MEDIA INFORMATION
PORSCHE CARRERA CUP DEUTSCHLAND
Races 13 and 14 – Hockenheim, September 21-23, 2018
For immediate release
Saturday, September 22nd, 2018
OMAN’S AL-ZUBAIR FINISHES 11TH IN OPENING
PORSCHE CARRERA CUP RACE AT HOCKENHEIM
· Thomas Preining holds off Michael Ammermüller to win Porsche title
HOCKENHEIM (GERMANY): Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair climbed five places to finish the first of two Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland races in 11th place at the Hockenheim circuit on Saturday afternoon.
The Lechner Racing Team Middle East driver qualified in 16th, gradually got to grips with the pace of his rivals and delivered another polished performance in a race where pole-sitter Thomas Preining overcame a safety car incident to fend off Michael Ammermüller to snatch the win by 3.047 seconds and clinch the 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title.
Al-Zubair said: “I qualified in P16. That wasn’t great. I had two track limits. In the race, we gained five positions and finished P11. The pace was really good. I am happy with that. I am starting P17 for the second race and hopefully I can get an even better result.”
Preining maintained his lead from pole at the start of the 16-lap opening race from Pereira and Ammermüller, but Al-Zubair moved up from 16th to 13th during the opening two laps before the safety car came out on to the course after an incident involving Jaap van Lagen and a hefty collision involving Richard Wagner’s car on the opening lap.
Racing resumed on lap six. The leading trio maintained their positions and Al-Zubair remained in 13th place. Pereira spun out of second position on lap eight, slipped to eighth and allowed Ammermüller into second behind Preining. Al-Zubair continued his climb through the field and was up to 11th place heading into lap 10.
The Omani slipped back to 12th on the next lap behind Igor Walilko, as Preining maintained his advantage over Ammermüller and Larry Ten Voorde. But Ten Voorde was awarded a drive through penalty for an earlier pushing incident with Pereira and the Dutchman fell back to 12th place. His punishment lifted Al-Zubair back to 11th after another on-track incident involving Ayhancan Güven.
Preining held on to take the win from Ammermüller with Gustav Malja snatching third and Al-Zubair reaching the chequered flag in 11th place.
Thirty-two cars took part in Friday afternoon’s practice session on the 4.574km circuit and Thomas Preining continued his run of impressive form to snatch the fastest lap of 1min 42.150sec. That was sufficient to beat Michael Ammermüller by 0.14 seconds. Dylan Pereira was classified in third place. Al-Zubair ran for 19 laps and finished the stint down in 20th place with a best tour of 1min 43.809sec.
Qualifying took centre stage on Saturday morning and Preining made sure of pole position for the first of the races by edging out Pereira with a lap of 1min 40.893sec. He also qualified on pole for the second of the races ahead of Ammermüller.
Al-Zubair qualified 16th for the opening race with a lap of 1min 42.138sec and in 17th for the final race of the season with a counting lap of 1min 42.050sec.
The second of the races and the last of the 14 rounds of the championship starts at 10.35hrs on Sunday morning.
Ends
For further information:
Firas Nimri, Tel: + 962 7 7728 2000, E-mail: nimrifiras@yahoo.com.