Lechner Racing protégée Dennis Olsen propelled himself to the very front of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup title fight at Spa, taking two victories to add to his earlier Silverstone success.
Following on from team-mate Michael Ammermüller’s fourth victory of the season at the Hungaroring, Olsen was imperious at Spa-Francorchamps. He topped both qualifying sessions by over a quarter of a second and was able to control the main events unchallenged from the front of the field.
Mattia Drudi was the only interloper across a weekend where five of the six rostrum positions would be claimed by Lechner Racing contenders, outpacing and outracing Ammermüller during the Saturday evening race to tail Olsen for Dinamic Motorsport.
Drudi’s result was all the more notable as it is his first podium in 2017. Carrera Cup GB double champion and Lechner driver Dan Cammish pushed from seventh on the grid and worked his way to fourth, tracked by Robert Lukas (Lukas Motorsport) who had similarly climbed from ninth to fifth.
In contrast, Red Bull Ring race winner Matt Campbell fell down the order and couldn’t maintain his qualifying pace which had been sufficient for fourth for FACH AUTO TECH. Guesting Nick Yelloly (MOMO Megatron Team Partrax) and regular Josh Webster (FACH AUTO TECH) ensured British drivers represented a third of the top ten order – Seventh and ninth respectively.
Whilst Webster would round off his weekend on Sunday morning with another impressive top nine, Yelloly starred. He had qualified second the previous day, and although he was ultimately usurped by the Lechner freight train of Ammermüller and a revitalised Dylan Pereira on the penultimate lap after losing traction on oil, Yelloly once more proved himself to be one of the hidden British gems in GT racing currently.
For both Drudi and Cammish Sunday would prove to be the juxtaposition to their dream Saturday’s. From maiden podium Drudi endured a dramatic race and fell to nineteenth, his most significant moment coming at Les Combes after a slight brush with Zaid Ashkanani (MRS-GT Racing). Cammish found his Type 991 GT3 Cup forced off the road and into retirement after contact.
At the head of the order Olsen was sensational and now sits a scant eight points away from his vastly more experienced team-mate Ammermüller. Cammish is third but fifty points off the summit. With Monza beckoning, Supercup 2017 is now emphatically a two horse race.
