at Porsche Carrera Cup Germany
No Top-15 finishes due to poor starts and traffic Round four and five of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany at LausitzringDespite not finishing Race 2, the 22-year-old still leads the Rookie Championship by two points
The Australian racing driver Spike Goddard maintained his lead of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany Rookie Standing following the fourth and fifth rounds of the competitive championship at Lausitzring.However, it was his toughest race meeting in recent weeks with the field of 23 cars closer together than on any other race track so far this year.
During Free Practice on Friday, the #15 MRS-Driver completed 33 laps on the 3.5 kilometre-long track with his fastest time of 1:26.264, placing him in 17th position, a gap of 1.16 seconds off of position one set by Philipp Eng.
The 30-minute qualifying session took place on Saturday morning during which Spike completed 17 laps with his fastest two laps being 1:25.604 and 1:25.682. He was able to narrow the gap to P1 (Eng) to 0.9 seconds (from 1.16 seconds in free practice) but his performance only secured him 17th position on the grid for both races. “The times in qualifying were even closer than in free practice, a lot closer than on any of the other tracks that we have raced on so far this year, but that made for interesting racing.” said the 22-year-old. “Lausitzring has a very tricky track layout and it was quite easy to lock-up when pushing too hard, especially at the left-hand corner coming off the oval at the back of the track. The field was very close.”
The first race of the weekend over 18 laps took place on Saturday afternoon.Unfortunately, Spike got a poor start and lost two positions by the first corner. This poor start resulted in being held behind Alexander Toril. Towards the end of the race Spike’s car had tyre issues and he was unable to attack further. He finished the race in 18th place, setting a fastest lap of 1:26.433 (0.6 seconds off the fastest lap of the race).
The second race of the weekend over 24 laps started on Sunday morning in sunny and clear conditions. Once again, Spike had a poor start off the line, which immediately put him under attack. This race was full of action and at the beginning he had a good fight with Alex Toril and Rolf Ineichen. He then touched his team-mate Elia Erhart and finally his race ended on lap 13.
The Italian Matteo Cairoli had a big moment jumping over a curb, resulting in his Porsche spilling coolant all over the corner. Immediately afterwards when Spike turned into the corner, he did not see the slippery liquid on the track and went over it causing him to spin off the track and into the gravel. He was pulled out of the gravel and he managed to get the car back to the pits, but was forced to retire – his first “did-not-finish” of the year.
“I am disappointed with the starts I had this weekend, I could have done a lot better which would have brought me further up the field and have a better chance at a Top-12 finish”, said Spike. “The competition was so close the whole weekend. I am still pleased with the lap times I achieved and the battles I had.”
Spike’s race pace was also better in the second race where he set his fastest lap-time just minutes before he was forced to retire. His fastest lap was a 1:26.197, which was over 0.200 seconds faster than his best time on Saturday (and 0.6 seconds off the fastest lap of the race).
