Porsche Cup: A new GT3 Challenge winner

The Swiss Porsche club racers wrapped up their fifth race weekend at the Autodromo Mugello in Tuscany in beautiful late summer weather. In the process, a newcomer to the premier class of the GT3 Cup Challenge put himself in the best light.

In the absence of last year's champion Jean-Paul von Burg, Ernst Keller secured a commanding pole position in qualifying for the sprint race. Stefano Monaco, who had moved up from the Cayman GT4 to the Porsche 991 II GT3, took second place on the grid straight away. Oliver Ditzler and Thomas Winkler lined up behind him.

The leader spins into the gravel
In the race over the short distance, championship leader Keller did enjoy his duel with the upstart. But only until he spun in the third-last lap of the Monaco chase in the finish bend and had to be freed from the gravel bed there.

This cleared the way for his Sportec teammate Stefano Monaco to win including the fastest lap in his first GT3 Cup race - what a debut!

Thomas Winkler and Andreas Corradina took the other two podium places. Patrick Schmalz also put in a strong performance: with no Mugello experience from last year, he only set the seventh-fastest time in qualifying, but came up trumps in the race, fighting his way past Oliver Ditzler and Marco Sacchet into fourth position.

Successful revenge
Ernst Keller then took revenge in the 31-lap endurance race, where he alternated at the wheel with Andreas Corradina. Keller again captured pole position ahead of Monaco and took the lead after the start. This time it was the rookie who had to pull out after six laps because he had suffered a puncture in contact with an enemy.

Keller/Corradina did not relinquish the lead until the finish after just under 70 minutes. However, Corradina came under pressure from Jeffrey Schmidt towards the end.

After dad Roland had qualified the Porsche for 13th place on the grid, he and son Jeffrey - one of the best Swiss GT3 drivers ever - set out to catch up. At the finish, Schmidt/Schmidt were only three tenths short of second place, although their mandatory pit stop had taken four seconds longer.

Third place went to Manuel Nicolaidis, who won the photo finish by 85 thousandths against the duo Günther/Stengel. Patrick Schmalz, third in qualifying, was pushed through to ninth place.

Furious Pampanini
In Group 3b of the Porsche Sports Cup, which is reserved for the Cayman GT4 Clubsport, Matteo Arrigosi from Amag First Rennsport turned the best starting position into a victory with a lead of more than eleven seconds. As in practice, second place went to Antonio Texeira ahead of Amedeo Pampanini, who started eighth, both from Team Sportec.

In the endurance race, the Riva/Arrigosi duo dropped back to fifth position despite starting first and setting the fastest race lap. As in the sprint, Amedeo Pampanini offered a great chase that was rewarded with victory. Second and third places went to Rendulic/Herbst and soloist Stephan Heim.

Regular Freddy Seyfang
No one else circled as evenly as Freddy Seyfang. In his 911 GT3, he allowed himself a cumulative deviation of just 1.4 seconds from his average time during the ten laps of the Porsche Driver's Challenge.

With 1402 penalty points, he clearly took first place ahead of his GT3 colleagues Peter Gafner (2464) and Daniel Butler (5003 ). Peter Hagmann, winner of the previous test in Dijon, was only tenth with 13,852 penalty points.

Final with night race
The sixth and final round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and Porsche Sports Cup Suisse season will be held at the World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Misano from October 25 to 27. As in the previous year, the finale will be crowned by a sprint race as well as a night race.

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