Kuba Giermaziak scored his second consecutive victory in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup with a lights-to-flag victory at Spa-Francorchamps.
Giermaziak was beaten off the line by fellow front row starter Patrick Huisman, who just about nosed ahead on the run down to La Source. Giermaziak had the inside line for the tight first turn though, allowing him to hold onto his lead.
He quickly opened up a lead which went up to more than five seconds, but he was hunted down in the closing stages by Rene Rast, who had charged through from fifth on the grid. Giermaziak held onto win, half a second ahead of Rast.
“What a fantastic race,” said Giermaziak. “I had luck on my side though – two more laps and I would very likely have had great difficulty fending off the others. My start wasn't that great, we really must practice that more, because the distance to the first corner in Monza is even further.
“Still, I managed to hold my lead and possibly pushed a little too hard to put some distance between me and my pursuers. Towards the end my tyres were deteriorating and René was catching me. I hardly dared to look in the rear vision mirror. I tried to take a little heat out of the pace because if you're going full-tilt you're more likely to make mistakes. Luckily it was enough to win. Now we've shown we are not just good in the rain, but we can also win in dry conditions.”
Rast said: “That was great. To come from fifth and finish second, and then grab the championship lead – you can't wish for more than that. I'm totally happy, even though it didn't work with my first win in Spa. My car was ultra-fast over the whole weekend. If the race had been one lap longer I would got past Kuba. Anyway, I'm absolutely over the moon.”
Nick Tandy finished in third place, four seconds behind the winner.
“That wasn't a bad race,” said the Briton. “We've collected some important points. Qualifying was the problem. If I'd been faster there I could have done better in the race.”
Sean Edwards had started alongside Tandy on the second row of the grid, but the championship leader coming into the race made a mistake at Eau Rouge on the opening lap which dropped him back to seventh place. He finished in sixth place, behind Jeroen Bleekemolen and Christian Engelhardt. Huisman fell backwards after contact with Rast.
Race results – 11 laps:
Pos. | Car No. | Driver/Team | Time/Gap |
1 | 10 | Giermaziak, Kuba VERVA Racing |
26:58.941 |
2 | 1 | Rast, René Veltins Lechner Racing |
+ 0.531 |
3 | 3 | Tandy, Nick Konrad Motorsport |
+ 4.091 |
4 | 15 | Bleekemolen, Jeroen Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit |
+ 5.118 |
5 | 4 | Engelhart, Christian Konrad Motorsport |
+ 8.117 |
6 | 16 | Edwards, Sean Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit |
+ 9.679 |
7 | 2 | Siedler, Norbert Veltins Lechner Racing |
+ 10.258 |
8 | 17 | Bleekemolen, Sebastiaan Team Bleekemolen |
+ 12.911 |
9 | 12 | Estre, Kévin Hermes Attempto Racing |
+ 14.175 |
10 | 9 | Rosina, Stefan VERVA Racing |
+ 15.602 |
11 | 18 | Huisman, Patrick Team Bleekemolen |
+ 19.485 |
12 | 11 | Lukas, Robert Hermes Attempto Racing |
+ 21.182 |
13 | 35 | Passuti, Christian Antonelli Motorsport (ITA) |
+ 31.967 |
14 | 8 | Thiim, Nicki SANITEC Aquiles MRS Team |
+ 40.712 |
15 | 19 | Schothorst, Bas Team Bleekemolen |
+ 44.154 |
16 | 5 | Mayerl, Andreas Konrad Motorsport Austria |
+ 53.648 |
17 | 46 | Scharmach, Peter Lechner Racing |
+ 54.312 |
18 | 14 | Al Qubaisi, Khaled Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit |
+ 55.955 |
19 | 7 | Langhorne, William SANITEC Aquiles MRS Team |
+ 59.049 |
20 | 37 | Slingerland, Oskar Lechner Racing |
+ 1:35.105 |
21 | 36 | Giondi, Massimo Antonelli Motorsport (ITA) |
+ 1:52.082 |
22 | 47 | Tutumlu Lopez, Isaac Hermes Attempto Racing |
+ 2:12.175 |
Ret | 6 | Lauda, Mathias Konrad Motorsport Austria |
0 laps |