Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup got the season started at Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona in Spain.
A total of 30 cars started the race, in a good mix of new and old names.
The defending Champion Michael Ammermüller had taken Pole Position ahead of the new super star at Porsche, Julien Andlauer. Florian Latorre, teammate to Andlauer, had grabbed a surprising third position, ahead of the experienced drivers Jaap van Lagen, Nick Yelloly and Mattia Drudi.
Ammermüller got the best of starts, while Latorre really blew it. Jaap van Lagen was all the way up to P2 going out of the first sequence of corners.
Philipp Sager brought out the first Safety Car of the day, when he spun all by himself at the back of the field. He did eventually stay on the asphalt, but ended up digging the car into the gravel when he tried to recover.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
The green flag was soon out again. Nick Yelloly instantly started attacking Andlauer, but instead Drudi took his chance to pass Yelloly.
Drudi made a small mistake going onto the straight, so Yelloly, Dylan Pereira and Larry ten Voorde all went past him.
Ammermüller had things under control out front, but van Lagen wasn’t too far away.
Then the action really heated up again. Egidio Perfetti tried to overtake Mark Radcliffe. That didn’t really work, so Perfetti had to pull out of the manoeuvre and spun by himself in avoidance.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Zaid Ashkanani hit the tire barrier later on the same lap, in a fight with Thomas Preining. Ashkanani got a big push in the rear during breaking, which sent the car off, ending his race, and bringing out the Safety Car to get the car moved. The stewards gave Thomas Preining a drive-through penalty for the incident.
That left us with 5 laps of racing.
Mikkel O. Pedersen outbraked Al Faisal Al Zubair going into Turn 4 in a very nice move. That moved him up into 12th.
Michael Ammermüller crossed the line first, ahead of Jaap van Lagen and Dylan Pereira.
The next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will be run in 2 weeks’ time, when the series goes to the streets of Monaco.
