STUTTGART, Germany — In recent years, Larry ten Voorde has celebrated victories in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and the national Carrera Cups in Germany and Italy, among others.
The 27-year-old Dutchman once again demonstrated his winning ways in his 200th one-make cup race with a Porsche. “I’m a racer, I want to win every race,” he warned his rivals ahead of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season opener in Imola.
True to his word, the competition only posed a threat to his black and gold Cup 911 from the French team Schumacher CLRT in the first few meters of the 14-lap race.
“My start wasn’t ideal,” admitted ten Voorde. “That meant I had to work hard to fend off Harry King for the first few corners.”
A safety car phase shortly after the start of the race ended this duel. The collision that caused the deployment of the safety car also cut Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti’s race short. Despite damage to his suspension, the Frenchman managed to crawl back to his team Schumacher CLRT’s pits but ultimately had to retire.
After the restart, Larry ten Voorde controlled the race.
“I want to thank my new team, Schumacher CLRT, which has become like a family to me. I’m proud of this success in our first race together. I think, I haven’t started a Supercup season this well in a long time.”
King was also satisfied with second place. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t overtake Larry at the start. After that, I had my hands full defending myself against Marvin Klein’s attacks. That cost me the tenths of a second that I would have needed to attack Larry,” reflected the 23-year-old Englishman. Piloting the BWT Lechner Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, he crossed the finish line just under two seconds behind ten Voorde.
Marvin Klein rounded off the strong debut performance for the newly-established Schumacher CLRT team with third place.
“My start was great and I could overtake Robert de Haan on the second corner,” Klein said. “Trying to find a gap to pass Harry was a different story. But, third place in the season opener is great and I’ve secured my first championship points.”
“Of course, I would have preferred third place but at least I won the rookie classification,” said Robert de Haan, reflecting on losing the duel with Klein. The 17-year-old Dutchman, who drives for BWT Lechner Racing, is the youngest driver in the current Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season.
Fifth and sixth place went to two rookies as well: German Theo Oeverhaus and Dutchman Kas Haverkort underlined the fighting spirit of the Supercup rookies.