Porsche Cup: tire poker pays off

Francesco Fenici took his fourth sprint race win in convincing style at his second home race. The Roman had already pulled away from the competition by a good 1.1 seconds in his Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR in qualifying at the Autodromo di Mugello.

After the start, he rushed from pole position to an ultimately unchallenged victory. It's almost self-explanatory that he also set the fastest lap.

Pugnacious chaser
Behind Fenici it was much more exciting. Alexandre Mottet had lost his second position to "Boga" on the first lap, but didn't give up. In the eleventh of 13 laps, he regained this position and defended it to the finish against the Italian and Laurent Misbach, who was also pushing hard.

Fifth place went to Paul Surand. Still seventh in qualifying, he had already overtaken Patrick Schetty and Thomas Herbst in the first two laps. Schetty, driving a 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport without MR package, was not shaken off and finished the race in sixth place. Herbst was pushed through to 10th place, but was able to enjoy victory among the participants with the predecessor model.

Everything done right
The endurance race over the 100-mile distance on a drying track turned out to be a thriller. Pole setter Fenici had opted to start the race on non-marking tires. On lap 8 of 30, the home rider was still trailing in 6th place, but then the tires reached their working window and a furious race to catch up began.

Again, eight laps later he had already stalked GT4 leader Laurent Misbach and took the lead a little later. At the finish, the two were separated by just under 4.4 seconds. However, both were behind Class 11 winner Thomas Kressig who, with optimal strategy and driving skills, finished behind the GT3 pack as the first GT4 driver to finish 17th overall.

Third place in the Cayman GT4 CS MR was secured by Alexandre Mottet, who had already made a mighty leap forward in the overall field on the starting lap, ahead of the car driven by the Paul and Corentin Surand family.

Fenici wants to settle the title question in his favor at the season finale in Misano on October 17/18.

Francesco Fenici: "This was my first time ever driving the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR on a wet track. I'm all the more pleased about these two victories, which came about in very different ways. In the sprint I was ahead from the start and in the endurance race I don't even know how many cars I overtook - but our strategy paid off."

First respectable success of Andy Feigenwinter
In the GT Open, the category open to modified GT3 cars, Andy Feigenwinter was the only Swiss in the 16-strong field in the sprint. In his second start with his 997 GT3 R after Hockenheim, last year's Swiss mountain champion just missed the overall podium in fourth place.

Things went better in the endurance race with the help of his coach Jürg Aeberhard. The Bernese qualified Feigenwinter's car for the first row of the grid. Like GT4 winner Fenici, Aeberhard relied on slicks, which caused him to initially drop far behind and then move into the lead. Feigenwinter defended this after taking over the car until the last corner, where he almost flew off during a lapping.

Andy Feigenwinter: "I'm also happy about second place overall and the class win over the other two GT3 R cars. I could just as easily have ended up in the gravel."

First place with a half-second lead went to the Danish-Italian duo Klingelnberg/Zamparelli in a 991-II GT3 Cup. With a gap of 7.2 seconds to Feigenwinter, the Lebanese Fadel Habib, who had won the GT Open sprint, ran in third in a 991 GT3 R.

First win of the season for Daniel Bütler
In the Porsche Drivers Competition Suisse, Daniel Bütler had the smallest deviation from his own average time in nine of ten laps. With his 911 GT3, he afforded himself a delta of just 2.12 seconds.

Nicolas Garski was only beaten by eight hundredths of a second. Peter Gafner in third place was already two tenths short, but he extended his lead in the standings to Fabio Resico and Robert Schwaller.

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