STUTTGART, Germany — Thanks to his victory in Saturday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, Larry ten Voorde increased his lead over Porsche Junior Bastian Buus to 72 points.
This means that Buus still has an outside chance of snatching the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title from the Dutchman. Even if his Danish pursuer wins Sunday’s race, ten Voorde needs only two more points to take home his third overall crown in the one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup already tomorrow.
“Number games are not my thing, so I simply focused on my race and made the most of my chances,” said ten Voorde, who started round 13 from the second grid spot. In the second corner, ten Voorde overtook his teammate and polesitter Loek Hartog. The 26-year-old then controlled the race from the front and refused to let a safety car phase disrupt his rhythm.
For Hartog, however, the neutralization behind the safety car heralded bad luck. Shortly after the restart, the Dutchman was overtaken by the two Allied-Racing drivers Harry King and Buus and then Leon Köhler from Germany. Hartog ultimately saw the flag in sixth place.
“I started from P4 on the grid and finished in second place, so I’m really happy with my race. I have to admit, Larry was out of reach today,” commented King. In any case, the British racer is now out of contention for the title. “For me, it’s just about beating Bastian and Loek in the fight for runner-up honors.”
Porsche Junior Buus had a mixed reaction to his day. “I overtook Loek and was overtaken by Harry, so I couldn’t improve on my grid position. Third place is not my goal, I’m here to fight for victories,” confessed the 20-year-old Dane.
This will again be no easy feat for Buus in the second race of the weekend. On Sunday, the Porsche Junior will only start from position four, but at least directly in front of title favorite ten Voorde. Hartog once again starts from pole position and shares the front row with King.
Behind Köhler, sixth place went to Theo Oeverhaus. Driving for the CarTech Motorsport Bonk team, the German won the Rookie classification of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland for the sixth time this season. “I have significantly increased my lead in the standings, which is reassuring. From now on I can concentrate on defending the lead,” said the 18-year-old, looking ahead to the remaining three races of the season. The Rookie podium was rounded off by Australian Harri Jones and Belgian Ghislain Cordeel.
Sören Spreng climbed to the top of the ProAm podium for the seventh time this season. “I got off the line well at the start and then enjoyed a few fun battles for position,” reported the GP Elite driver from Germany. Thanks to this result, Spreng has increased his championship lead over the Bulgarian Georgi Donchev and Ahmad Alshehab from Kuwait, who shared the ProAm podium with him.