Kuba Giermaziak clinched his first ever victory in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in round 7 of the season at the Hungaroring.
The Polish driver had scored his maiden pole at the last round at the Nurburgring, but this time it would be series rookie Kevin Estre's turn to take his first pole. He kept hold of the lead at the start, but a trip through the gravel in the wet conditions on the first lap allowed championship leader Rene Rast to take the lead.
The German looked like he would take his fifth straight Supercup victory, but the defending champion made several mistakes which dropped him down the field. He would eventually have to retire with technical problems.
Giermaziak inherited the lead from Rast having passed Sean Edwards for second. The 21-year-old pulled away from the rest of the field and crossed the line with a margin of 18 seconds. Edwards fell into the clutches of Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit teammate Jeroen Bleekemolen, and the Dutchman found a way through for second before the finish.
Norbert Siedler finished fourth after coming through from tenth on the grid, ahead of Estre and Robert Lukas. Stefan Rosina and Alessandro Zampedri were seventh and eighth, with Nick Tandy finishing down in ninth after a second lap spin. Abu Dhabi's Khaled Al Qubaisi finished in tenth.
“I'm absolutely delighted with my first victory in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, and my biggest thanks go to my team,” said Giermaziak afterwards. “It's incredible how hard the boys work to put a perfect car on the track for us at every race. We tested here in Budapest, luckily in rain, and that paid off.
“We knew we'd do very well on the wet circuit, but we hadn't anticipated that we'd do it with such a huge advantage. Despite the awful weather conditions I didn't make any mistakes. I'm particularly pleased for the many Polish fans who came so far this weekend to support us. Thank you all very much.”
Rast's retirement means that third place is enough for Edwards to regain the championship lead, one point ahead of the German.
“Now that was one crazy race,” said the Briton. “I had a lot of fun. The grip wasn't really great over the distance and I had to fight hard to defend my position. But there was nothing I could do about Jeroen. Still, I'm totally happy. Both cars from Abu Dhabi by tolimit on the podium, the first time this season – that's a great result. I'm hoping we can continue like this at the next race in Spa. The championship is really exciting now.”
Race results – 14 laps:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | Kuba Giermaziak | Verva | 30:12.507 |
2 | Jeroen Bleekemolen | Abu Dhabi by tolimit | + 0:18.783 |
3 | Sean Edwards | Abu Dhabi by tolimit | + 0:19.449 |
4 | Norbert Siedler | Veltins Lechner | + 0:21.931 |
5 | Kevin Estre | Hermes Attempto | + 0:23.112 |
6 | Robert Lukas | Hermes Attempto | + 0:24.531 |
7 | Stefan Rosina | Verva | + 0:25.401 |
8 | Alessandro Zampedri | Bleekemolen | + 0:40.699 |
9 | Nick Tandy | Konrad | + 0:50.141 |
10 | Khaled Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi by tolimit | + 0:55.462 |
11 | Mathias Lauda | Konrad Austria | + 1:00.295 |
12 | Isaac Tutumlu | Sanitec Aquiles MRS | + 1:01.882 |
13 | Andreas Mayerl | Konrad Austria | + 1:05.095 |
14 | William Langhorne | Sanitec Aquiles MRS | + 1:42.802 |
15 | Patrick Huisman | Bleekemolen | + 1 Lap |
16 | Rene Rast | Veltins Lechner | + 4 Laps |
17 | Christian Engelhardt | Konrad | + 7 Laps |
Sebastiaan Bleekemolen | Bleekemolen | 0 laps |
Drivers' classification after 7 of 11 races:
1. Sean Edwards, 106 points
2. Rene Rast, 105
3. Norbert Siedler, 97
4. Kuba Giermaziak, 90
5. Jeroen Bleekemolen, 86
6. Nick Tandy, 79