• Hurricane Patricia responsible for rain chaos at season final• Cancelled qualifying and race makes for various discussions• Engelhart loses ground and finishes season in fourth overall
It was all or nothing for Molitor Racing Systems at the season final of the Porsche MOBIL 1 season final at the Texan race track in Austin, but Hurricane Patricia crossed the plans of both the team and the entire Porsche Paddock. Freak weather and unfortunate decisions led to MRS losing out and only finishing in fourth position in the Driver´s Championship with Christian Engelhart.
Due to immense rain falls, the one-hour training session on Friday was shorted to only 20 minutes. Qualifying was due to start Saturday morning, but because of the weather it was cancelled as well as the second-to-last championship round in the afternoon – which was cancelled without replacement.
The grid formation for the final race, taking place on Sunday, resulted from the second-fastest lap timed in Friday´s 20 minute session. Therefore, Christian Engelhart, who was fighting for the Vice-Championship, was forced to start from P19 on the grid, a decision that basically destroyed all hopes for the team. The start went underway behind the Safety Car, making all attempts to improve position impossible for Engelhart. A slight collision on the first lap through him right at the back of the field but with a lot of fighting spirit, Engelhart fought his way up into 13th place – still a very bitter disappointment.
“I was able to push forwards after the collision, but there was just nothing more I could do”, said Engelhart. “We became fourth in the championship and have lost a lot in one day. Of course, we are disappointed, but once some time has passed we will look at it with different eyes. We had a very good season when combining Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup and I think overall, we can be happy with our achievements.”
Molitor Racing Systems also lost one position in the Team´s Championship and finishing the year as the fifth-best team in the Supercup ranking. A long season for the team, which is based near Ulm, is coming to an end, but the crew will also take part in the 12hrs Abu Dhabi in December 2015.
Karsten Molitor, Team Principal Molitor Racing Systems: „We are extremely disappointed about the decision by Race Control to use the second-fastest lap from the training to decide the grid for the last remaining race. In our mind, this is not in line with any regulations and has a negative connotation. It is nobody´s fault that the weather turned out to be the way it was, but the possibly worst version of running an event was made this weekend, a version however, that did the Sport no good.”
“However, I still would like to thank the entire MRS Team for their fantastic work this year. We had a tough and long season, we were constantly running in top positions and we had not one technical failure. Each and every one of them has given his all, but unfortunately, this is sometimes not enough. We will continue exactly the way we have done and the deserved results will soon happen.”
