Porsche Cup Suisse: The guest is king
FULL GT3 POINTS FOR AEBERHARD Because Leonardo Caglioni, as a guest driver, received no points for his two victories in the Porsche GT3 Cup Suisse at Le Castellet, Jürg Aeberhard was allowed to feel like a winner as a double runner-up.
The man of the half-hour in the GT3 Cup sprint race at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet was Leonardo Caglioni. The Italian, who otherwise races in the Carrera Cup Deutschland, drove the 515 hp 911 GT3 Cup of the current 992 model generation from pole position to a start-finish victory and also set the fastest race lap.
Aeberhard makes the best of the situation
Behind him, Jürg Aeberhard managed to squeeze past Gregor Burkhard in the twelfth and final round. The 35-year-old from Berne thus made up the places he had lost after the start and can be happy about the full points score. As a guest driver, Caglioni is not counted for the championship.
At virtually the same time, Gabriel Rindone managed to snatch fourth position from 18-year-old Jasin Ferati. Ferati is supported this season by the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG as a development driver.
Caglioni also left no stone unturned in the endurance race over 28 laps. However, the fastest qualifier had to do without pole position: After 20 laps he was in front again for the first time and again shortly after the mandatory pit stop.
Change at the top of the table
In the GT3 Cup classification, the guest driver salvaged victory just ahead of Aeberhard and Ferati. Gregor Burkard's good fourth place and 3rd place in the Swiss classification was subsequently disallowed because the Sportec boss pitted for a mandatory stop due to a misunderstanding after the scheduled time window had closed.
For the two second places, Aeberhard receives the championship points of the winner in each case, thus taking the top spot in the standings from Ferati.
Jürg Aeberhard: "In both runs I concentrated on driving at my speed and reeled off my laps in a relaxed manner. This tactic, combined with the perfectly prepared car, put me on the podium at the end of each race. I'm very happy with the results, as they were also my first races on this circuit."
New GT4 models not to be beaten
Drivers of a Cayman GT4 competed for points and trophies in four classes. In the current 425-hp Clubsport models with the so-called MR package (Manthey Racing), veteran Alexandre Mottet retained the upper hand against Giovanni Naldi after twelve laps.
Among the Club Sport vehicles without MR expansion stage, Andreas Greiling drove to victory. Stefan Kipfer won Class 12 in a previous-generation 981 Cayman GT4 CS.
The latest Competition variant of the 718 Cayman (GT4 RS Clubsport) also took to the track at Le Castellet. As at the Red Bull Ring, Valerio Presezzi at the wheel of the 500-hp mid-engine sports car (gallery on the left) prevailed over Paolo Locatelli to take a commanding victory in the overall standings.
The GT4 RS also retained the upper hand in the subsequent Endurance race, which lasted a good hour: together with professional driver Max Busnelli, Valerio Presezzi took first place, just 2.359 seconds ahead of the Germans Markus Lietzau and Florian Strauss in the 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR.
Lietzau/Strauss, in turn, only just managed to hold off defending champion Laurent Misbach, who, with Alexandre Mottet as his partner, was just 0.478 seconds short of first place in Class 10.
In the Porsche 718 GT4 Clubsport without MR addition, Fabio Resico dominated again, sharing the car with Philipp Frommenwiler. In Class 12, Stefan Kipfer was pleased to have reinforcements from Alain Valente and another first place.
Good GT3 debut for "Hagi
In Open GT, veteran Philippe Menotti at the wheel of a 991-II GT3 R (center gallery) took a narrow sprint victory ahead of Loïc Villiger (992 GT3 Cup) and Austrian Frederick Jerioch (991-II GT3 Cup).
The endurance race went to the Austrian duo Christian Voithofer/Max Wimmer in a 991-II GT3 R ahead of the German pairing Schmitt/Schraml and soloist Philipp Hagnauer (both 991-II GT3 Cup). For "Hagi", already a good fourth in the sprint and also second in class, it was the first race weekend in the GT3 car from the Porsche Basel Racing Team (gallery right).
Garski's winning streak interrupted
After eight consecutive victories by Nicolas Garski, the Porsche Drivers Competition at Le Castellet saw a new name at the top of the leaderboard. Tommy Eriksson completed the first regularity event over four scored laps in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS with a deviation from his own average time of 0.6 seconds. The podium honors went to Peter Meister, the fastest in qualifying, and Garski.
However, the reigning champion set the record straight again in the second race: With his usual precision, the GT3 driver allowed himself a difference of just 0.79 seconds, although nine laps were taken into account this time. Eriksson finished second ahead of Marius Hutmacher, who brought one of the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS to the start.
