Total 911’s Motorsport Monday roundup – 2 June 2014
Porsche 911s were in action in both Europe and America this weekend, with the United SportsCar Championship and Carrera Cup Deutschland both in action.
United SportsCar Championship round 5 – Belle Isle, Detroit, USA
The latest round of the United SportsCar Championship took the new-for-2014 series to Detroit, home of the American automotive industry for a 100-minute battle around the streets of the Belle Isle circuit.
With the GTLM class absent due to the Le Mans test day, Porsche’s honour was to be upheld in the GTD class, where no less than 11 911 GT Americas were entered, one of which would be driven by US racing-debutant, Be Barker.
In qualifying, Kévin Estre was the fastest of the Weissach runners, setting a lap time of 1m33.246s to line up third. Barker would start 13th after teammate, Damian Faulkner drove the car in qualifying.
In the race, Barker put in a fine opening stint to vault the car towards the top of the class standings. The 22-year-old Briton climbed to sixth place before handing the car over to Faulkner, who would exit the pits in eighth.
However, soon after taking over driving duties, Faulkner (twice a runner-up in the Porsche Supercup) was hit hard from behind by another competitor, causing the GB Autosport-run car to lose a lap, eventually crossing the finish line in tenth.
While polesitter Estre and co-driver Patrick Lindsey were forced into retirement after 45-minutes, the Alex Job Racing 911 GT America of Mario Farnbacher upheld Stuttgart honour with a second-place finish, 0.297s away from victory.
Carrera Cup Deutschland rounds 5 & 6 – Hungaroring, Hungary
The third meeting of the 2014 Carrera Cup Deutschland saw the one-make Porsche 911 series head away from Germany for the first time this season, with the 37-strong field heading to Hungary and the tight and twisting Hungaroring.
Race one of the weekend saw Christian Engelhart score his second win of the season. Blasting away from pole, the German was never headed as behind the opening laps saw some close racing on a circuit notorious for its lack of passing opportunities.
Pieter Schothorst dropped from second to fourth on lap two after outbraking himself, before taking Supercup points leader, Philipp Eng and himself out of the race a few laps later.
This allowed Michael Ammermüller and Porsche Junior, Connor de Phillippi to take second and third respectively, as 2013 Supercup champion, Nicki Thiim outbattled Earl Bamber and Robert Lukas for fourth.
In the second race, it was de Phillippi’s turn to dominate from pole position as the American racer became the first US driver to score a Carrera Cup victory since Patrick Long in 2003.
This vaulted the American into the points lead as Thiim finished second after making up three places on lap one, before overtaking Philipp Eng on lap six after an entertaining duel. Sven Müller secured the best result of his Porsche career so far in fourth.
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