The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2019 season got off to a start at Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.
Julien Andlauer had grabbed his first Pole Position in PMSC ahead of a new name, Ayhancan Güven. Güven is the defending Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux Champion. The double defending PMSC Championship Michael Ammermüller started third, while Tio Ellinas started P4.
Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen had secured fifth starting position, right ahead of one of his worst enemies from 2018, Jaap van Lagen.
Güven pushed really hard towards Turn 1, and tried to outbrake and overtake Andlauer around the outside – without luck.
Pedersen made his way into 4th, when he managed to outbrake Ellinas, who also lost a position to van Lagen later in the lap.
Mikkel O. was right on the rear bumper of Ammermüller, but couldn’t get past the pink Porsche.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Dylan Pereira had a wild ride through the gravel, at the start of the second lap, but got the car back on track. In his effort to regain the lost ground, he spun in the ultra fast Turn 9, and dropped far back in the field.
Van Lagen started knocking on the door by Pedersen, so the Dane wasn’t able to focus on attacking only, but had to keep an eye in his mirrors too.
Michael Verhagen had a solo spin on Lap 4 of the race, and when Clement Mateu tried to dodge him in the fast Turn 3, Mateu ended up getting stuck in the gravel. That resulted in a Safety Car period, so his car could be removed.
That took a couple of laps, before the race went green again.
Even though Ammermüller tried over and over again to pass Güven, he didn’t manage to do so. Instead the field started to bottle up behind Güven, which also put Pedersen under pressure from Tio Ellinas, who once again had passed van Lagen.
Photo: Porsche Motorsport
Ellinas was oh-so-close at getting past on the third final lap, after Pedersen made a small mistake under braking for Turn 10. The Dane recovered and managed to keep the position too.
The Cypriot made it past one lap later, sending Pedersen slightly wide, so Jaap van Lagen also made it past the Danish driver.
But nobody could touch Julien Andlauer, who won the opening round ahead of Ayhancan Güven and Michael Ammermüller.
The next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is in Monaco in two weeks’ time.
