Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
07/27/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/27/2024 08:34
Two Schumacher CLRT drivers lock out the front grid row
Two Schumacher CLRT drivers lock out the front grid row
27/07/2024For the second time this season, Marvin Klein and Larry ten Voorde will start a Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race side by side from the front row. Like four weeks ago at the Red Bull Ring, Klein again set the fastest qualifying time at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. This time, the Frenchman outpaced his Dutch Schumacher CLRT teammate by around a tenth of a second. The sixth round of the international one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup gets underway tomorrow, Sunday (28 July 2024) at 11:45 CEST, directly before the Belgian Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Rain hampered the qualifying session on the Grand Prix circuit in the Ardennes: Just as the drivers commenced another attempt at their fastest lap times on their second set of tyres, the floodgates opened from above. "I was faster in the first sector than my previous attempt. But then, from one second to the next, the rain became so heavy that I had to abort the attempt," said Marvin Klein, echoing his rivals' sentiments.
However, the Frenchman was the fastest driver on the first set of tyres and thus, secured pole position for round six of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season. Klein undercut the previous qualifying record by roughly three tenths of a second. "The track had been freshly sealed in some spots. The new asphalt has better grip than the old one," explained the current third-placed driver.
"Congratulations to Marvin, that was a stellar performance," commented Larry ten Voorde, praising his Schumacher CLRT teammate. The championship leader and four-time victor this season seemed content with second place in qualifying: "The main thing is that I start the race ahead of my closest rival in the championship." Harry King from the BWT Lechner Racing team, who lies second overall in the championship, only managed the fourth-fastest lap. After his victory in the previous Supercup race in Budapest, only ten points separate the Englishman from ten Voorde.
King shares the second row of the grid with Dutchman Huub van Eijndhoven, who drives for Uniserver by Team GP Elite. French Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti, another Schumacher CLRT driver, and Dutchman Jaap van Lagen from the Dinamic Motorsport team will start from the third row.
The youngest in the field is another Dutchman: 17-year-old Flynt Schuring. The guest driver for Proton Huber Competition qualified 14th on the grid, which means he has no real chance of breaking the record still held by his brother Morris. He made Supercup history in the 2023 season at Spa-Francorchamps: At 18 years and five months old, he was crowned the youngest winner in the history of the one-make cup.
Interestingly, none of the 27 drivers in the current field has ever won a Supercup race on the Belgian Formula 1 circuit. However, Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti recently celebrated two victories in the Porsche Carrera Cup France at the same venue.
Flagship project in the Supercup: eFuels with partner HIF Global
2024 marks the first year of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup running exclusively on predominantly fully synthetic eFuels for the first time. The raw fuel comes from the Haru Oni plant in Chile, which is operated by HIF Global. This raw fuel is readied for use through a process known as blending. The final product enables the 911 GT3 Cup cars to potentially run almost CO₂-neutrally. A second-generation bio-based, semi-synthetic fuel mixture has already been used in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in the previous three years. Together with HIF Global, Porsche's top one-make cup is set on taking the next step.
Result Qualifying, Round 6 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Spa-Francorchamps (B)
1. Marvin Klein (F/Schumacher CLRT), 2:20.058 seconds
2. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Schumacher CLRT), +0.096 seconds
3. Huub van Eijndhoven (NL/Uniserver by Team GP Elite), +0.495 seconds
4. Harry King (UK/BWT Lechner Racing), +0.736 seconds
5. Porsche-Junior Alessandro Ghiretti (F/Schumacher CLRT), +0.813 seconds
6. Jaap van Lagen (NL/Dinamic Motorsport), +1.085 seconds
Complete qualifying results on the Porsche Motorsport Hub.