PATRICK STRUGGLES IN BAHRAIN, BUT STILL NETS FOUR POINTS!
MANAMA, MARCH 14 2010 – After having enjoyed a strong start to his 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup campaign by ending Friday’s free practice session in 7th position, Patrick Huisman endured a difficult weekend on from Saturday’s qualifying session onwards. Traffic trouble in Saturday’s qualifying session meant that Huisman’s Tudor branded Konrad Motorsport car #21 had to start the two races in respectively the 14th and 11th position. Even though the four-times champion charged hard throughout the two 10-lap races, a faulty tyre pressure and a loss of top speed on the two long straights meant ‘The Flying Dutchman’ was only able to net four points in Sunday’s second race. Even though this weekend didn’t deliver the desired results, Huisman is very optimistic about his chances for the remainder of the season, especially as Michelin will introduce a new type of tyre on from the next race meeting at Barcelona (May 09).FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
After having joined the championship winning team from the last two years only two weeks ago, Huisman had set his sights to use Friday’s free practice session to get a bit more acquainted with the team, the revised Porsche 911 GT3 car, his the renewed Bahrain International Circuit track lay-out. Things started extremely well however for the 43-year old Dutch driver as he soon posted the seventh fastest time! In Saturday’s qualifying session, Huisman was keen to repeat his startling performance from the day before, but got stuck in traffic in both of his so-called flying laps. Therefore he was put up with only the 14th and 11th starting position for respectively Saturday’s and Sunday’s race.
RACE 01 & 02
On Saturday morning, Huisman got off to a very good start as he managed to squeeze himself into the top ten during the opening lap of the 10-lap race. An off-target set-up and tyre pressure setting meant Huisman soon found out he couldn’t match the speed of his competitors though. Huisman was able to hold on for the first half of the race, but couldn’t help falling back to the back of the pack during the second part of the 30 minutes race. Even though Mr. Supercup pushed hard, he got only classified in 19th position.
Sunday’s second race of the weekend went a lot better for the Dutch ace. Having started from 11th position, Huisman enjoyed a tough battle with Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, Tim Bridgman, Sascha Maassen and Jan Seyffarth for seventh position. Admitting his car handled a much better than in the first race, Huisman looked to be contending for a promising finishing position, but was forced to back out of this fight as his car lacked top speed at the two long straights. By finishing the 10-lap race in twelfth position however, Huisman netted four valuable points.
PATRICK HUISMAN: “Even though our finishing results could have been much better if we wouldn’t have had to cope with the problems we faced, I’m still pretty upbeat about our package. My team mate Nick Tandy has shown that our team can fight for the top positions again this year, so that’s what I’m aiming for as well for the next couple of races. As we will have a two month break before our next race meeting in Barcelona (May 09), I will have enough time to adapt myself a bit more within the team and get better acquainted with the new car, as I only did a small number of laps before going to Bahrain. Next to this, Michelin will introduce a new type of tyre in time for Barcelona, which I’m looking forward to!”
RACE RESULT ROUND 01 PORSCHE MOBIL 1 SUPERCUP – MANAMA 13.03.2010
01. René Rast (GER), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, 10 laps, 25.52,419
02. Stefan Rosina (SLO), Lechner Racing, + 00,331s
03. Jan Seyffarth (GER), Veltins MRS Racing, + 02,536s
19. Patrick Huisman (NED), Konrad Motorsport, + 44,593s
RACE RESULT ROUND 02 PORSCHE MOBIL 1 SUPERCUP – MANAMA 14.03.2010
01. René Rast (GER), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, 10 laps, 25:51,077
02. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), Al Faisal Lechner Racing, + 02,171s
03. Nick Tandy (GBR), Konrad Motorsport, + 04,494s
12. Patrick Huisman (NED), Konrad Motorsport, + 34,531s