Philipp Eng secured his third win of the 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland season as the series headed to the Dutch North sea coast circuit of Zandvoort.
Eng started the race from pole position and got a perfect start to put space between his Porsche 911 GT3 and the rest of the field.
Michael Ammermüller, Alex Riberas and Porsche Junior Connor de Phillippi followed ahead of Christian Engelhart who lost ground on the lead pack in the opening stages of the race, holding up the chasing drivers in the process. An unusual mistake on lap four by Porsche Carrera Cup GB star Daniel Cammish saw the Brit miss his braking point, ending up in the gravel trap and forcing a safety car.
As the race went green again Eng was unstoppable, by the end of the race he had built up a gap of 2.7 seconds over his nearest rival Ammermüller.
“Eng was simply unbeatable in this race. I couldn’t do more than second today” – Michael Ammermüller
“This is my third victory so far this season. Things are going really well for me at the moment. However, the Zandvoort circuit is a special challenge for all drivers. Sand from the nearby dunes is blown onto the track and that makes driving riskier. And you shouldn’t underestimate the strength of the wind,” declared Eng, who’s victory provides him with a 37-point advantage in the championship.
“It’s always great to stand on the podium. Michael Ammermüller and I yielded a good harvest today for our Lechner team. Unfortunately overtaking is really difficult here at Zandvoort because the track is very narrow,” said Riberas who finished the race in the final podium position.
American driver de Phillippi finished a solid fourth place but rued what could have been, “I managed to convert my fourth grid spot into fourth at the flag, but it’s always tough to narrowly miss out on a podium result. Zandvoort is probably the most American track on the calendar. The speed is high and the cars get pretty close to the barriers. I’m looking forward to the race on Sunday.”
Engelhart secured fifth place ahead of Porsche Junior Sven Müller, “Unfortunately I botched my start and lost one position. Christian Engelhart and I were locked in a great and absolutely clean fight, but I just couldn’t find a way around him,” said Müller.
Fellow Junior driver Matteo Cairoli took seventh place “It wasn’t too bad. I fought my way through and made it safely through the melee,” said Cairoli.
Robert Renauer, Christopher Zöchling and Sean Johnston rounded out the top 10.
2015 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland Race 8 top 10:
- Philipp Eng (A/Team Deutsche Post by Project 1)
- Michael Ammermüller (D/The Heart of Racing by Lechner)
- Alex Riberas (E/The Heart of Racing by Lechner)
- Connor de Phillippi (USA/Land-Motorsport)
- Christian Engelhart (D/TECE MRS-Racing)
- Sven Müller (D/Lechner Racing Middle East)
- Matteo Cairoli (I/Team Deutsche Post by Project 1)
- Robert Renauer (D/Herberth Motorsport)
- Christopher Zöchling (A/Konrad Motorsport)
- Sean Johnston (USA/Market Leader Team by Project 1)
Points’ standings after 8 of 17 races
Drivers’ classification
- Philipp Eng (A/Team Deutsche Post by Project 1), 134 points
- Christian Engelhart (D/TECE MRS-Racing), 97 points
- Jeffrey Schmidt (CH/Lechner Racing Middle East), 95 points
- Alex Riberas (E/The Heart of Racing by Lechner), 94 points
- Michael Ammermüller (D/The Heart of Racing by Lechner), 93 points
Rookie classification
- Richard Charles Goddard (AUS/TECE MRS-Racing), 10 points
- Pepe Massot (E/KÜS Team 75 Bernhard), 7 points
- Alexander Toril (E/Market Leader Team by Project 1), 5 points
Amateur classification
- Rolf Ineichen (CH/Konrad Motorsport), 140 points
- Wolf Nathan (NL/Land-Motorsport), 138 points
- Ralf Bohn (D/Herberth Motorsport), 104 point
Team classification
- The Heart of Racing by Lechner, 187 points
- Team Deutsche Post by Project 1, 185 points
- Lechner Racing Middle East, 171 points
