Sean Edwards – king of the rain
Stuttgart. Sean Edwards from Great Britain triumphed at the eleventh round of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup in Spa-Francorchamps. For the 21-year-old Konrad Motorsport pilot, this was his second victory of the season, with both wins on wet tracks.
The race took off on the traditional circuit in the Ardennes under dry conditions. Pole-setter René Rast (Germany, VELTINS MRS Racing) won the sprint to the first corner against newly-crowned champion Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands, Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen). Chasing the pair were David Saelens (Belgium, Irwin Racing) and Sean Edwards. The four tackled the famous Eau Rouge corner in this order. In the Les Combes corner, which comes after the Kemmel Straight, Rast spun and Bleekemolen slipped into the lead. One lap later the new Supercup champion had to let his compatriot Jaap van Lagen past, who quickly built up a gap of several seconds.
Rain set in during the fifth lap changing the conditions on the 6.97 kilometre circuit. For Edwards the wet surface hardly made a difference. He immediately attacked Bleekemolen in second and overtook him in the following lap. Two laps later Jaap van Lagen slid from the circuit, had to lift his foot for a second, giving Edwards the chance to nip past. The Briton then held onto the lead until receiving the chequered flag after 29:10.422 minutes.
Jaap van Lagen crossed the finish line second, 1.8 seconds behind Sean Edwards. Securing third, the new Supercup champion Jeroen Bleekemolen completed the podium.
Bringing home fourth from the eleven lap sprint, Norbert Siedler (Austria, VELTINS MRS Racing) achieved his best result of the season. Fifth went to four-time Supercup champion Patrick Huisman (Netherlands, Irwin Racing), followed by his team mate David Saelens, who damaged a radiator in the final lap and slipped from fourth to finish sixth. Meanwhile, youngster Rast put in a spirited drive after his spin in the first lap, fighting his way from the back of the field to secure seventh. Also putting in an impressive charge, 20-year-old UPS-Porsche Junior Marco Holzer (Germany) took up the sprint from 23rd to see the flag in twelfth.
This coming weekend the final of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup takes place in the Royal Park of Monza in Italy. Taking up the challenge in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup alongside the Porsche regulars is Albert II, Prince of Thurn and Taxis (Regensburg). The world's third youngest billionaire, according to Forbes Magazine, is a special start guest in the #40 VIP-911 on the high-speed circuit.
Sean Edwards (winner): ”That was an unbelievable race. Fantastic! The first lap was crazy. In Les Combes we tried to brake as late as possible. I really had to be careful not to damage my car. But it went well and then I tried to catch up. When the rain set in my 911's set-up worked brilliantly. It was simply great. When I overtook Jeroen I had excellent grip on the outside and just slipped past. I couldn't believe it when I caught Jaap. Luckily he made a slight error and I repeated what I did with Jeroen. It was a fantastic race. It would be great if we could do it again in Monza.”
Jaap van Lagen (second): “A very exciting race. Normally I love to drive under such conditions, but Sean was simply too strong. His vehicle was extremely well set-up for rain that there was no holding him back in the wet. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't win. Still, I enjoyed being in the lead for quite some time.”
Jeroen Bleekemolen (third): “What a wonderful weekend! Yesterday a champion, today third. I'm very happy. I enjoyed the race today. Unfortunately I lost the front lip spoiler and had to deal with understeering. I was leading but I knew I couldn't hold onto it for long. Towards the end I had to take care that I didn't lose third place as well. So I'm very pleased with this result. Our Prime Minister, Jan Peter Blankenende visited me on the grid. He's a great fan of ours and follows what we are up to. He congratulated me on winning the championship. I thought that a very nice gesture.”
Race result:
1. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport, 29:10.422 min. (158.197 km/h)
2. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Damac Kadach Racing Team, + 1.833 seconds
3. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL), Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen, + 5.632
4. Norbert Siedler (AT), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 7.070
5. Patrick Huisman (NL), Irwin Racing, + 7.627
6. David Saelens (BE) Irwin Racing, + 10.247
7. René Rast (D), VELTINS MRS Racing, + 14.284
8. Jiri Janak (CZ), Konrad Motorsport, + 15.576
9. Stefan Rosina (SK), Lechner Racing Bahrain, + 16.671
10. Jan Seyffarth (D), tolimit Motorsport, + 18.449