The decision in the fight for the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup championship is still open. Damien Faulkner from Ireland won the penultimate round of the world’s fastest international one-make race series in Monza, Italy, ahead of reigning Supercup champion Richard Westbrook (Great Britain). In the overall classification, the 32-year-old Briton leads with a ten-point advantage over Faulkner in second.
The manoeuvre that clinched the second victory for the Irishman came in the ninth lap, when he overtook the leading Uwe Alzen (Germany). The 40-year-old Porsche specialist from Germany had taken up the race from position two on the grid and had managed to overtake Faulkner already immediately after the start. In Faulkner’s slipstream, Westbrook also used the chance to slip past the 1994 Supercup champion, Alzen. Unlike the Irishman who was able to quickly pull away, Alzen stayed close behind Westbrook. In the final laps the lead position changed many times between the two pilots before the Brit could cross the finish line in second ahead of Uwe Alzen.
Belgium’s David Saelens saw the chequered flag in fourth, followed closely by Christian Menzel (Germany) and UPS Junior Lance David Arnold (Germany) in positions five and six respectively. Arnold’s Austrian team mate Martin Ragginger finished the 13-lap race in seventh ahead of Marc Basseng from Germany.
The decision for the 2007 title must now wait until the finale this coming weekend on the Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps (16th September). Should Faulkner win the race and earn 20 points, the leading Richard Westbrook must then finish in the top six (ten points) in order to claim the 2007 trophy. Should Westbrook finish ahead of Faulkner, the 32-year-old Briton secures the title for the second time in succession.
Damien Faulkner (winner): ”What a fantastic race. We have waited a long time for this victory. And we’ve all worked really hard this season. I reckon we have earned this result. Unfortunately for us Richard had a good day today. Heading to the season final we sit ten points behind him. It’s going to be tough but we just have to concentrate on doing our best. The final round will be exciting.”
Richard Westbrook (second): “I’m really honoured to have been a part of this race. It was a classic. We experienced a few minor problems, otherwise we could have done better. But it doesn’t matter! I had a brilliant time today, it was great fun. Damien and Uwe were incredibly tough opponents, tough but fair. This race just underlines how good and exciting this championship is.”
Uwe Alzen (third): “That was a super and fair race. The duel with Richard was awesome, but incredibly exhausting. I’m happy with my result today.”
Race result:
1. Damien Faulkner (IR), Lechner Racing Team Bahrain, 26:39.887 minutes (181.796 kph)
2. Richard Westbrook (GB), HISAQ® Competition, 4.056 seconds behind
3. Uwe Alzen (D), SPS performance, 4.499
4. David Saelens (B), Team IRWIN SAS, 4.886
5. Christian Menzel (D), tolimit, 5.307
6. Lance D. Arnold (D), UPS Porsche Junior Team, 5.936
7. Martin Ragginger (A), UPS Porsche Junior Team, 8.515
8. Marc Basseng (D), HISAQ® Competition, 10.854
9. Richard Williams (GB), Racing Team Indonesia PZ Essen RA Beheer, 11.255
10. Marc Hynes (GB), Team IRWIN SAS, 12.699
11. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Bleekemolen Race Planet PZ Essen, 12.880
12. Patrick Huisman (NL), Konrad Motorsport, 17.900
13. Jiri Janak (CZ), Schnbal Enigneering-LKM-Team Jebsen, 21.907
14. Andrea Sonvico (I), Konrad Motorsport, 34.107
15. Paul van Splunteren (NL), HSF/Porsche Centrum Eindhoven, 36.861
16. Mikael Forsten (FI), Konrad Motorsport, 40.494
17. William Langhorne (USA), MRS-Team PZ Aschaffenburg, 40.849
18. Simon Frederiks (NL), HSF/Porsche Centrum Eindhoven, 41.887
19. Nicolas Armindo (F), tolimit, 60.885
20. Maher Algadri (RI), Golden Spike Pertamina Indonesia RT PZE, 87.792
21. Andzej Dzikevic (LT), SPS performance, 1 lap
Not classified:
Darryl O’Young (HK), Schnabl Engineering-LKM-Team Jebsen, DNF
Alessandro Zampedri (I), Lechner Racing Team Bahrain, DNF
Phil Quaife (GB), Racing Team Indonesia PZ Essen RA Beheer, DNF
Stefan Rosina (SK), Lechner Racing School Team, DNF
Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Golden Spike Pertamina Indonesia RT PZE, DNF
Olivier Maximin (F), MRS-Team PZ Aschaffenburg, DNF
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen (NL), Bleekemolen Race Planet PZ Essen, DNF
Fastest lap:
Stefan Rosina, 1:53.016min = 184.529kph on lap 6