Porsche Cup: Fenici leaves no stone unturned

At the wheel of his Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR, the Roman secured pole position in qualifying for the sprint race with a lead of 1.5 seconds. Fenici then took the lead after the start, turned the fastest race lap and took a commanding victory.

In his slipstream, Laurent Misbach also took second place unchallenged. Paul Surand had temporarily moved up to third position. But the fourth-placed qualifier had to give way to Emmanuel Bello again in the ninth lap.

Best in the Cayman GT4 predecessor was Renzo Kressig, who finished the 12-lap race in fifth place. Excitement ensued in the battle for seventh place, which was won in the end by Christian de Kant against Pierre Hirschi and Gregory Bronz.

Impressive race to catch up
Fenici had considerably more work to do in the 100-mile race, the highlight of the Le Castellet weekend. The 30-year-old Italian experienced a moderate start from the class pole and initially had to settle in fourth position. He caught Emmanuel Bello as early as lap 2, the mid-engine sports car of Paul and Corentin Surand followed on the seventh lap.

Two laps later it was also Laurent Misbach's turn. Because Bello had to retire before the final quarter of the race and the Surand car was penalized one minute for disregarding the track limits, Thomas Herbst still moved up to third place with the previous model.

After an exhausting race day in midsummer temperatures in the south of France, the fastest GT4 driver was delighted with the double victory.

Francesco Fenici: "In the sprint I had everything under control from the start and was also able to set the fastest race lap in the penultimate lap. The Endurance competition was more difficult, I got stuck in overtaking traffic at the start. But I quickly made up the lost positions and after the pit stop I was back in front. A fantastic weekend, the next round in Imola can come."

In the Foreigners dominate GT Open
In the GT Open group, the foreigners who regularly compete in the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse set the pace. In the sprint, the American Ray Calvin, driving for Fach Auto Tech, kept the upper hand. Benno Oertig was the only Swiss to finish seventh in a 911 GT2 RS CS among the 911-II GT3 Cup field.

In the Endurance race, pro Martin Ragginger took over from Oertig at the wheel. Despite setting the fastest time in practice and the fastest race lap, the duo only managed fifth place overall. GT3 Cup winner Dominik Fischli was ahead overall, followed by Mario Cordoni (I) and Gabriele Rindone (L) as the best from the GT Open.

Regularly faster Peter Gafner
A deviation of just 0.12 seconds from his own average time in nine of ten laps on the Circuit Paul Ricard made the difference in favor of Peter Gafner in the Porsche Drivers Competition.

In his Porsche 911 GT3, the 2018 title winner relegated Fabio Resico to second place in a 911 GT3 RS, which was just 1.94 seconds off his own reference time overall in the evenness competition.

Robert Schwaller, the PDC winner from the season opener in Hockenheim, had to settle for 5th place in southern France behind qualifying fastest Simon Willner and Peter Meister.

Incentive for all participants
Xavier Penalba from the Association of Swiss Porsche Clubs: "Despite the date being moved to the summer vacations, we were able to be satisfied with the field of participants in Le Castellet. The measures to protect against the corona virus also went well. We are very pleased with the junior drivers in the GT3 Cup, who give their all on the track and offer fair, great motorsport. They are an incentive for all participants."

PCS Results Castellet

porsche-clubs.ch