Porsche GT4 Cup: Winner against the clock

LOOK INTO OTHER CLASSES At the opening round of the Porsche Cup Suisse in Hockenheim, Francesco Fenici won both GT4 races - despite a time penalty. First points were also scored in GT Open and Drivers Competition. As in the premier GT3 class, where youngster Alexander Fach made a brilliant debut (AutoSprintCH reported), Francesco Fenici can [...]

Editorial - July 17, 2020

Francesco Fenici (#109) led the Cayman field in both heats from the start. On the right, Laurent Misbach #102 (Photos: Dirk Michael Deckbar).

As in the top GT3 class, in which youngster Alexander Fach made a brilliant debut (AutoSprintCH reported), Francesco Fenici can look back on a perfect weekend in the field of Cayman GT4s divided into three classes.

The Roman took pole position in his 718 Cayman GT4 CS MR, then scored two clean start-finish victories and set the fastest race lap. This puts the Italian at the top of the drivers' standings with maximum points.

Many time penalties
In the first run, a good ten seconds separated Fenici from Laurent Misbach. However, like the winner - for whom this penalty had no consequences in the standings - the reigning runner-up was subsequently given a ten-second penalty for disregarding the track boundary.

As a result, Thomas Brauch as best of the 718 Cayman GT4 CS class and Patrick Schetty moved up to the podium positions. AMAG First Racing thus celebrated a triple team success.

Fenici's fastest pursuers: Thomas Brauch ahead of Peter Schetty and Laurent Misbach.

Fenici's exciting start to the season
The 30-year-old from Rome left no stone unturned in race 2 either, taking a commanding victory by 6.4 seconds.

Francesco Fenici: "Right at the beginning of the first run I received a ten-second penalty. After that I drove against the clock so that my lead at the finish would be enough for victory. In the process I also turned the fastest race lap. I was a bit nervous at the starts, because I've never been at the front before. But everything went well. Now I'm looking forward to the next race with confidence."

Strong catching up by the chasers
Thomas Brauch briefly lost his second place to Patrick Schetty after the start, but regained it on lap 8. In the twelfth lap he had to give way to Laurent Misbach, who was again at odds with the track boundaries and was later downgraded to 12th place.

Paul Surand showed an impressive recovery in the second race, which brought him up to 3rd place.

The story of the race, however, was written by Paul Surand: starting from 13th position on the grid, he once again proved his fighting spirit, made up seven places on the first lap and, with great effort, finished on the podium behind Brauch.

The same was true of his backers: Philipp Hagnauer in fourth came from 10th on the grid, while Alexandre Mottet worked his way up from the back of the field to 6th behind Renzo Kressig.

Foreigners were also ahead in the GT Open
The Open GT classification offers a much greater variety of models. Various two-door sports cars from current and older model years are entered in separate classes.

Start of the GT Open. Luca Leinemann #180 won the second race. At the very back with the #232 Andy Feigenwinter starts his chase.

The first sprint over 15 laps was won by Italian Nicola Baldan ahead of German Luca Leinemann, the second Leinemann ahead of Canadian Dean Neuls, all on 991 II GT3 Cup.

The fastest Swiss car was Stadler Motorsport's 997 GT3 R, which Enzo Calderari piloted to third overall and class victory in the first round, which his partner Philippe Menotti also claimed in fourth overall in the second round.

Turbulent debut from Andy Feigenwinter
Andy Feigenwinter made a promising debut with his newly acquired 997 GT3 R. Driving over the track limits also threw him back on the grid. In addition, a careless competitor gave him a hard hit in his chase to catch up.

With a gap of just under three seconds to class rival Menotti, the man from Basel finished a good fifth overall in the second race and also turned the fastest lap of the entire field.

The Stadler Porsche of Calderari/Mottet was the fastest best classified car with a Swiss line-up.

Fast and uniform
A balanced driving style is the main focus in the Porsche Drivers Competition, which again took place over ten laps on the Badischer GP circuit. The nine smallest deviations from the average time are scored here.

Robert Schwaller succeeded best in this. At the wheel of his 911 GT3, he allowed himself a deviation of just 3.05 seconds in total. Last year's championship bronze medalist thus relegated Simon Willner (3.31), who set the fastest average times just ahead of Schwaller, and Nicolas Garski (4.31) in identical sports cars to the places of honor.

On his way to victory in the Drivers Competition, Robert Schwaller also took advantage of the track limits. Although it's all about uniformity here.

Immense effort rewarded
Xavier Penalba of the Association of Swiss Porsche Clubs was satisfied after the first of five race weekends organized by the VSPC in cooperation with Porsche Switzerland.

Xavier Penalba: "Thanks to the great commitment of everyone involved, we managed to get off to a good start to the season despite the Corona restrictions. The effort was really immense. But now we have created a good basis for the rest of the year and hope that as many participants as possible will find their way to the next event in Le Castellet, France, from August 6 to 8, despite the summer vacations."