1st round, Spa Francorchamps
Laurin Heinrich celebrates opening victory
05/09/2022 12:34 p.m
Laurin Heinrich (SSR Huber Racing) started the new season of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland with a win. The German Porsche Junior won the opening race at the Belgian Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps ahead of Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/IronForce Racing by Phoenix).
“My start wasn’t ideal, but I was able to assert myself and after that I didn’t let any of my pursuers come within striking distance. On Saturday I’m on pole position again and I want to make the double victory perfect,” says Laurin Heinrich. Defending champion Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite) finished third in the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship race.
Under a blue sky and an outside temperature of 18 degrees, Heinrich started the race from pole position in his 375 kW (510 hp) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The 20-year-old from Würzburg gained a lead of several car lengths at the beginning and, after 14 laps, achieved a commanding start-finish victory. Pereira impressed with a committed initial phase on the 7.004-kilometre circuit. The 24-year-old started from fifth position and moved up to second place in the first two laps. “Due to a puncture in qualifying, I started the race with a fresh set of slicks and thus had an advantage in the first laps. I made the best use of it. In the meantime I was able to reduce the gap to Laurin Heinrich a little, but I’m not decisive to him get close,” summarizes Pereira.
Ten Voorde initially improved by one place after the start with an overtaking maneuver in the La Source hairpin, but shortly afterwards had to let Pereira pass. “I’m happy with the result. In the final phase I was really fast and with a few more laps I might have been able to overtake Dylan Pereira,” says ten Voorde. Loek Hartog (Netherlands/Black Falcon) finished fourth as the best driver from the Talent Pool, the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland’s youth development program. His compatriot Morris Schuring (SSR Huber Racing) also secured a place in the top five.
Michael Ammermüller (SSR Huber Racing) finished sixth in his first Carrera Cup race since 2019. Behind the driver from Rotthalmünster followed Bastian Buus (Denmark/Allied Racing) and Max van Splunteren (Netherlands/Team GP Elite). Carlos Rivas (Luxembourg/Black Falcon) celebrated his victory in the ProAm classification. The current champion of his class won ahead of Jan-Erik Slooten (Germany/IronForce Racing by Phoenix). Ahmad Alshehab (CarTech Motorsport by Nigrin) celebrated a premiere in third place in the ProAm class: for the first time a racing driver from Kuwait made it onto the podium in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland.
The second race of the season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland starts tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:55 a.m. local time. The TV station NITRO will broadcast the run including a preliminary report from 10:45 a.m. on German free TV.
Race result 1st run, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany
1. Laurin Heinrich (Germany/SSR Huber Racing)
2. Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/IronForce Racing by Phoenix)
3. Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite)
4. Loek Hartog (Netherlands/Black Falcon)
5. Morris Schuring (Netherlands/SSR Huber Racing)
6. Michael Ammermuller (Germany/SSR Huber Racing)
7. Bastian Buus (Denmark/Allied Racing)
8. Max van Splunteren (Netherlands/Team GP Elite)
9. Rudy van Buren (Netherlands/Huber Racing)
10. Jesse van Kuijk (Netherlands/GP Elite)