Nicki Thiim followed in his fathers footsteps this weekend as he took victory at the Norisring in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, twenty-six years on from Kurt Thiim (Nicki’s father) winning the DTM race at the Nuremberg circuit; in doing so he also became the fourth different winner in the 2015 series out of four race weekends.
“On every single lap you have to concentrate 110 percent, because if you make a mistake on this circuit you pay dearly. It’s simply fantastic to win on this race track” – Nicki Thiim
Starting from pole position the 26-year-old got the jump on Porsche Junior Matteo Cairoli who qualified in an impressive second place; Thiim would drive a solid race to stay at the front of a field, while Cairoli fended off the competition to follow Thiim home for a second place. “I’m totally happy with my first podium in the German Carrera Cup. It can continue like this,” said the reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Italia champion.
Eventual third place finisher Philipp Eng had more work to do throughout the race after being caught up in an incident at the start on the narrow circuit; he would go on to post the fastest lap of the race before waiting for his chance to pounce on Porsche Junior Connor de Phillippi for the final podium position.
“Matteo and I achieved a super result for the Project 1 team with two podium places. The car ran beautifully and I posted the fastest race lap. Plus I extended by championship lead,” said Eng after the race.
de Phillippi started the race in fifth place and thanks to a perfect start had gained two places; a gearshift issue would put and end to his podium hopes, he would hang on for fourth place for some all important championship points.
Christian Engelhart took fifth place ahead of Jeffrey Schmidt while a late charge from Alex Riberas relegated Michael Ammermüller and Porsche Junior Sven Müller to eighth and ninth place. “In the really tight corners I damaged the front side of the car which made it harder to drive afterwards.” explained Müller.
[list][list_item icon=”entypo-info”]Following the post-race scrutineering it was deemed that Cairoli’s Porsche had a non-conforming part fitted and subsequently disqualified from the results. [/list_item][/list]
2015 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland Race 6 top 10:
- Nicki Thiim (DK/KÜS Team 75 Bernhard)
- Matteo Cairoli (I/Team Deutsche Post by Project 1)*
- Philipp Eng (A/Team Deutsche Post by Project 1)
- Connor de Phillippi (USA/Land-Motorsport)
- Christian Engelhart (D/TECE MRS-Racing)
- Jeffrey Schmidt (CH/Lechner Racing Middle East)
- Alex Riberas (E/The Heart of Racing by Lechner)
- Michael Ammermüller (D/The Heart of Racing by Lechner)
- Sven Müller (D/Lechner Racing Middle East)
- Robert Renauer (D/Herberth Motorsport)
*Disqualified after the race
