Sunday 17 / November / 2024
Mogyorod: Following stewards decision, a revised result for Round 6 of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Hungaroring was published, promoting Oman’s Al Faisal Al Zubair to his first-ever Top 10 result.
The Lechner Racing Middle East team’s driver started the sixth round from 12th in the Sunday’s race, but dropped to 15th in the opening lap, after his 911 GT3 Cup car was hit by a rival.
By Lap 4, Al Zubair was up to 14th in the order. He maintained track position until Lap 10, when he moved up to 13th after MRS GT-Racing’s Zaid Ashkanani’s retirement -- due to a tangle with Martinet by Almeras’ Philip Morin at Turn 2.
Al Zubair had another position gained in a frantic Lap 12 to move up to 12th and was battling away with guest driver Thomas Preining for 11th, which he managed to take from the Porsche Junior driver, on the same lap.
But the Walter Lechner Racing Team driver came back at Al Zubair and regained the position on the penultimate lap, as Al Zubair had to settle for 12th after 14 laps of racing – recording his best result in the rookie season, finishing a mere 0.885s behind Preining.
With Preining not eligible to score points, Al Zubair effectively finished 11th. But post-race penalties, which saw eighth placed MRS Cup-Racing’s Roar Linland getting disqualified, while 10th placed Martinet by Almeras’ Steven Palette and 11th placed Preining getting time added to their total – allowed Al Zubair to move up to ninth in the final results.
Thus, the Omani driver recorded his best finish of the season so far, in his first-time at many of the European circuits the series is racing on, as a support event to the 2017 FIA Formula 1 Championship.
“I am very excited and happy to hear that the results from Hungary’s race have been changed,” said Al Zubair. “In the race, I felt some of my rivals deserved the penalties for over-aggressive driving, especially at the start.”
“P9 out of 30 cars is an amazing result for me in my debut season and it is my first time in the Top 10 in only the sixth race of the season. I am very pleased with the result, which is much more than we expected at the start of the season.”
“I am getting stronger and stronger as the season progresses. Hopefully, more of such results will come my way in the last three rounds of the 2017 season.”
Meanwhile, it was a hard fought win for sister Lechner MSG Racing Team’s Ammermuller, who had lost his lead to teammate Daniel Cammish on Lap 1 in Turn 1 on the 4.381km circuit.
But the German bid his time and regained the lost position on Lap 8 to take his fourth win in the season, extending his championship lead over Walter Lechner Racing Team’s Dennis Olsen.
After Ammermuller, Norway’s Olsen also managed to overtake Cammish for second, demoting the British driver to the third step on the podium. The trio head the drivers’ standings in the same order after six rounds in the season.
The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup racing action resumes at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium during the August 25-27 weekend for a double-header Round 7 and 8.
The teams are scheduled to meet for an in-season test early August at Monza, before the Spa-Francorchamps weekend.
