GT3 Cup Suisse: Von Burg's first win of the season
COLLECTING HUNTERS In the second round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Suisse at the Circuit Paul Ricard, champion Jean-Paul von Burg scored his first win of the season. In the Endurance race, Paul Kasper drove to victory together with professional Jaap van Lagen from 13th on the grid. More than 100 drivers took part in the races organized centrally by the Association of Swiss Porsche Clubs [...]
More than 100 drivers took part in the races held centrally by the Association of Swiss Porsche Clubs in southern France. The pole position for the GT3 sprint race was secured by Oliver Ditzler ahead of Jean-Paul von Burg and Erwin Keller.
Keller managed to pass von Burg at the start but had to yield to the champion again on the second lap. Von Burg also set the fastest race lap of the GT3 field.
In the third round, Ditzler had to take his turn and leave the top spot to the unstoppable Genevan. Two laps later, Keller also passed the pole setter, which meant that the positions for the podium were set.
From the seventh row of the grid to the front
Instead of a second sprint, there was a 100-mile race on Sunday, which no fewer than 56 Porsches tackled. In the morning qualifying session, pro Fredy Barth qualified Sara Sina's Porsche for the best GT3 Cup Challenge grid position on the front row next to Christian Pfefferlé's 991 GT3 Cup R from Group 7b.... In the race, the mixed team dropped back to tenth place.
Paul Kasper's situation was exactly the opposite. He had also secured the services of a professional, namely Dutchman Jaap van Legen, who drives for Fach Auto Tech in the Porsche Supercup. However, they only started the race from position 13.
Although there was a time penalty due to the driver change being too short, they still won the classification in the GT3 Cup Challenge. Sooner at the finish was only Christian Pfefferlé.
Previous day's winner Jean-Paul von Burg started from second place but lost a position in the race due to a time penalty. For the same reason, Patrick Schmalz, Manuel Nicolaidis, Marco Sacchet and Rémi Terrail also slipped back slightly.
Ernst Keller, who also started solo in seventh place, also remained faultless in this respect and was rewarded with second place. In the championship, the double winner of Spielberg remains ahead of von Burg (82) with 89 points.
Variety in the Cayman Cup
In the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse, 32 drivers competed against each other, including 22 Cayman GT4 Clubsport in Group 3b. Fastest man in the sprint was Stephan Heim, who turned the optimal starting position into a start-finish victory, his first of the season.
Patrick Meystre, who had started in second place, retired behind him, but Laurent Misbach advanced from fourth to second place. Leonard Rendulic finished third.
In the Endurance race, Alberto Franceschetti and Manuel Metzger from Amag First Racing were ahead from start to finish. They are the fourth winners in the fourth race of the season.
The Cayman GT4 with Cantuseno/Busnelli started from second place but could only be classified fifth after two time penalties. Patrick Meystre moved up from fifth to second place, followed by Laurent Misbach.
Record number of participants
In the Porsche Driver's Challenge, Peter Gafner took the biggest trophy with his consistent laps in the 991 GT3. With their slight deviations from their reference lap, Tommy Eriksson on 997 GT3 RS and Rolf Fröhlich on 991 GT3 also made it to podium places.
Richard Feller from the Association of Swiss Porsche Clubs drew a thoroughly positive balance.
Richard Feller: "The record number of participants in the Endurance race is a great success and shows how much the track in Provence is appreciated by our drivers. With 56 starters, we had more participants than the Blancpain Series a week earlier."
The next round will be held in Imola from July 6 to 8. A sprint race and an endurance race will also be held there.
