Today is the 2012 Spa F1 GP. I’m glued to the coverage on Sky Sports F1 HD with Twitter running on the iPad in the background. Today was also the penultimate round of this year’s Porsche Supercup.
F1 journo Adam Cooper tweeted this earlier: “Big shunt in Porsche Supercup with a car rolling on the way up the hill after Eau Rouge. But no safety car out”. Here’s some video of that incident.
The Team Bleekemolen car (below) was being driven by Jeroen Mul. Starting tenth on the grid, he gets a tap from the rear on the exit of Raidillon, which then sets off a chain of events leading to upside-down deceleration before the car rights itself, crosses the track and hits the barriers opposite. Not a small event!
I’ve done a lot of track days at Spa. Climbing up from Eau Rouge through Raidillon and on to the Kemmel Straight is one of the scariest parts of the track. You are absolutely flying here – sometimes almost literally – and every track day sees people destroying their cars. I remember one utterly destroyed F360 Spyder when they first came out: the owner frantically ripping the number plates off in the paddock after it was dragged back. If you can’t afford to wreck it, don’t take it on track at Spa.
Jeroen’s last tweet before this accident was “Good morning everyone! A beautiful day for a good race here in Spa. Watch the race live at 11.45 on Eurosport and Eurosport HD!” Mike Hedlund has since tweeted “First Supercup race in the books. Got my ass kicked but had fun! @Jeroen_Mul had a bad crash in front of me, but he is fine!” Team boss Sebastian Bleekemolen has tweeted the above picture of the damage, adding: “What a race! @Jeroen_Mul rolled over just in front of me. Scary! He’s ok, so that’s the only good thing.”
Porsche Supercup is flat-out drama. Next weekend is the last round at Monza- will update the championship table shortly.
Young Porsche charger Marco Holzer has scored his first 911 pole position in ALMS, just one hundredth of a second ahead of respected works team mate, Joerg Bergmeister.
Bergmeister has one of the best CVs (and surnames) in the history of Porsche motorsport, but he couldn’t top twenty-four year-old Holzer’s times in the Flying Lizard RSR. Teamed with Lizards’ owner, Seth Neiman, this is the first pole position for Porsche in ALMS 2012, so things are looking good for a Porsche win at Road America.
What has changed? How are 911s suddenly first and second? Sad to say, as yet I don’t know. Perhaps some expert reading this will be able to enlighten us in the comments. I have emailed a man who might shed some light.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to have clinched my first pole in the American Le Mans Series. I’m really pleased for the team that our number 44 car is at the very front of the grid,” says Marco. “This track is fantastic and great fun. With the race running over four hours, it’s very long and a great deal can happen in this time. Still, pole position is a great place to start.”
Further down the field, Falken hero and works driver, Wolf Henzler, set the eighth quickest time, in a GT3 R shared with US driver, Bryan Sellers.
Bryce Miller turned the tenth quickest time in Paul Miller Racing’s 911, shared with Sascha Maassen. Sascha is the lead mentor on the Porsche Junior programme, which we have been video-blogging for the last few days. More later!
Porsche have sent out some pics of the Martini-painted 918 Spyder, currently lapping at the Nürburgring. One target for the car is a 7:22 lap at the bankrupt race track, so Nürburg snappers have had a field day with the 918 going around in development.
Personally, I wasn’t sure about the Martini stripes to start with. That’s the blog I just wrote but deleted after adding the pictures. Have a look at them yourself and consider your reaction.
Silver-painted Porsches never do much for me, but I loved the shade on the 918 when the Preserve launch pics shot by Marc Urbano were released a few years back. This latest 918 livery reminded me of the Cayman race at Rennsport, where the cars were wrapped in classic colours.
I know the intention was fun, and I did shoot some track runs where the cars looked pretty hot but, when the Caymans all trailed silently back to the pits together, wearing fake paint schemes from historic cars with multiples more aural drama, it smacked of nerd poseurs with freshly-ironed Porsche shirts.
I’m sure most others loved it but, as a diehard classic fan, pimping out the heritage to sell what is a very pretty car in its own right seemed like desperate measures by the marketing team. Instant deathly turn-off.
The Martini-painted Cayman was perhaps the best of all those Rennsport cars, but I think the 918 looks better as Batman. Bad-ass Porsches have always been black and I see this as the baddest of the lot. Bring back Matt Black and the evil of the 918: playing the good guy with the white hat does not seem to suit it.
I’m sure I’m in the minority here: fan boys will love it and no doubt the 918 looks killer at speed in this livery. I wish Porsche had sent some riskier pics: inches-from-death at high speed, scraping the rock face as it chased a fast lap. Badass is as badass does.
It’s the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend, and Porsche Supercup is right alongside. There are two rounds of the Supercup being held here: one extra to replace the Barcelona round, where the cars were deemed unsafe to race.
Safety concerns emerged on the Barcelona start grid, where some wheels were found to have been damaged in tyre mounting. Hard to imagine just how this can have happened, but a bit late to wonder out loud now. Porsche cancelled the round on the grid, and the Budapest double-header is being held to make up.
René Rast (below) has snatched pole for both races: one this afternoon after qualifying and the other tomorrow, before the GP. Thankfully, there is no repeat of Monaco where Supercup was not shown live on TV. British Eurosport 2 are showing the races back to back tomorrow (race 2 live) from 10:15hrs.
Eurosport’s coverage is not the greatest, but any coverage is better than none. This is a tight and twisty track that gets incredibly hot and collects plenty of dust off line: it’s a great place to watch 911s race.
Rast’s competitors were left stunned by his qualifying pace. “I have no idea how René does it,” said Sean Edwards, title challenger and 5th and 2nd in qualifying. “I was at the limit during my fastest lap, and still I’m fourth-tenths of a second off him. I’ve got nothing to lose now in the race. I’m going to go full attack right from the first corner.”
Norbert Siedler was similarly bewildered. “Don’t ask me how René achieves such times. Perhaps we can make up for it in the races but that’ll be very tricky.”
Here’s the grid line-up for races 1 and 2.
Grid line up for Saturday’s race
1. René Rast (D), Lechner Racing Team
2. Kévin Estre (F) Hermes Attempto Racing
3. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing
4. Michael Ammermüller (D), VELTINS Lechner Racing
5. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport
6. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS Lechner Racing
Grid line up for Sunday’s race
1. René Rast (D), Lechner Racing Team
2. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport
3. Christian Engelhart (D), Konrad Motorsport
4. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing
5. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), VERVA Racing Team
6. Kévin Estre (F) Hermes Attempto Racing
The races are shaping up mega: Estre, Thiim and Ammermuller in the top four for race 1 should make for a banzai half-hour of Porsche to start, and the 45-minute race on Sunday (shown live) with Edwards in hot pursuit could be a classic: one slip off the start grid and Rene will have to fight back past. Count on seeing some jaw-dropping racing should that occur.
Rast is pure genius behind the wheel and a joy to watch in full flow. If you’re not following the fastest one-make championship in the world, I think you’re missing out.
edit: find out why René Rast did not race for Porsche in Hungary!
Sitting at the kitchen table doing a bit of writing and watching Sky Sports F1 on the iPad, it was great to see some coverage pop up of the Porsche Supercup race at Silverstone between F1 practice sessions.
I watched the Silverstone Supercup race on Eurosport at the gym a few days ago. The coverage was woeful: almost inaudible sound with a rough picture quality. Watching it on good old Sky Sports F1 was the opposite: good insight from a decent commentator, nice in-car footage and enlightening post-race interviews.
The race was a tough one – Rast racing on used tyres versus the rest on new – but the guru took another win, chased home by Siedler who pulled a mega last-lap move on Edwards to take P2 ahead of the Brit.
Twenty years of Supercup has generated some great stories and terrific drives from worthy champions. I well remember watching Patrick Huisman in his heyday, as well as Wolf Henzler (below): still the man with most Supercup race wins in a season.
The most victories over multiple seasons goes to Huisman with 24 races: the first in 1996 at Hockenheim, the last in 2007 in Spa Francorchamps. René Rast ranks second with 18 wins, followed by Uwe Alzen and Wolf Henzler with 14 wins each. The class of these guys shouts from the language of the car as it laps at speed.
Best celebrity driver is Mika Hakkinen , who has just popped up on Sky Sports F1 as advisor to Bottas: one of the younger drivers. Mika – my all-time favourite – won two ’93 Supercups, in Monaco and Hungary.
Supercup is terrific: if you can get the right coverage. After all, what could be better than watching talent thrash the daylights out of a grid of 911s? Here’s to twenty more good years!
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