's what we expected", team manager Walter Lechner says self-assured about the strong performance of his four cars. '"We have tested here. Faulkner is generally fast, Rosina loves fast corners, for Zampedri it's the favourite circuit and all of that finally helped Danny Watts – if it all fits together, you will have such a good result". And this result at the end of the 45 minutes session shows a 1:51.134 for the fastest driver, Damien Faulkner. "This was a good and productive day; we can hopefully confirm this in the Qualifying tomorrow. We had a good plan and could consistently realize it. I have simulated a qualifying today and I even could have been faster, but I simply lost a little time due to the traffic I had in one of the sectors." Nevertheless, the Irishman ended up with a lead of of more than 4/10 of a second on his team-mate Danny Watts.

The Rookie, who comes from the British Carrera Cup, once more delivered a strong performance and ended up on second rank. "That was quite good, wasn't it", he says. "I simulated a long run and I am very satisfied with the result. We have been able to do a good job", says Watts, who gives his debut on the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend. About 2/10 behind the newcomer with the MRS-pilot René Rast another rookie follows on third position. "The session was very chaotic, with many yellow flags at the end, because of the noumerous cars that ended up in the gravel trap", he draws a first balance. "With new tyres I stuck in the traffic, otherwise a better time would have been possible. However, at least the gap of 4/10 of a second to the leader is a bit to much."

With Jeroen Bleekemolen the leader in the driver standings of the Supercup finished fourth. "I have made a small mistake", he admits self-critically leaning against his dusty car in the paddock. "I had to go to the limit and even a little beyond. The Lechner team has tested here, that's why they have been so strong today, but we will close the gap tomorrow."

With Alessandro Zampedri and Stefan Rosina behind the wheel, the Lechner cars three and four are following on positions five and six. 'Finally we got rid of the engine problems we had in Bahrain. The car is really good", Zampedri prays his team. With Nicolas Armindo, Chris Mamerow, Martin Ragginger and Patrick Huisman the Top-10 of the 29 cars at the start in Barcelona completes. 'I was a lucky guy", Chris Mamerow takes a deep breath. 'In one of the breaking zones I stuck in full throttle and just managed to switch off the ignition, what helped me to stop the car just before it hit the barriers."

The Qualifying of the 3rd round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will take place on Suturday from 12.25pm to 13.10pm.

Click to expand...

Qualifying Barcelona - First Pole for Seyffarth
26.04.2008

Jan Seyffarth fetches the pole position for the third round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Barcelona. For the Konrad pilot it was the first pole in the Porsche brands cups. Very close competition – 20 cars within one second. Huisman's pole time from last years race was undercut by almost half a second.

The qualifying is just six minutes old just when the language at the top of the list is mainly German. René Rast with a 1:50.605 minutes laps makes clear – as he did in Bahrain - that he belongs to the best qualifiers of the Supercup. "Fifth rank was all I could do ", he says. "I drove my fastest lap with the first set of tyres, although I made a small mistake in the first corner. Later in the session I spun. Somehow it didn't work out for me; the first row was possible." After 45 minutes the man who claimed both poles in Bahrain finishes fifth wit a gap of 4/10 of a second on the fastest.

Rast's best time only remained for 90 seconds, when the astonished looks of the observers really rest on the screens. Jan Seyffarth drives a 1:50.190 min lap and with that is almost half a second faster than the rest of the world. "It is the best day of my motorsports career", the man from the German Querfurt rejoiced, when he brought back the car to the technical inspection. "Just enough to be in the lead, a perfect job and not at least my best qualifying result in the Porsche brands cups. I always knew that I can do it and today I could prove it for the first time." It's his first pole position since his double pole in the Formula 3 series at the Dutch Assen in 2005.

It is the day of the double starters; it is the session of the drivers who sit behind the wheel of the 420 hp strong Porsche in both, the Supercup and the German Carrera Cup weekend for weekend. After Rast and Seyffarth the Austrian Ragginger on his brown/golden UPS Porsche of the Junior team is in the focus of attention. With a gap of 63/1000 seconds he is heading for his best qualifying result in the Porsche brands cups. "Thanks for the congratulations", he says to all the guys who pat him on the back. "The car was really perfect. All I need now is a good start into the race. It will be necessary to keep cool and calm to have a good race tomorrow."

Behind Jan Seyffarth and Martin Ragginger with Jeroen Bleekemolen another double starter finishes third in front of the Brit Danny Watts who is on fourth rank, being the best of the Lechner drivers, who all where so strong on Friday. 'I made a bad job with my first set of tyres. However, with the second set it went better and I am satisfied", he says. 'The car was well prepared for a top time, the blame is on me." Also Jeroen Bleekemolen is satisfied after the session. "It was not a perfect lap, because at the beginning I had a small problem with the brakes. I could save a fresh set of tyres for the race and that's why I look forward to the race tomorrow."

Behind Watts and Rast on rank four and five, with Chris Mamerow, Nicolas Armindo, Stefan Rosina, Norbert Siedler and Alex Zampedri the Top 10 completes.

Completely out of the top positions is Uwe Alzen driving the SPS-Porsche. With a gap of about 1,2 seconds the reigning champion of the German Carrera Cup only finished the session on rank nineteen. With track temperatures of about 40° Centigrade the establishment of the championship droped back in the list. Beside Alzen it are primarily Alessandro Zampedri (P10), the fourfold titleholder Patrick Huisman (P 11) and the last year's runner-up Damien Faulkner (P 12), who missed a top position, while newcomer Norbert Siedler with rank nine claims his first top-10 position. 'I worked intensive with the Porsche and learned some things from Rene Rast. Now it all gets better for me."

The 3rd round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup with a distance of 14 laps will be started on Sunday at 11.45am. Premiere and Eurosport will provide you with a live coverage of the action in Barcelona.

Click to expand...

Jan Seyffarth claims his first victory
27.04.2008

With a sovereign start and finish win Konrad Motorsport pilot Jan Seyffarth takes the victory in the third round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Barcelona. Positions two and three went to Jeroen Bleekemolen and Martin Ragginger. Bleekemolen extends his championship lead.


"I said it already yesterday – I know how to do it, and today I proved that I am able to do it", Jan Seyffarth shines with a proper portion of self-confidence. "The knot has finally burst. It was a perfect weekend and we will continue with our attack now", the German from Querfurt rejoices after his first victory in the Supercup and in the Porsche brand cups. His splendid start already brought a small preliminary decision. "My start was simply superb." Unlike the one of UPS Porsche junior Martin Ragginger, who for the first time in his Porsche career started from the first row of the grid.

With too much wheelspin and smoking tyres the 20-year-old Austrian already lost two positions on Jeroen Bleekemolen and René Rast before he entered the first corner. 'My start was really poor", he admits. "If it would go after the highest revs and the wildest wheel spin, I would have won by far." After that, the day of hard work started for the Porsche junior. With small steps he closed the gap again, passed with a superb manoeuvre René Rast in lap nine, and drives towards his first podium finish in the Porsche brands cups.

"My car got dramatically worse", his opponent Rast explains. "I couldn't defend my position any longer, and couldn't attack any more, so I had to let go Ragginger since he does not get any points as a guest driver. My top goal was to fetch points for the championship." In the course of the race he lost further ground but managed to finish fifth after the race distance of 65 kilometres. Just behind tolimit driver Nicolas Armindo, who ended up fourth. 'I am satisfied", the Frenchman says, 'Our progress is very good and we are able to proof that we are close to the front runners."

Danny Watts and Stefan Rosina from the Lechner team followed behind. "I messed up my start completely and this has cost me a good result, because the car was perfect", Watts admits.

After the youth has fetched the first seven ranks of the race, the old hands of the championship delivered a sportful hustle about the places eight to ten.

The actors are Patrick Huisman, Damien Faulkner and Uwe Alzen, who all together are having more than twenty years of experience. 'Not a bad race for such a disastrous weekend", Alzen summarizes briefly. 'Never before I had a collision in which the setup of the car completely changed bad. I am really looking forward to get my plane back home now."

In the driver standings of the championship, leader Jeroen Bleekemolen (54 points) and the second ranking Jan Seyffarth (50 Pkt.) could lay a small gap to the followers, taking profit of the poor results of Damien Faulkner, Uwe Alzen and Chris Mamerow, who ended up in the gravel trap. "That's my personal curse of Barcelona ", he laughs. "It looks as if I neither in the Carrera Cup nor in the Porsche Supercup succeed in Barcelona. The throttle stuck again and I had to use the emergency exit. At least I know the marshals around the circuit now."'

The next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will be delivered in Istanbul (TUR) on May, 11th.

Click to expand...

Race results Porsche Supercup Barcelona 27.04.2008
Pos. Car no. Driver / Competitor Laps Time Gap km/h Fastest lap
1 23 GER Seyffarth, Jan Konrad Motorsport 14 26:16.910 + 0:00.000 147.885 1:51.689
2 10 NED Bleekemolen, Jeroen Jetstream Motorsport 14 26:19.633 + 0:02.723 147.630 1:51.530
3 28 AUT Ragginger, Martin UPS Porsche Junior Team 14 26:24.833 + 0:07.923 147.145 1:51.994
4 3 FRA Armindo, Nicolas tolimit 14 26:26.388 + 0:09.478 147.001 1:52.062
5 14 GER Rast, René VELTINS MRS Racing 14 26:29.492 + 0:12.582 146.714 1:51.695
6 21 GBR Watts, Danny SAS-Lechner Racing 14 26:29.872 + 0:12.962 146.679 1:52.003
7 2 SVK Rosina, Stefan Lechner Racing Bahrain 14 26:31.249 + 0:14.339 146.552 1:52.345
8 27 NED Huisman, Patrick IRWIN Racing 14 26:32.521 + 0:15.611 146.435 1:52.390
9 20 IRL Faulkner, Damien SAS-Lechner Racing 14 26:33.123 + 0:16.213 146.380 1:52.298
10 5 GER Alzen, Uwe SPS automotive-performance 14 26:34.249 + 0:17.339 146.276 1:51.958
11 25 NED van Lagen, Jaap DAMAC Kadach Racing 14 26:34.512 + 0:17.602 146.252 1:52.391
12 22 GBR Edwards, Sean Konrad Motorsport 14 26:35.504 + 0:18.594 146.161 1:51.762
13 7 NED Bleekemolen, Sebastiaan Bleekemolen Race Planet 14 26:41.848 + 0:24.938 145.582 1:52.586
14 17 CZE Janak, Jiri Schnabl Engineering 14 26:42.159 + 0:25.249 145.554 1:52.392
15 29 GER Holzer, Marco UPS Porsche Junior Team 14 26:42.311 + 0:25.401 145.540 1:52.824
16 4 SWE Mangs, Jocke tolimit 14 26:43.831 + 0:26.921 145.402 1:53.125
17 12 NED Verschuur, Mike Racing Team Jetstream 14 26:44.219 + 0:27.309 145.367 1:53.114
18 16 HKG O'Young, Darryl Schnabl Engineering 14 26:44.903 + 0:27.993 145.305 1:53.078
19 9 ESP Guerrero, Lucas Jetstream Motorsport 14 26:45.477 + 0:28.567 145.253 1:53.017
20 11 POR Petiz, Pedro Racing Team Jetstream 14 26:46.071 + 0:29.161 145.200 1:52.269
21 8 NED Buijs, Ti Bleekemolen Race Planet 14 26:47.073 + 0:30.163 145.109 1:53.350
22 19 NED van Splunteren, Paul HSF Porsche Eindhoven 14 26:51.619 + 0:34.709 144.700 1:53.649
23 18 NED Frederiks, Simon HSF Porsche Eindhoven 14 26:54.907 + 0:37.997 144.405 1:53.327
24 40 POR Coimbra, António Porsche AG 14 28:00.079 + 1:43.169 138.803 1:56.864
25 6 LIT Dagilis, Nemunas SPS automotive-performance 14 28:01.016 + 1:44.106 138.726 1:57.213
26 26 BEL Saelens, David IRWIN Racing 14 28:01.871 + 1:44.961 138.656 1:52.049
1 ITA Zampedri, Alessandro Lechner Racing Bahrain 10 n/a. + n/a n/a n/a
24 GER Mamerow, Chris DAMAC Kadach Racing 5 n/a. + n/a n/a n/a
15 AUT Siedler, Norbert VELTINS MRS Racing 0 n/a. + n/a n/a n/a

Click to expand...