Steaming hot Austria race for PMSC – updated

Following a one month break, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup was finally back on track.

Red Bull Ring in Austria was hosting the third round of the 2019 championship, with three very young drivers starting at the front.

Julien Andlauer had grabbed Pole Position ahead of Larry ten Voorde and Dylan Pereira, before the double Supercup Champion Michael Ammermüller brought some age and experience into fourth.

The 30 cars blasted up towards Turn 1, which went surprisingly smooth. Ten Voorde was in the lead for a short time, before Andlauer made it past again, going down towards Turn 2.

Things didn’t go so well in Turn 3, where Pereira was launched into the air after a contact with Ammermüller. Ayhancan Güven and Igor Walilko made a contact further down the field, breaking the suspension on the Turkish driver’s car, so he had to retire.

Ten Voorde put a lot of pressure on Andlauer, and was almost past the Frenchman several times, but Andlauer had the better line through the corner.

Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen had started in 10th, but was already up to 6th after lap one, keeping out of trouble.

Ammermüller was racing door to door with ten Voorde on Lap 3, but had to back out of it, since they were going into a Yellow Flag zone due to the stranded car of Güven.

Ammermüller made a mistake one lap later in Turn 5, where the German made it a bit too wide, putting the left pair of wheels into the gravel. That made it possible for Jaap van Lagen to overtake him. The two switched positions again one lap later, when Ammermüller had gotten his car under control again.

Ammermüller got another run on ten Voorde on Lap 7, and was on the inside going down to Turn 5, and eventually outbraking the Dutchman. That made it a pink 1-2 for BWT Lechner Racing.

Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Gianmarco Quaresmini had a bit of contact in the penultimate corner, with Simmenauer being the loser of that fight – making it possible for Marius Nakken to overtake the French rookie two corners later.

Leon Köhler ran a bit too wide, going out of the final corner, with the former Formula 4 driver going onto the grass and collecting one of the DRS boards used in the Formula 1 race.

Pedersen was in a sandwich between van Lagen in P4 and Fabien Latorre in P6, with the gaps changing all the time. Van Lagen started losing a bit of speed, and started locking the wheels under braking, so Pedersen was all over him. That made it possible for Pereira to close the gap, so a three-way battle turned into a four-car battle.

Then Pedersen was starting to slide around a little, using all the width of the track, with the Danish driver perhaps having asked a bit too much of the tires. That made Latorre close the gap to almost zero – until the Frenchman made a mistake, and getting into a fight with Pereira, so Mikkel O. Pedersen could run away again.

Pereira made it past Latorre, but outbraked himself, so Latorre could pass him again. Pereira tried a bit of psycological war on Latorre, flashing the lights down the straights, trying to make an impression on the young Frenchman.

There was a bit more calmness over the field during the final two laps, with not quite as many battles, since the tires was used for the majority of the field, so it was all about getting to the flag.

Julien Andlauer won the race ahead of his teammate Michael Ammermüller, while Larry ten Voorde won the Dutch fight with Jaap van Lagen for P3 and P4.

Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen finished a very good P5, following his Monaco podium, grabbing even more important points for the Championship.

Michael Ammermüller still leads the Championship, with Andlauer in second, and now Mikkel O. Pedersen sitting third, ahead of Jaap van Lagen.

The drivers have to wait two weeks for the next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, which will be run at Silverstone in Great Britain.

Update – Mikkel Overgaard Pedersen was demoted to P6 by the stewards post race, due to a bit too hard overtake during his advancement through the field, but still sits third in the Championship