Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, race 9, Zandvoort/Netherlands
Thomas Preining (A/BWT Lechner Racing) continues his winning streak in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland: On the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands, the Porsche Junior clinched a lights-to-flag victory on Saturday ahead of local hero Jaap van Lagen (NL/Förch Racing). Third place went to Dylan Pereira (Lechner Racing) from Luxembourg. Of the nine races contested so far this season, Preining has won six of them. “Overtaking on this circuit is relatively difficult, so pole position was important. I won the sprint to the first corner and afterwards I was really fast. It’s my maiden win at Zandvoort and I’m really thrilled about that,” said Preining.
A 29-strong field took up the race on the circuit on the Dutch North Sea coast. Preining made a clean start off the line with his 485 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, which enabled him to defend his lead. Lap by lap, the youngster from Austria pulled clear of his rivals. By the time the safety car was deployed in lap seven, Preining had eked out a 3.2-second advantage. After the restart, a collision amongst several vehicles resulted in the race being red-flagged. Due to the extensive clean-up of the dune circuit, the race could not be continued. Thus, Preining was classified as the winner. Because less than 50 percent of the scheduled race distance had been covered at the time of the race cancellation, the drivers received no points towards the championship. Behind the Austrian, Pereira took up the race from second on the grid but the 21-year-old immediately came under pressure from van Lagen. Starting from third, the seasoned Porsche specialist overtook Pereira in the Gerlachbocht right-hander on lap two. “I was determined to put pressure on Dylan Pereira right from the start and that worked well. At the restart I was catching up to Thomas Preining but unfortunately the race was then cancelled,” said van Lagen.
This is Pereira’s third podium result so far this season, making the driver from Schouweiler (Luxembourg) the best rookie. “Jaap van Lagen passed me on the outside and so he was on the inside at the next corner. Although we don’t receive any points, third place is a good result and it gives me a lot of confidence heading into Sunday’s race,” said Pereira. Fourth place went to Michael Ammermüller (BWT Lechner Racing) from Germany. The 32-year-old took up the race from fifth on the grid and managed to snatch one position in the first lap. Ayhancan Güven (MSG/HRT Motorsport) from Turkey finished on fifth.
Sixth place on the 4.307-kilometre racetrack was occupied by Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (Lechner Racing). Igor Walilko (Raceunion) from Poland scored seventh place ahead of his Swedish teammate Henric Skoog. In front of his home crowd, Larry ten Voorde (Team Deutsche Post by Project 1) from the Dutch town of Boekelo started from tenth on the grid and managed to overtake a rival. Tenth place went to Robert Lukas (PL/Förch Racing). The best driver in the amateur class was Carlos Rivas (L/Black Falcon Team TMD Friction) ahead of Jörn Schmidt-Staade (D/Cito Pretiosa). Stefan Rehkopf (Cito Pretiosa) from Germany rounded off the podium for amateur drivers.
With no points awarded for round nine of the series, the championship standings remain unchanged: Preining leads with 159 points ahead of Ammermüller. Although the two Lechner drivers are tied for points, the junior driver has four victories more than Ammermüller under his belt. Third in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland is occupied by 21-year-old ten Voorde with 106 points. Leading the rookie class is Pereira with 134 points. With 172 points, Schmidt-Staade is the leader of the amateur classification.
Race results on next page
