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Preview Supercup: race 4 in Turkye
Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, round 4 at the Grand Prix of Turkey, Preview: Series’ leader Bleekemolen keen to repeat Bosporus success
Stuttgart. This coming weekend the fourth round of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup takes off as support to the Grand Prix of Turkey. Jeroen Bleekemolen travels to the Bosporus leading the championship points – and with him he brings great memories. On the circuit in Istanbul Park where the world’s fastest international one-make championship celebrated its debut last year, the 26-year-old Dutchman topped all time sheets without exception. Not only did he dominate in free practice, but claimed pole position and led the field over the entire race distance to secure victory. And just for safe measure, he also posted the quickest race lap.
The former DTM pilot, who this season competes for Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen, returns to Istanbul eager to repeat his success and to increase his lead in the series. Bleekemolen heads the drivers’ classification with a total of 54 points after climbing the podium in second at the last three rounds. Hot on his bumper sits the former UPS-Porsche junior Jan Seyffarth (Germany) with 50 points. The 21-year-old Konrad Motorsport driver brought home a flag-to-flag victory at the previous round on the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. “I’ve finally got the hang of it. I always knew that I could do it and at last I proved it. Now we are really going to go for it,” said Seyffarth.
Behind the two leading pilots are three pursuers each holding 34 points. In Turkey the reigning vice-champion Damien Faulkner (Ireland, SAS Lechner Racing), as well as Chris Mamerow (Germany, Damac Kadach Racing Team) and René Rast (Germany, VELTINS MRS Racing) are determined to close the gap to the front-runners. “Twenty points is quite a lot but it’s no reason to throw in the towel,” says 23-year-old Mamerow. “I’ll keep trying everything. Anyone can have a bad day and the season is still long.”
Behind the top five, a fight goes head-to-head amongst a determined pack. Danny Watts from Great Britain ranks sixth in the overall classification. As the team mate of Damien Faulkner in the SAS Lechner Racing squad, the Irishman has yielded 31 points with two sixth and one seventh placing. Porsche specialist Uwe Alzen (Germany, SPS Performance – PZ Aschaffenburg) currently sits seventh with 29 points. Three points behind Alzen is Nicolas Armindo (France, tolimit Motorsport) with quadruple Porsche Supercup champion (1997-2000) Patrick Huisman from the Netherlands ranking ninth with 21 points. Rounding off the top ten is Huisman’s team mate David Saelens (Belgium, 19 points). These two ex DTM pilots compete for Irwin Racing in 2008.
With the championship standings so close, the odds are excellent for exciting racing on one of the world’s most modern circuits. With a track width of 21.5 metres, the 5.338 km Grand Prix track in Istanbul Park on the Asian side of the metropolis offers countless chances for overtaking. Following the contour of the terrain, its roller coaster layout adds to the challenge for the drivers as do the tricky corner combinations. Several of those curves must be tackled “blind” by the pilots in their 420hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup racers: on approaching the corner, the apex or exit is out of sight.
Television stations “Premiere” and “Eurosport 2” broadcast the race in Turkey live on Sunday from 11.15 hours. Additionally, “Eurosport” televises highlights on Sunday evening in its “Motorsports Weekend” programme.
Drivers’ classification after three of twelve rounds:
1. Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands), 54 points
3. Jan Seyffarth (Germany), 50 points
2. Chris Mamerow (Germany), 34 points
4. Damien Faulkner (Ireland), 34 points
5. René Rast (Germany), 34 points