Porsche Cup: Junior duel continues
FACH BRILLIANT IN ITALY The big winner at the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse in Imola is Alexander Fach. With a victory on the long distance and second place in the GT3 sprint, the junior extended his lead in the standings. The exciting duel between the youngsters in the GT3 Cup continued at the third race weekend of the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse 2020 in Imola. [...]
The exciting duel between the youngsters in the GT3 Cup continued at the third race weekend of the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse 2020 in Imola. Dominik Fischli - who, like Antonio Teixeira and championship leader Alexander Fach, is sponsored by the Swiss Porsche Club Association and Porsche Schweiz AG - won qualifying for the sprint race with a difference of just 0.045 seconds. Teixeira and Fach were separated by just two thousandths.
Sprint victory for Texeira
The polesitter also won the start, but Fischli had to let Teixeira go on lap 3. The reigning runner-up was quickly able to pull away and pulled out an unassailable lead of almost ten seconds by the time the checkered flag flew.
Fach also overtook Fischli on the seventh lap. The 18-year-old junior from his father Alex Fach's team had initially lost a position to José Teixeira, Antonio's older brother, on the first few meters, but then quickly caught up again with the fastest race lap.
Battle in the middle positions
Behind this quartet, Gregor Burkard secured 5th place, having lost a place to Peter Hegglin in the initial phase, who was able to improve by two positions with a lightning start.
On lap 11, Burkard reversed the order again and Hegglin had to defend himself tooth and nail against Marc Arn. At the finish, the two were separated by just six tenths. Sébastien Pidoux also put in a strong fighting performance: He worked his way past Ernst Inderbitzin and Mike Knutzon in the final phase of the race to finish in 8th place.
Fach ahead from the start
The Endurance race was won by Alexander Fach in the GT3 Cup classification, who had also started from pole position in the overall field. After 33 laps on the 4.9-kilometer Grand Prix circuit, the driver from Schwyz clearly won his class ahead of Dominik Fischli, who was subsequently demoted to third place behind Peter Hegglin.
Like many drivers that afternoon, Fischli had completed his mandatory pit stop too quickly and was handed a 15-second penalty. Marc Arn, Sébastien Pidoux and Mike Knutzon followed in fourth to sixth place. Antonio Teixeira had to retire his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup prematurely after 17 laps.
Alexander Fach: "That was another great weekend for me, I'm really happy. In qualifying for the sprint race, a red flag stopped me on my fastest lap, so I was only allowed to start from third place. In the race, I moved up to second position and set the fastest lap time, which I was quite happy with. Things went perfectly for me in the final race, I secured the class win and important points. The fact that I was able to extend my championship lead is brilliant."
Not Fenici for once
In the GT4 Challenge, Laurent Misbach celebrated his first win of the season as the winner of the 100-mile race, while Francesco Fenici won the 14-lap sprint and thus continues to lead the drivers' standings with a commanding lead.
In the Porsche Drivers Competition Suisse, Peter Gafner moved to the top of the table with his second win in a row.
We will discuss these two rankings and the outcome of the GT Open in a separate report later this week.
