Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup – Spa-Francorchamps.
Engelhart solidifies second place in Porsche Supercup Championship Goddard collects important points with P16 in Race
Molitor Racing Systems solidified second place in the Championship Standings with its Porsche Routinier Christian Engelhart, following the sixth and seventh round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Championship at the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps. Spike Goddard impressed with a good run, finishing in P16 and collecting valid points for the Rookie-Standings.
The #14 MRS-Porsche was already on route to the podium, with Engelhart setting the absolute best-time in Friday´s Free Practice. Due to extending track limits, Engelhart´s fastest time was cancelled but his second fastest still saw him in P2 with 0.011 seconds off pace.
The 30-minute qualifying on Saturday midday saw an incredible density amongst the 33-strong driver field, with the Top-10 drivers all setting times within one second. Engelhart recorded the third fastest time for both races, despite a small incident in Eau Rouge. “I was on one of my fast laps when I got hit in the back going into Eau Rouge”, said Engelhart. “That was the end to my new set of tyres. But we still had a good qualifying and everything was possible from P3 on the grid. The lap times were incredibly tight. I was only missing 0.115 and 0.046 seconds off the Pole-Time.”
Engelhart did not have a good start into the first race on Saturday evening and crossed the finishing line in P5. “The race was very tough and I had to fight with some problems on the front suspension”, said the Ingolstadt-based driver. “The car was great the whole weekend, so this issue came a bit as a surprise. I fought like a lion, but I pretty much lost everything at the start and was unable to keep up with the other drivers in front of me.”
His team-mate Spike Goddard struck again with a great run from P24 on the grid to finish in P16. “I had a good start, but once we came toward the hairpin, there was just carnage”, said the Australian, who celebrated his 23rd birthday last Monday. “I was held up a little, but from that on I made good progress and overtook a few others. I was very pleased with my lap times and I am glad to have scored some points.”
The second race, which took place on Sunday midday, was a great spectacle to all the thousands of spectators having lined-up around the track in the Ardennes. Engelhart had a better start, but he could not intervene in the battle for victory between Eng and Müller. He finished the race in P3, collecting important points for the championship and securing his third podium of the current season. “You can score a total of 80 points in thelast four races, anything is possible. It counts at the end!” he said. Following his great drive in race 1, Spike Goddard had another great getaway into the second race. But an overexcited colleague drove into the Australian in La Source, damaging his car heavily. “That was really frustrating”, said Goddard. “I was running in the points again and it is annoying to have the car damaged and to be put back just because of an error by someone else. I had to fight quite hard during the last part of the race.”
The next Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Race weekend will go underway from 4th until 6th September at the Italian race track in Monza. There will be two races again same as for the season finale at Austin.
