MEDIA INFORMATION
PORSCHE CARRERA CUP DEUTSCHLAND
Races 13 and 14 – Hockenheim, September 21-23, 2018
For immediate release
Sunday, September 23rd, 2018
OMAN’S AL-ZUBAIR CONCLUDES 2018 EUROPEAN RACING PROGRAMME WITH 12TH PLACE IN FINAL PORSCHE CARRERA CUP RACE AT HOCKENHEIM
· Thomas Preining holds off Michael Ammermüller to claim second weekend win
HOCKENHEIM (GERMANY): Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair wrapped up his hectic season of European Porsche circuit racing by finishing 12th in the second of two races at the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland season finale at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany on Sunday.
The Lechner Racing Team Middle East driver qualified in 17th position for the 14th race in the series that he tackled to stay ‘match-fit’ before the final two rounds of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup in Mexico at the end of next month.
Thomas Preining confirmed the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title on Saturday afternoon with one round to spare and he and Michael Ammermüller fought a nip and tuck battle for supremacy on the final German race of the season. The race was stopped for several minutes after a serious crash and four laps were lost, but Preining held on to take the win over 13 laps by 0.38 seconds.
Al-Zubair said: “It was a good race but it was shortened because of the red flag. We had the safety car on the track and four less laps. Other than that, I had some really good moves in the race. I started 17th and I finished 12th. I had good pace and I am happy with that.”
Newly-crowned champion Preining led 30 rivals into the second of the weekend’s races and managed to fend off Ammermüller and Dylan Pereira through the opening laps, as Al-Zubair climbed a position to 16th and then moved up to 15th on lap five before a serious crash involving Henric Skoog and rookie Jake Eidson forced the race to be stopped for several minutes.
The leading trio held station through lap 10, but Al-Zubair was still on the move and the Omani was delivering some impressive pace. He climbed to 13th at the start of lap 11.
Ammermüller continued to pressurise Preining at the front of the field and the two were separated by just 0.682 seconds heading into lap 12, where Al-Zubair climbed another position to 12th. Preining held on to reach the chequered flag 0.38 seconds ahead of last year’s Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup champion. Al-Zubair finished in 12th place and Pereira confirmed the championship’s Rookie class win.
Al-Zubair will now make his mental and physical preparations in advance of the remaining two rounds of the Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup in Mexico City at the end of October.
Ends
For further information:
Firas Nimri, Tel: + 962 7 7728 2000, E-mail: nimrifiras@yahoo.com.