Motorsport: Professional celebration with melancholy
No one celebrated more victories in the 2016 Porsche Supercup than the Schwyz-based Fach Auto Tech team with Matteo Cairoli. Nevertheless, it was only enough for second place in the championship due to an inexplicable defect. But Alex Fach is already looking ahead. Alex Fach is still struggling for words a month later when he is asked about the dramatic finale in the Porsche Supercup. In the [...]
Alex Fach is still struggling for words a month later when people ask him about the dramatic finale in the Porsche Supercup. In the first race at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin on October 22, Matteo Cairoli was in a commanding lead when a loose contact paralyzed Fach's Porsche. "You work for a year towards it, and then something like this happens. I often hear the saying 'thats racing', but I can't understand it," sighed the man from Schwyz. "You can take pole and victory x times, but nobody cares anymore if you only finish second."
The team did not find out the cause of the defect on site, and Porsche in Weissach has since been trying to determine it. For the second race in Texas, the crew replaced the entire electrical system. After that, the car ran perfectly, but Sven Müller could no longer be caught up in the championship. With the loss of the title, Fach also lost a lot of prize money, which put a strain on the budget. Nevertheless, the company is not skimping on equipment. In 2017, Fach will make the next attempt to bring the title back to Switzerland with two new Supercup cars.
The next Porsche Junior is just around the corner
At the end-of-season party at the Porsche Center Zurich, the team said goodbye to 20-year-old Matteo Cairoli from Como, who will probably continue his career as a GT works driver with Porsche. "After we already won the title two years ago with Earl Bamber, it was important that we could show our strength again until the end," points out the man from Schwyz with ulterior motives. After all, this is the only way his team will continue to be of interest to the winners of the Porsche talent scouting.
The factory junior chosen from eight candidates for 2017 is called Matt Campbell, is 21 years old and comes from Australia. According to Alex Fach, it looks good that Campbell will choose the team from Sattel with the 200,000 euros in sponsorship money and his own sponsors as a dowry. Fach: "It would make us proud to be able to work with Campbell after Bamber and Cairoli. He is my ideal candidate."
www.fachautotech.ch
Photos: Peter Wyss, Porsche
