Kévin Estre celebrated his first win in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland series in an impressive manner. The Frenchman driving for Hermes Attempto Racing crossed the finish line with an 8.784-second advantage on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. Second went to two-time winner this season Sean Edwards (Great Britain, Team Deutsche Post by tolimit) ahead of his teammate René Rast (Germany).
“The race was really tough." said Estre, "After a good start I had almost moved into first place by the second corner, but Philipp Eng closed the door. I knew if I wanted to win this race then I had to get past him straight away and build a gap between me and the others. Overtaking Eng was tough but fair. Then I pushed hard. Later, Nicki caught up and at the flag he was almost on me. The last couple of kilometers were crazy, because I had to overtake around 20 Clios and went totally into the greens. It’s fantastic to have won my first Carrera Cup race of all places on the Nordschleife. I’m absolutely over the moon.”
Estre did not come to the all-Porsche series as a dark horse. The 23-year-old is not only the reigning champion of the French Carrera Cup, but he underlined his extraordinary driving talent last year as a newcomer to the international Porsche Mobil1 Supercup and took home the Rookie of the Year title.
On the 25.378 kilometer combination of the Grand Prix circuit and the legendary Nordschleife, Este headed into the race from fifth position. With a solid start followed by a bold overtaking maneuver past pole-setter Philipp Eng (Austria, MRS GT-Racing), Estre settled in at the front of the field even before the other 24 drivers had reached the Nordschleife. The rookie then proceeded to drive a faultless race to take the checkered flag.
Behind the Frenchman, round five of the season delivered dramatic fights and aggressive overtaking maneuvers. Early on in the race, second-placed Sean Edwards had fallen back to fourth. At first he couldn't find a way around Philipp Eng. Only towards mid-race could Edwards squeeze past Eng, but by that time Estre and Thiim were long gone. Near the flag, second place practically fell into Edwards’s lap. Nicki Thiim made a misjudgment when attempting to lap a Renault Clio. The cars touched, Thiim went off the track with two wheels and damaged a tire.
Profiting from Thiim’s misfortune was seasoned campaigner René Rast. The winner from last year took up the race from only tenth place, but utilized his vast experience over the course of the race. Particularly striking, in the penultimate race lap, the double Supercup champion overtook three competitors entering and exiting the finish straight. The experienced Norbert Siedler (Austria, Konrad Motorsport), who secured pole position and second in the race here last year, brought home his best result of far of this season with fourth place. Jaap van Lagen (Netherlands, FE Racing by Land-Motorsport) underlined his consistent form with another top-five result.
On sixth place came a somewhat disappointed Philipp Eng. At just his sixth Carrera Cup race and his first on the tricky Nordschleife, the surprise pole-sitter from Austria had to learn the hard way. Seventh went to the ex-Formula 1 test driver Michael Ammermüller (Germany, SWITCH IT Lechner Racing) ahead of eighth-placed Nicki Thiim.
Achieving ninth position, Porsche Junior Michael Christensen gave a fine performance of his driving talent and ability to learn. Driving for Konrad Motorsport, the Dane was just 16th in the starting order, but quickly gained several places. Christensen had also overtaken the second Porsche Junior Klaus Bachler (Team Deutsche Post by tolimit) when the Austrian tried to reclaim his position. Their two cars touched, Bachler slid spectacularly onto the grass. Although he managed to rejoin the race, his 911 lost the front lip in the collision. At the flag he secured 14th – and earned some more crucial points.
没有评论:
发表评论