PATRICK HANGS ON IN HOCKENHEIM DESPITE CURIOUS COURSE
HOCKENHEIM, JULY 26 2010 – By finishing Sunday’s seventh round of the Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup race at Hockenheim down in tenth position, Patrick Huisman (NED) left the German Grand Prix circuit with mixed feelings. By scoring eight points, the Konrad Motorsport driver is still a strong contender for the top spots in the championship, but lamented the lack-lustre behavior of the stewards of the meeting this weekend which costed him dearly.FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
After his podium finish at the previous round at Silverstone, Huisman was optimistic about his prospects for this weekend. Despite ever changing weather circumstances on Friday, all Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup drivers were able to start the 45 minutes free practice session on a near dry circuit. It soon emerged the weekend could become the most competitive meeting in the history of the Porsche Supercup as all drivers were extremely tightly matched. Huisman ended the session in sixth position, with his best lap time of 1:43.993 only being three tenth of a second of the pace from his team-mate Nick Tandy who lead the pack.
In Saturday’s qualifying session, Huisman faced hard luck as he was hindered by traffic in both of his first stints. Next to this, he wasn’t completely satisfied by the handling of his Tudor branded Porsche 911 GT3. As a result, the four-time champion only netted the 11th starting position for Sunday’s showdown.
PATRICK HUISMAN: “Things just didn’t go our way on Saturday. In both runs I was slowed down by other cars. If you look at the timing results, the top 20 drivers are all within 0.8 seconds, which is extremely close. If one has trouble with traffic, like I did today, it will immediately cost you positions. Nevertheless, tomorrow will be a real challenge to work my way up through the field!”
RACE
Huisman enjoyed a good start of Sunday’s seventh round of the series in which he already overtook two cars before approaching the first corner. As instructed by the race organizers, Huisman held his line on the curbstones at the exit of the quick right-hander, but was surprised to see at least five drivers going intentionally wide and re-passing him again! On from the 14th slot Huisman could do no more than fighting back to tenth position, securing another eight points for his championship bid.
PATRICK HUISMAN: “It’s fair to say I’ve lost out on a much better finishing position today, because of lack-lustre actions of the stewards of the meeting. After a much-discussed start of the race at Silverstone a fortnight ago, we were all thoroughly instructed not to go wide in the first corner, which I followed. At least five other drivers didn’t go by the rules though, but neither were penalized for it. It changed the outcome of my race, as I fell back to 14th position instead of being well in the top ten in that crucial opening stage. Next stop is Hungary, next week. I’m determined to set things back to my hand there!”
RESULTS ROUND SEVEN 2010 MOBIL 1 PORSCHE SUPERCUP – HOCKENHEIM, JULY 25 2010
01. Nicolas Armindo (FRA) Al Faisal Lechner Racing 14 laps, 24:22.602
02. Jan Seyffarth (GER) Veltins MRS Racing + 02.226s
03. Christian Engelhart (GER) Sanitec/Giltrap Racing + 02.944s
10. Patrick Huisman (NED) Konrad Motorsport + 15.687s