STUTTGART, Germany — The finale of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland season could hardly have concluded more appropriately, with champion Larry ten Voorde winning the last of this season’s 16 races in front of packed grandstands at the Hockenheimring.
With this, the 26-year-old Dutchman notched his 30th victory in the national one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup – his seventh triumph this season.
“My start wasn’t great and I had to work hard over the rest of the laps,” ten Voorde said. “Alexander Tauscher did a great race.”
Indeed, Alexander Tauscher rode ten Voorde’s slipstream over much of the race and even attempted to overtake a few times. It was only in the final phase that the Huber Racing driver from Bavaria was overtaken by Harry King (Allied Racing) and Loek Hartog (Team GP Elite). However, when a time penalty relegated King down the field, Tauscher inherited the third podium step – his best result to date.
“I don’t even know what to say,” beamed Tauscher, who is one of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland Talent Pool supported drivers. “This is the perfect end to a very unlucky season.”
Thanks to his victory in Saturday’s race and second overall on Sunday, Loek Hartog was the big winner of the weekend. With this result, the 21-year-old Dutchman shunted Bastian Buus off second place overall literally on the season home straight.
“I didn’t expect that when I came to Hockenheim, I also owe the success to a perfect team strategy,” admitted Hartog. His Team GP Elite squad, for which series champion Larry ten Voorde also scored points, had already secured the title in the teams classification of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland on Saturday.
For Porsche Junior Buus from Denmark, however, the weekend turned bleak. The newly crowned champion of the international Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup crossed the finish line in seventh place on Saturday and retired from the race on Sunday. “It’s a shame, I expected more,” said the frustrated 20-year-old. This result saw him drop to third place in the final standings ahead of his British Allied-Racing teammate Harry King.
Trailing the Dutchman Morris Schuring (FACH AUTO TECH) over the line, Theo Oeverhaus from Germany took the flag in fifth place. The 18-year-old from the CarTech Motorsport Bonk squad won the Rookie classification for the ninth time and commandingly secured the Rookie trophy. “It was a terrific year with a strong result in the finale. “I’m already looking forward to next season,” stated Oeverhaus. Harri Jones (Scherer Sport PHX) from Australia and Jasin Ferati (FACH AUTO TECH) from Switzerland rounded off the Rookie podium at the 16th race of the season.
The event was broadcast live on SPEED SPORT 1.
ProAm Champion
The last available title went to Sören Spreng. The GP Elite driver from Germany is the new ProAm champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. “The season was more challenging and exhausting than I’d imagined,” he admitted. In the final round, third place was enough for him to take home the ProAm crown, narrowly edging out Sunday’s winner Ahmad Alshehab (CarTech Motorsport Bonk).
Alshehab, who comes from Kuwait, struggled during Saturday’s race at the Hockenheimring, where he was handed two penalties. Although one of the penalties turned out unwarranted during the post-race analysis, a subsequent adjustment was impossible. Thanks to his victory in the ProAm classification on Sunday, Alshehab worked his way to within one point of champion Spreng. “Congratulations to Sören. But without the penalty, the title fight might have ended differently,” the Kuwaiti was convinced. Second place on Sunday and third in the overall ProAm standings went to the Bulgarian Georgi Donchev (ProfilDoors by Huber Racing).
“In many ways, the Hockenheimring weekend was the craziest of the whole year,” said Hurui Issak, Project Manager of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. “But all in all, it was a great conclusion to a nail-biting 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland season.
“I’d like to thank all the drivers for some fantastic race action and the teams for their extremely professional work throughout the year.”