Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup delivered some good old-fashioned racing, when they were support series to the Formula 1 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Nick Yelloly had out-tricked the defending Champion Michael Ammermüller in the qualifying, grabbing first starting position from the German. Zaid Ashkanani started third ahead of Dylan Pereira.
Dane Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen had his best qualifying to date, starting 7th.
Pablo Otero had an accident during practice, and without his damaged car, we had 27 starts for the race.
Yelloly got the best start ahead of Ammermüller and Pereira. Pedersen made a fantastic move around the outside of Mattia Drudi going up towards the Casino Square, and thus made it into 6th.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Ashkanani lost a few spots on the third lap of the race, when Jaap van Lagen made an overtaking manouvre on him at the hotel hairpin. Mikkel O. Pedersen grabbed the opportunity, and followed the Dutchman past, making it into 5th.
While all that happened, Yelloly, Ammermüller and Pereira had got some air between the cars, while Pedersen was all over the back of van Lagen.
Magnus Öhman outbraked himself in Turn 1, but could rejoin the race again. The Swede was already towards the rear of the field, so he didn’t lose much.
Michael Ammermüller had managed to close down the gab to Yelloly, so the two were very close again.
Tom Sharp brushed the wall at Massenet, but managed to keep going to an opening in the Armco at the Casino Square, so we avoided a Safety Car period.
Yelloly was very close at losing the lead with 5 laps to go, when he brushed the Armco at the exit of the Swimming Pool complex, sending him over the curb on the outside, making him airborne and heading towards the outside Armco. Luckily he only brushed it gently, so he was able to keep the lead.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Gianmarco Quaresmini had a solo spin, but managed to get going after a bit of reversing and going forwards a few times. Thankfully there weren’t any cars near him, so he had plenty of time to do it.
Surprisingly we made it over the full 16 laps race distance in Monaco without any Safety Car, which is very abnormal for a race on the narrow street circuit.
Nick Yelloly kept the lead to the chequered flag ahead of Michael Ammermüller and Dylan Pereira, but he was under intensive pressure especially during the second half of race.
Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen made it home in 5th, right behind Jaap van Lagen. Well done by the young Dane. He has always been fast in Monaco – just has been unlucky the previous years.
Michael Ammermüller leads the Championship ahead of Nick Yelloly, Jaap van Lagen and Dylan Pereira, who all three have the same amount of points.
Mikkel O. Pedersen is currently 7th in the Championship, with just 4 points to the top 5.
Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has one month race break now until the third round of the year will be run at the Red Bull Ring on 1 July. But there is a two-day test at Silverstone prior to that in the middle of June.
