The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup had gone to Silverstone in Great Britain, for the fourth round of the 2019 season.
Ayhancan Güven had taken his maiden Pole Position in PMSC, ahead of Florian Latorre, Jaxon Evans, Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen, Larry Ten Voorde and Julien Andlauer. Those 6 drivers had swapped and changed at the top in the qualifying session, where the very final lap had counted towards the starting positions.
Championship leader Michael Ammermüller was all the way back in 9th, so Andlauer and Pedersen had plenty of chances to gain on the defending champion in the standings. Top 18 in qualifying had been separated by less than 0,9 of second, so even the slightest mistake would cost several positions.
Despite black drifting clouds, it was all dry tarmac for the 32 cars on the grid. The big number of cars also resulted in the final few rows having to start halfway around the final corner
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Güven got off to the best start, but Evans made it into second prior to the first corner. Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen tried to attack third position, but ended up losing a spot to Andlauer one corner later.
Kantadhe Kusiri had a solospin in the midfield, but thankfully wasn’t hit by anybody else.
Joey Mawson was kicking up a bit of dirt, but got back on track without losing a spot.
Ammermüller had only won a single position during the first two laps of the race, which meant that Andlauer was potentially heading towards the championship lead.
Latorre managed to overtake Evans around the outside of the ultra fast Copse corner, and then started hunting Güven down.
Evans was the slower of the top cars, so it didn’t last long before Andlauer made his way past too. Then it was ten Voorde putting the New Zealander under pressure.
Guest starter Ewan Taylor had a solo spin, but without any drama other than lost time.
Ammermüller in the pink Porsche made an aggressive move on Mikkel O. Pedersen, and with a bit of a bump, he made it past the Dane, that now had dropped back to P7.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Tio Ellinas, George Gamble and Dylan Pereira had a fight for 12th, which Ellinas won. The three cars used all the tarmac, and even some of the run-off area, in typical Carrera Cup style. The stewards had a second thought about that, and gave Ellinas a 3-second time penalty for having gained a position outside the track limits.
Ten Voorde also made it past Evens, but had lost so much time in that battle, that he had three seconds up to the first three cars.
Joey Mawson dived on the inside of Jaxon Evans, but couldn’t keep the car pointing in the right direction, spinning and losing 5 positions before he was running again.
Andlauer made a great overtake around the outside of Latorre, at the end of the Wellington Straight.
Jaap van Lagen got under a lot of pressure from Mawson in their fight for 9th, but the experienced Dutch driver managed to fend of his much younger competitor for now.
The weather added a bit of excitement with three laps to go, sending a small drizzle over some of the corners. It wasn’t enough to make the asphalt slick, but enough to make the drivers a bit unsure about the grip.
Jaan van Lagen put Daniel Harper under a lot of stress, giving him a small nudge on the rear bumper, while Mawson actually ended up hitting the rear of van Lagen, just a few corners later. All three drivers resumed in the same positions.
Ellinas tried to make it past Al Faisal Al Zubair, but ended up losing a spot to Dylan Pereira instead.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
The rain slowly got heavier, making it very tough for the drivers througout the entire field.
Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer tried a very bold move around the outside of Pereira, but ended up getting airborne, when he hit a curb – and lost three positions as a result of that.
Ayhancan Güven kept a cool head, and crossed the finishing line as the winner, half a second ahead of Julien Andlauer, while the pair had five seconds down to Florian Latorre. This was the maiden victory for Güven in just his fourth PMSC race!
Larry ten Voorde, Jaxon Evans, Michael Ammermüller, Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen, Daniel Harper, Joey Mawson and Jaap van Lagen completed top 10.
Julien Andlauer is the new Championship leader, ahead of Michael Ammermüller, while Ayhancan Güven moved up to third. Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen and Florian Latorre are joined fourth in the standings.
Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is back again in just two weeks’ time, when the series visit their home track, at the Hockenheimring in Germany.
