After a four-week break the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup roars back into action on 1st July. Travelling to the fifth round of the season on the 4.4 kilometre Grand Prix circuit of Magny-Cours (France) at the top the points is Richard Westbrook (Great Britain).
At first glance the track characteristics of the Circuit de Nevers seem unspectacular. Yet, the combination of eleven right-hand and six lift-hand corners make the track extremely demanding. “In Magny-Cours we drive the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with an extreme set-up like for instance with stiff anti-roll bars,” says Christian Menzel (Germany) who currently ranks eighth in the championship. “This set-up enables us very high cornering and maximum speeds.” At the same time, this puts heavy stresses on the rear tyres in particular. In France, one of the special challenges is handling the rapidly deteriorating tyres.
Adding extra suspense to the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, a fierce battle rages amongst the front-runners. With his victory at the third round in Barcelona the reigning champion Richard Westbrook took over the lead of the drivers classification. Second position in Monaco allowed the Briton to further increase his advantage. Currently, the 31-year-old holds first place with 70 points, followed closely by Damien Faulkner from Ireland in second (62 points).
The 30-year-old Irishman celebrated his only win of the season by now at the opening round in Bahrain. At the second race in the desert Kingdom he claimed third. Lying just eight points behind him Uwe Alzen (Germany) ranks third overall in the championship.
So far this year, the 39-year-old Porsche stalwart has netted one victory (round two in Bahrain), a second and a third placing.
Occupying fourth on the points table is quadruple Supercup champion (1997 to 2000) Patrick Huisman from the Netherlands (49 points). At the last two races the professional showed he was back in top form. In Monaco the 40-year-old secured second behind guest driver Jereon Bleekemolen (Netherlands) hence took home maximum points. In Spain he crossed the finish line in second. Alessandro Zampedri (Italy), winner of the 2005 Porsche Supercup, presently lies in fifth overall with 42 points.
Television station “Eurosport 2” broadcasts the championship round live on Sunday, 1 July, from 11.20 hours. Additionally, “Eurosport” shows highlights of the race on Sunday evening in its programme “Motorsports Weekend”.
Drivers standings after four rounds:
1. Richard Westbrook (Great Britain), 70 points
2. Damien Faulkner (Ireland), 62 points
3. Uwe Alzen (Germany), 54 points
4. Patrick Huisman (Netherlands), 46 points
5. Alessandro Zampedri (Italy), 42 points
6. David Saelens (Belgium), 37 points
7. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen (Netherlands), 35 points
8. Christian Menzel (Germany), 34 points
9. Nicolas Armindo (France), 28 points
10. Fabrice Walfisch (France), 27 points
