2016 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup: Hockenheimring, Germany report
Italian Porsche Junior, Matteo Cairoli inherited his third Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup victory of the season after fellow Porsche Junior (and home hero), Sven Müller was penalised for an illegal overtaking move on the first lap.
The in-house championship rivals’ battle began during qualifying at the Hockenheimring track, 50 miles north of Weissach. Lechner Racing’s Müller set his benchmark early in the session while Cairoli waited until the end to challenge.
However, the FACH Auto Tech driver’s final lap on new tyres was curtailed by a red flag with ended the session early, the Italian having to settle for second on the grid behind Müller (the latter heading into the German Supercup round with an 18-point lead after victory last time out in Hungary).
At the start, it was the Italian Porsche Junior who made the better start, diving up the inside of Müller at turn one. The German Porsche Junior though hadn’t given up, running off the track onto the tarmacked run-off before rejoining back in the lead.
Cairoli didn’t make the race easy for Müller, hounding the championship leader lap after lap and getting close to taking the lead after a late safety car period bunched up the field. However, his advances proved fruitless on the track as Müller took the chequered flag 0.4 seconds ahead.
The action wasn’t over though. Two hours after the chequered flag fell, the stewards deemed Muller’s opening lap move to have been performed illegally, handing the German a one-second penalty that promoted Cairoli to the top step.
Behind the duelling duo, Jeffrey Schmidt (who stared at Hockenheim early in the year in the Carrera Cup Deutschland) equalled his third-place finish in Austria with another podium finish having forced his way passed Robert Lukas, the latter starting the race from third.
That grid slot would have been occupied by the third Porsche Junior in the field, Mathieu Jaminet if it hadn’t been for a ten-place penalty handed to the French Porsche ace for his role in the opening lap accident last time out at the Hungaroring.
Starting from 13th, Jaminet was aiming for eighth place after qualifying, an aim he achieved in the race with some clean overtaking moves. The result, however, has seen him drop from second to fourth in the points table, as Cairoli moves back into second, 16 points behind Müller.
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