Race report for Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup round 1 at the Grand Prix of Bahrain

 

First win of the season goes to René Rast

The first winner in this year’s Porsche Mobil1 Supercup is René Rast from Germany. Competing for Al Faisal Lechner Racing, the vice-champion of 2009 claimed honours in a fiercely-contested season-opener with the new 911 GT3 Cup, and was handed the winner’s trophy from Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. Stefan Rosina (Lechner Racing) from Slovakia was awarded the trophy for second place by Wolfgang Dürheimer, Porsche Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development. Third place went to Jan Seyffarth (Germany) driving for VELTINS MRS Racing.

On the Bahrain International Circuit, pole-sitter René Rast edged clear of the field and controlled the race to the flag. Behind him, Stefan Rosina won the start sprint over Britain’s Nicholas Tandy (Konrad Motorsport) and caught the front-runner in the final laps to put him under pressure. Jan Seyffarth put in a spirited drive over many laps in a duel with the Dutch title defender Jeroen Bleekemolen (Al Faisal Lechner Racing), and after overtaking the double Supercup champion in a breathtaking manoeuvre Seyffarth then proceeded to pass the Supercup newcomer Nicholas Tandy.

With the 911 GT3 Cup fielded by SANITEC/GILTRAP Racing, Christian Engelhart (Germany) occupied sixth place behind Nicholas Tandy and Jeroen Bleekemolen. Driving for the new Abu Dhabi by tolimit squad, Sascha Maassen (Germany), who has won many long distance races as Porsche works driver, saw the flag in seventh. The Porsche specialist’s younger teammate Sean Edwards from Great Britain followed him over the finish line in eighth. Rounding of the top ten was Supercup winner of 2005, Alessandro Zampedri from Italy competing for Lechner Racing, and Robert Lukas (V Racing Team) from Poland.

Drivers’ comments

René Rast (winner): “I’m naturally very happy to win the season-opener. I got away very well at the start and could pull away somewhat in the first two laps. Towards the end things got tight again because I had several problems with the car. We’ll have to do something about this before tomorrow’s race, but we’re making good strides.”

Stefan Rosina (second): “Second place is a great success that the team deserves. We worked very hard for this having tested a great deal and heading into the season very well prepared. I hope this start gives us even more motivation for a successful year.”

Jan Seyffarth (third): “My start wasn’t too bad, but I still lost a position. Nevertheless, I managed to achieve third place and I’m very pleased with this result. I had a similar duel with Jeroen Bleekemolen here two years ago when I didn’t manage to pass him, this time it worked. I hope that’s a good omen for Sunday.”

Statistics

Race result
1. René Rast (GER), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, 25:52.419 minutes
2. Stefan Rosina (SVK), Lechner Racing, + 0.331 seconds
3. Jan Seyffarth (GER), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 2.536
4. Nicholas Tandy (GBR), Konrad Motorsport, + 4.623
5. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, + 7.788
6. Christian Engelhart (GER), SANITEC/GILTRAP Racing, + 12.089

Drivers’ classification after 1 of 10 rounds
1. René Rast (GER), 22 points
2. Stefan Rosina (SVK), 18
3. Jan Seyffarth (GER), 16
4. Nicholas Tandy (GBR), 14
5. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), 12
6. Christian Engelhart (GER), 10

Round 2 of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup takes place on 14th March also as support to the Bahrain Grand Prix.