Porsche Cup Suisse: Start of season with new winners 🎥

Starting from pole position, Johannes Kapfinger in the latest-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Huber Racing had built up a lead of almost eight seconds all the way to the finish in the first sprint race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria (gallery left). However, because the 20-year-old from Passau had pushed the track limits too far and consequently collected ten penalty seconds, the race win went to Alexander Schwarzer. For the successful graduate of the Porsche Racing Experience from Alex Fach's championship-winning team, it was the first victory in the Swiss GT3 Cup (center gallery).

Perfect promotion to the top class
In the second race, the Kapfinger reclaimed the lead from pole setter Schwarzer on the very first lap and extended it to more than 14 seconds by the finish. Schwarzer initially slipped to fourth position, then dropped to the back of the field and then fought his way back up to ninth place.

In the drivers' standings, the junior from Germany, who won the 2022 Class 40 Group Open GT title, went straight to the top.

Johannes Kapfinger: "I'm very happy with how my first weekend in the GT3 Cup went - it was a lot of fun. In the first race I had a bit of bad luck with the track limits. Then I took a good look at it and did better in the second race. Getting through safely was the goal. Last year I drove the predecessor model with race ABS in the Open GT classification. The current 911 GT3 Cup is a completely new car and in the Class 1 classification we drive without ABS, which is a huge difference."

Strong performance by senior Peter Hegglin
Second place went to Peter Hegglin ahead of Gregor Burkard and Gian Luca Tüccaroglu. Hegglin, who at 61 years of age is no longer one of the youngest, put himself on the podium in third place after the first sprint after narrowly beating Marc Arn.

Jocelyn Langer, the second sponsored driver of Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG, finished 15th in both races. The right photo in the gallery shows the podium of race 2 with a smiling Peter Hegglin, winner Johannes Kapfinger and Gregor Burkard.

Tension behind the GT4 overall winner
The group of different racing versions of the Porsche Cayman GT4 fell prey to Patrick Hofmann (lower gallery, left) in both sprint races. He was the only competitor in Class 10 with his approximately 500-hp RS model.

It was much more exciting among the drivers of the 425-hp 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport with the so-called MR package from Manthey. In the first race, the Italian "Gioga" had his hands full keeping Patrick Schetty at bay: At the finish, the two were separated by just 0.242 seconds. In the second heat 2, Schetty then clearly prevailed against defending champion Alexandre Mottet and Markus Lietzau.

The twin brother can do it too
In the Open GT classification, veteran Enzo Calderari from Biel took the first victory in Class 23 with a 991-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R. In the second race, Patrick Dinkeldein prevailed over the entire field.

In the current 911 GT3 Cup cars with racing ABS and traction control, first place went twice to Michael Kapfinger. The twin brother of Johannes Kapfinger was the fastest of all sports cars from the Open GT group in the first sprint (center gallery).

Two winners in the new Classic classification
The Porsche Drivers Competition Suisse even-temperature competition will be divided into two classes from this season. In the Classic classification, the participants rely solely on their feeling and dispense with electronic aids such as stopwatches or timing systems. Here, Pascal Godel in his 992 GT3 (gallery on the right) first won the shorter competition over five laps, then Peter Meister dominated over the double distance. Second place in each case went to Xavier Penalba ahead of Robert Schwaller. In the newly created Chrono category, Nicolas Garski celebrated victory in each case ahead of Fide Scheer.

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