Rene Rast mastered the wet conditions on the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife to win the inaugural Porsche Carrera World Cup.
The defending Porsche Supercup champion passed his polesitting Veltins Lechner Racing teammate Norbert Siedler on the opening lap and kept the lead until the finish of the six lap race.
“It's an indescribable feeling to have won the greatest Porsche race of all time,” said Rast. “After the start I managed to overtake Norbert in the first lap and then tried to control the race. The key to success today was that I made not one mistake.
“Conditions were tough out there in the rain, particularly because I've never driven the Porsche on the Nordschleife in the wet. It was difficult to evaluate the grip level hence I was a little cautious at the start.”
Despite Rast building a reasonable advantage over the opening laps, Siedler closed right up to him on the fourth lap as they tried to lap slower traffic. However, he would have to settle for second. In the end he was luckly to keep hold of second place after running wide at one turn on the penultimate lap and nearly hitting the barrier.
The Supercup standings leader coming into the race, Nick Tandy attempted to pass Siedler for second during the second lap. However, in the tricky conditions he braked too late and slid into the barrier and out of the race. Kuba Giermaziak and Patrick Huisman came together right behind and also found the gravel, but both were able to continue on their way.
Tandy's off promoted compatriot Sean Edwards into third place. Lance David Arnold made an amazing move to take the place from Edwards at the end of the third lap, dipping a wheel onto the wet grass at high speed as he squeezed past. Edwards would then lose fourth to Nicki Thiim at Turn 1 on the next lap, only for the Dane to then run into Arnold, causing enough damage to see him retire to the pits at the end of the GP loop on that lap.
Arnold closed right up to Rast and Siedler at the end of the race to score an unlikely podium. Edwards finished in fourth, taking the lead in both the Supercup and Carrera Cup Deutschland standings as a result. Nicolas Armindo finished fifth to win the Carrera Cup Deutschland race, just ahead of Hermes Attempto Racing teammate Kevin Estre, who was top Carrera Cup France runner.
Jeroen Bleekemoelen finished seventh, with Martin Ragginger, Huisman and Stefan Rosina rounding out the top ten. Alessandro Balzan finished as the top Carrera Cup Italia runner in 12th overall – one place ahead of Tim Harvey, who bowed out of the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain by winning the category. Johan Kristofferson was the top Scandinavian entry in 25th overall.
1. René Rast (D), VELTINS Lechner Racing, 1:00:48.621 hours
2. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS Lechner Racing, + 1.9 seconds
3. Lance David Arnold (D), Motopark Oschersleben, + 3.6
4. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, + 18.0
5. Nicolas Armindo (F), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 29.8
6. Kévin Estre (F), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 33.4
7. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, + 37.0
8. Martin Ragginger (A), Schnabl Engineering, + 39.6
9. Patrick Huisman (NL), Team Bleekemolen, + 42.1
10. Stefan Rosina (SK), VERVA Racing Team, + 1:10.8 minutes
