Sean Edwards scored his first Supercup win in difficult conditions
Stuttgart. Sean Edwards from Great Britain has won the seventh round of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. Under extremely wet and difficult track conditions, the British 21-year-old beat his opponents in an exciting race and celebrated his first victory at the world’s fastest one-make series.
Right from the start the rain-drenched Silverstone race was turbulent and full of suspense. Pole-setter Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands, Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen) won the sprint to the first corner against Jan Seyffarth (Germany, Konrad Motorsport). Trailing the two were Jaap van Lagen (Netherlands, Damac Kadach Racing Team), reigning vice-champion Damien Faulkner (Ireland, SAS Lechner Racing) and Stefan Rosina (Slovakia, Lechner Racing Bahrain) ahead of ex-DTM pilot David Saelens (Netherlands, Irwin Racing), who lost three positions at the start.
At the front, Seyffarth had to take the emergency exit in Vale corner and took over the lead for a short time. Behind him van Lagen hit the car of his compatriot Bleekemolen which sent the latter spinning from the track. Another collision followed between Saelens and Martin Ragginger (Austria), which resulted in the vehicle of the UPS-Porsche junior Ragginger spinning and hitting the rear of Dutchman Patrick Huisman’s Irwin Racing car. Darryl O’Young (Hong Kong, Schnabl Engineering-LKM-KplusK) and Pedro Petiz (Portugal, Racing Team Jetstream PZ Essen) also found no way of avoiding the fray and collided with the Porsche of quadruple Supercup champion Huisman.
Just before the race management decided to send out the safety car, Seyffarth made a mistake. The championship’s number two spun on the track and was hit by Faulkner’s car from behind, who consequently retired with a damaged radiator.
In the four-lap safety car phase, Jaap van Lagen led the field followed by David Saelens, Stefan Rosina, Sean Edwards and Danny Watts (Great Britain, SAS Lechner Racing). However in the third lap Van Lagen’s race came to an end as a result of the previous collision with Jeroen Bleekemolen. After the race took off again in lap six it was Rosina, ahead of Edwards, Watts and Saelens, who then rapidly lost ground and drove into the pits.
The leading British-Slovakian trio then delivered an action-packed fight for positions. In lap eight Sean Edwards squeezed past Rosina on the finish straight and held onto his lead until the flag after the maximum duration of 30 minutes. His compatriot Danny Watts swept over the finish line in second followed by Stefan Rosina in third.
UPS-Porsche junior Marco Holzer from Germany put in an excellent drive. The 19-year-old youngster took up the race from 15th on the grid and cleverly avoided any fights or collisions. Holzer saw the chequered flag in sixth and with this celebrated his best result by now in a Porsche.
Sean Edwards (winner): “From the first lap on it was a fight for survival. It was a constant battle just to keep the car on the track. Luckily it all worked out. The Porsche was fantastic and my team did an excellent job in preparing the car for these conditions. It’s a great feeling to win a Supercup race – but to win it here in front of my family and friends, well, that’s simply indescribable.”
Danny Watts (second): “I’m totally happy. Second at my home race is wonderful. My whole family is here so now it’s time to party – especially with my team. They put a perfect car on the track for me today. Perhaps I could have done a bit better but the circumstances didn’t warrant the risk of losing points for second place.”
Stefan Rosina (third): “I’m pleased I could again show what I can do. This is my second podium result this season. I had no chance against my two British opponents. This is their home track and they know it well. A huge thank you to Walter Lechner and my team. They did a fantastic job and have supported me wonderfully.”
Marco Holzer (sixth): “I was furious going into the race today because things didn’t go very well for me yesterday. My start today was very good and I made up a couple of positions. Afterwards I kept out of trouble which wasn’t easy. I’m happy with sixth. I think I could have managed fifth but I didn’t want to take too many risks. As a guest driver I don’t take home any points and I didn’t want to wreck anyone else’s race. The conditions were extremely difficult today. This is my best result by now – it can continue like this.”
Race result:
1. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport, 25:15.111 min. (121.903 km/h)
2. Danny Watts (GB), SAS Lechner Racing, + 0.935 seconds
3. Stefan Rosina (SK), Lechner Racing Bahrain, + 4.578
4. James Sutton (GB), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 13.346
5. Sebastiaan Bleekemolen (NL), Bleekemolens Race Planet – PZ Eindhoven, + 15.660
6. Marco Holzer (D), UPS-Porsche-Junior-Team, + 16.260
7. Sam Hancock (GB), Porsche Cars GB, 17.462
8. Norbert Siedler (AT), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 18.143
9. Alessandro Zampedri (IT), Lechner Racing Bahrain, + 18.640
10. Tim Harvey (GB), Porsche Cars GB, + 20.036