Marvin Klein’s victory postpones title decision until the Monza finale

The race

Dylan Pereira came second on the Formula 1 circuit on the North Sea coast. With this, the Luxembourger extended his lead in the championship to 18 points and handed his BWT Lechner Racing an early victory in the team classification. The Supercup finale will be contested in Monza, Italy, next weekend.

Marvin Klein needed nerves of steel at round seven of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Driving for the CLRT team, the Frenchman had to defend his lead position against tailgating pursuers three times: at the normal start and at two restarts after safety car phases. “That was tricky because the track was very slippery, especially with cold tyres,” he reported and revealed: “I concentrated on my line and avoided looking in the rear-view mirror as much as possible,” The tactic worked. After twelve laps, Klein crossed the finish line barely four-tenths of a second ahead of Morris Schuring. With this result, the reigning champion of the French Porsche Carrera Cup celebrated his first win in the international one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

A rollercoaster of emotions

However, Schuring’s joy for his second place was short-lived. At the start, he had failed to line his 911 up on the grid in the prescribed position. The stewards of the meeting handed him a five-second time penalty. As a result, the 17-year-old Dutchman from the Huber Racing squad was relegated far down the official race result list. 

Points’ leader Dylan Pereira also experienced a rollercoaster of emotions at the penultimate race. The fastest qualifier was relegated to P4 due to a collision. After the first lap, he had dropped to eighth and became entangled in several battles for positions. However, he managed to finish third and subsequently inherited second place due to Morris Schuring’s penalty – the Luxembourger from the BWT Lechner Racing could not complain about a lack of variety. “My main focus throughout the race was on Larry ten Voorde. I wanted to finish right behind him,” said Pereira, describing his ongoing duel with the defending Supercup champion. “The fact that I managed to overtake Larry takes a heavy load off my shoulders for the finale in Monza.” 

Ten Voorde, who is now 18 points shy of Pereira, was still happy with third place at his home race. “My start was perfect and I even overtook Dylan,” explained the local hero from the GP Elite team. “But I have to admit, my pace wasn’t enough to keep Dylan behind me over the race distance. Still, the main thing is that I was able to keep the title decision open until the final round next weekend.” 

Ten Voorde has moved into second place in the overall rankings replacing Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich, who finished fifth in Zandvoort. “There wasn’t a lot I could do from P10 on the grid. The full course yellow phases shortened the race too much for me to progress further up the field,” declared the German SSR Huber Racing driver. 

Denmark’s Bastian Buus finished between ten Voorde and Heinrich. The youngster from the BWT Lechner Racing squad won the rookie classification for the seventh time this season and thus secured an early title. “I was hoping to finish on the podium, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out today. Still, that doesn’t matter now,” said the 19-year-old, who already celebrated one overall victory this season. 

Even before the 30th Supercup season comes to a close next weekend, BWT Lechner Racing has already claimed the team title – making it the twelfth title for the seasoned specialists from Austria. “We dreamed about it at the start of the season. Now I’m incredibly proud of my entire crew for turning this dream into reality,” said the delighted team boss Robert Lechner. 

The title decision in the ProAm category, however, has been pushed to the finale. ProAm points’ leader Roar Lindland from Norway (Pierre Martinet by Alméras) only finished third in his class. Victory went to his UK teammate Aaron Mason. Interestingly, Mason didn’t even reach the flag due to an accident. This incident, however, caused the race to be red-flagged. In such situations, the result is determined by the order on the previous normal lap – and at that stage, Mason was still leading the ProAm class. 

The race had to be neutralised by the safety car

Even before Mason’s accident, the race had to be neutralised twice by the safety car. The first incident was caused by Englishman Harry King (BWT Lechner Racing) and local hero Jaap van Lagen (Martinet by Alméras) in the second lap. After taking up the race from second and third on the grid respectively, the two collided in a battle for second place, which threw both of them out of the race. 

“Zandvoort once again lived up to its reputation of always providing extremely exciting and action-packed races. We put on a great show for the many fans,” commented Oliver Schwab, Project Manager of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. “Congratulations to BWT Lechner Racing and Bastian Buus on claiming an early title. Now I’m looking forward to the finale at Monza and the gripping battle for the drivers’ championship crown between Dylan Pereira, Larry ten Voorde and Laurin Heinrich.” 

Parade of Formula 1 drivers with historic Porsche police cars

Right next to the Cup-911s, an entire fleet of historic Porsche – former Dutch motorway police cars – delighted fans in the Supercup paddock. The unique cabriolet and Targa models assembled by Porsche Nederland had a very special role at Zandvoort: at the official Formula 1 drivers’ parade. 

Result race 7 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Zandvoort (NL)

1. Marvin Klein (France/CLRT), 23:57.458 minutes 
2. Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/BWT Lechner Racing), +0.740 seconds
3. Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite), +1.155 seconds
4. Bastian Buus (Denmark/BWT Lechner Racing), +2.652 seconds
5. Laurin Heinrich (Germany/SSR Huber Racing), +3.013 seconds

Points’ standings 2022 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (after 7 of 8 races)
1. Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing), 137 points
2. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 119 points
3. Laurin Heinrich (D/SSR Huber Racing), 117 points
4. Bastian Buus (DK/BWT Lechner Racing), 97 points
5. Harry King (GB/BWT Lechner Racing), 92 points

Overall winner team classification: BWT Lechner Racing (Austria)
Overall winner rookie classification: Bastian Buus (DK, BWT Lechner Racing)

The Qualifying

Frenchman Marvin Klein from the CLRT team heads into the penultimate race of this year’s Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup from pole position. The second grid spot is occupied by the UK driver from the BWT Lechner Racing Harry King. Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (Martinet by Alméras) and points leader Dylan Pereira from Luxembourg (BWT Lechner Racing) share the second grid row. Round seven of the international one-make cup takes off on Sunday (4 September) at 12.05 pm CEST right before the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.

Dylan Pereira wrapped up the qualifying session for round seven of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup as the fastest. However, towards the end of the session, the Luxembourger from the BWT Lechner Racing squad was involved in an unfortunate situation: while warming up his tyres on the start-finish straight, he failed to see Simone Iaquinta approaching fast from behind. Driving for the Dinamic Motorsport team, the Italian was on the final metres of his flying lap when Pereira’s and Iaquinta’s cars collided door-to-door. Both drivers managed to recover their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and even continued their drive. “I have to apologise to Simone, I simply didn’t see him,” said Pereira, taking responsibility. The stewards agreed and consequently moved Pereira three positions down the grid. As a result, the series’ leader starts from fourth place. 

“I’m thrilled to be on the front row of the grid for the first time this season – the team has worked hard for this,” beamed Marvin Klein, who had posted the second fastest time on the Formula 1 racetrack on the North Sea coast. Lining up alongside him on the front row is Harry King. The UK driver was one of very few to improve his lap time towards the end of the session. “I tried out something with my first set of fresh tyres and it didn’t work,” said the BWT Lechner Racing driver cryptically. “With the second set, I switched to the proven setup and was significantly faster.” 

Lining up next to Pereira for the 17-lap race on Sunday is the Dutchman Jaap van Lagen (Martinet by Alméras). The third grid row is shared by two other Dutch drivers Morris Schuring (Huber Racing) as the fastest rookie and Larry ten Voorde (Team GP Elite). The reigning Supercup champion who currently ranks third in the standings seemed somewhat perplexed after the qualifying: “l improved significantly from practice but I just couldn’t do more in the qualifying. I hope we can make a few adjustments in time for the race,” contemplated ten Voorde.

The qualifying session didn’t run smoothly for Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich either. The German from the SSR Huber Racing team achieved the tenth quickest time. “I got the timing of my flying lap wrong. I went out when the grip was no longer ideal,” admitted the 20-year-old from Germany. 

Three early title decisions this weekend? 

Only 15 points separate points leader Dylan Pereira, Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich and defending champion Larry ten Voorde ahead of the Zandvoort race. While the question of the overall championship title in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is still wide open, the decision on the three individual classifications might be made early at the penultimate race of the season. BWT Lechner Racing holds a 90-point lead in the team standings. A maximum of 90 points can be earned in Zandvoort – thus, BWT Lechner Racing is just one point shy of winning the title. This means that either of the two nominated drivers Dylan Pereira and Harry King just needs to finish on P15 or better.

With six wins from six races, Bastian Buus holds a convincing lead in the rookie classification, which is calculated according to the overall rankings. Competing for BWT Lechner Racing, the Dane has a 43-point lead over UK driver Lorcan Hanafin (FACH AUTO TECH). To keep the title decision open until the finale in Italy, Hanafin would have to come first or second in Zandvoort, while Buus would have to finish 15th place or lower. 

The situation in the ProAm category is not as clear-cut. In this case, points are awarded according to the placement within the category. Clinching three wins so far this season, Roar Lindland from Norway (Pierre Martinet by Alméras) sits 21 points ahead of his French teammate Clément Mateu. To take home his fourth ProAm title early, Lindland would need to earn at least four points more than Mateu on Sunday.

Round seven of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup on TV and the Internet

The penultimate Supercup race over 17 laps takes off on the Circuit Zandvoort on Sunday (4 September 2022) at 12:05 am CEST. The TV station Eurosport and Sky Sport broadcast the race live in certain countries. Moreover, the streaming service f1tv.formula1.com also airs the seventh Supercup race.

Qualifying result, round 7 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Zandvoort (NL)

1. Marvin Klein (France/CLRT) 
2. Harry King (United Kingdom/BWT Lechner Racing)
3. Jaap van Lagen (Netherlands/Martinet by Alméras)
4. Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/BWT Lechner Racing)
5. Morris Schuring (Netherlands/Huber Racing)
6. Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite)