MEDIA INFORMATION
PORSCHE MOBIL 1 SUPER CUP
Round 1 – Barcelona, May 12-13, 2018
For immediate release
Sunday, May 13th, 2018
OMAN’S AL-ZUBAIR FINISHES OPENING ROUND OF
PORSCHE MOBIL 1 SUPER CUP IN BARCELONA IN 13TH PLACE
· Germany’s Michael Ammermüller leads from start-to-finish to win opener
BARCELONA (SPAIN): Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair got his challenge for honours in the
2018 Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup underway with 13th position in round one at the Circuit de Barcelona in Catalunya on Sunday.
Driving for the Lechner Racing Team Middle East, the current Porsche Cup Challenge Middle East champion began the 14-lap race from 14th on the grid and finished 13thafter climbing as high as 12th during the race.
Defending Super Cup champion Michael Ammermüller led from start-to-finish to record an impressive victory. Jaap Van Lagen finished second and Dylan Pereira rounded off the podium places.
Al-Zubair said: “It was an okay race. I gained a position from qualifying but it was not what I wanted. I felt we had more pace than that. We had a little incident in the race that didn’t help. Twice the safety car came out and that wasn’t good either. I started to lose grip towards the end of the race and it was not easy to drive.”
Ammermüller led young Frenchman Julien Andlauer and rookie Florian Latorre from pole position into a race on a drying track after overnight rain. The German maintained his lead through the opening laps, although Van Lagen moved up to second place at the expense of Andlauer and Nick Yelloly climbed to fourth. Al-Zubair dropped two places on the first lap to 16th.
Al-Zubair moved back to 15th on lap four and then regained 14th on lap five at the expense of Mikkel Pedersen, as the German continued to lead the race from Van Lagen, Pereira and Andlauer.
Al-Zubair was now on a charge and, as Latorre suffered problems, the Omani also managed to pass Mattia Drudi to snatch 12th place as the race reached its halfway point. Zaid Ashkanani, Stéphane Denoual and Philipp Sager had already retired and 27 cars were still running.
Drudi managed to squeeze through to regain 12th and demote Al-Zubair to 13th on lap 10, as Thomas Preining pitted and Pablo Otero also retired. Ammermüller duly held on to claim the win and Al-Zubair passed the chequered flag in 13th place.
Action in the 2018 Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup resumes in Monte-Carlo on May 26-27.
Ends
For further information:
Firas Nimri, Tel: + 962 7 7728 2000, E-mail: nimrifiras@yahoo.com.
Twitter: @FZRacingOman