The 2019 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup resumes this weekend in Austria after a short break since the last race around the tight and twisty streets of Monaco.
Reigning champion Ammermüller in control
Leading the way in to the Red Bull Ring is reigning champion Michael Ammermüller who holds a six point advantage over Ayhancan Güven after taking victory in Monte-Carlo.
The BWT Lechner Racing driver has yet to win at the Spielberg circuit with his best result coming in 2017 when he finished second to Matt Campbell. Consistency is the key for the 33-year-old having shown last year that you don’t have to win every race to secure the championship, six podium finishes plus a victory in the opening round led him to his second Supercup title.
Turkish superstar Ayhancan Güven has exploded on to the international stage this year, off of the back of taking the Porsche Carrera Cup France, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux – Cup, and FIA GT Nations Cup in 2018 the 21-year-old has shown that he is not afraid to get involved in battles at the front of the field after pushing Julien Andlauer all of the way to the chequered flag in the opening race of the year as he secured second place on his Supercup debut.
Fresh from a fourth-in-class finish at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Dempsey-Proton Racing team, Julien Andlauer will be looking to put behind the frustrations of Monaco.
With qualifying being key at the Monte-Carlo street circuit, the Frenchman was caught out at the end of the session due to another competitor crashing, the result of this meant that he could not set a faster time, leaving him languishing in seventh place.
Being near impossible to pass on the narrow circuit meant that Andlauer could do little other than stay in line and claim nine points for seventh place, unfortunately dropping him down to third in the championship.
Mikkel O. Pedersen put himself in contention for the championship after securing second place in Monaco, the Dane is now only one point adrift of Andlauer, and eight points away from the championship lead. A strong result in Austria could see him emerge as an early contender for the title.
2018 Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Tio Ellinas was another driver like Andlauer that missed out in Monaco due to the frustrations of qualifying; Pedersen’s second place finish last time out saw him leapfrog the Cypriot driver in the championship standings. Ellinas will visit the Red Bull Ring for the first time since 2015 when he raced in Formula Renault 3.5 as he hopes to make a break away from Jaap van Lagen who is currently tied on points in the standings for fifth place.
Larry ten Voorde returned to the series after missing the opening round of the championship, his fourth place finish in Monaco catapulted him to eighth in the championship, just three points behind Frenchman Florian Latorre.
Al Faisal Al Zubair is in the midst of his best season in Supercup, currently ninth in the championship the reigning Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East champion has already secured two top-ten finishes. The Omani occupies ninth place alongside New Zealander and Porsche Junior Jaxon Evans who is also on fifteen points,
Former single-seater racer Joey Mawson continues to get to grips with the 495 bhp Porsche’s, he has had two strong races to finish just outside of the top ten, this weekend could see the Australian make a break through.
Dylan Pereira has suffered a poor start to the year, the former front-runner currently languishes in fifteenth place, with only four points scored so far from Spain, and after failing to finish in Monaco the Luxembourger will be hoping for better luck his weekend and a return to the top ten.
South African driver Ewan Taylor joins the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup grid after dealing with visa issues which have prevented him from taking part in the season so far. The rookie will drive with the MRS GT-Racing team in the #14 car
Lindland leads battle for Pro-Am
Reigning Pro-Am champion Roar Lindland is in control of the championship after back-to-back victories in the pierre martinet by ALMERAS Porsche in Spain and Monaco. The Norweigian leads the way with a perfect score of forty points over Nicholas Misslin and Philipp Sager on thirty-four.
Sager will be hoping to make the most of the weekend with Misslin sitting the next few races out, he will have the added boost this weekend of racing in front of his home crowd.
Stephen Grove will also be looking to close the gap to the top three after finishing fourth and fifth in class in the opening races. The Australian is currently fourth in the championship on twenty-six points.
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