The Race
He had waited five years for this moment. “We haven't won a Supercup race since 2018, so it was high time,” said a delighted Alex Fach, team owner of Fach Auto Tech. The Swiss squad has contested the international one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for eleven years, and took championship laurels in 2014 with New Zealander Earl Bamber. Son Alexander Fach, of all people, has now ended the drought: The 21-year-old celebrated his maiden Supercup victory on the Formula 1 circuit in Silverstone. “I somehow managed to stay out of the chaos of the first two corners – and suddenly found myself at the very front. After that, it was just a matter of maintaining my lead. Our team has had to cope with some tough setbacks recently so this win is simply amazing,” said Fach Jnr. This was the first time in the history of the Porsche Supercup that a Swiss driver climbed to the top of the podium.
Robert de Haan shared Fach’s experience of the initial phase. “When the smoke of the start had cleared, I was second,” said the guest driver for the UK team Richardson Racing. “Alex, Alessandro Ghiretti in third and I were driving at the same pace. I wanted to somehow pressure Alex into making a mistake, but it didn’t work,” said the 17-year-old Dutchman.
“Every time I caught up to Robert, my front tyres overheated so I had to pull back again to let them cool down. Still, I’m delighted with third place,” stated Ghiretti. Driving for the Martinet by Alméras squad, the Frenchman also clinched victory in the rookie classification followed by Keagan Masters (Ombra Racing). The South African finished fourth overall. Fifth place went to Jaap van Lagen (Dinamic Motorsport) from the Netherlands. German Leon Köhler (Huber Racing) crossed the line in sixth, with Harri Jones (BWT Lechner Racing) from Australia rounding off the rookie podium as seventh overall.
By contrast, however, the frontrunners of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup standings experienced a bitter race. The overall leader, Porsche Junior Bastian Buus (BWT Lechner Racing) from Denmark, was as much a casualty of the jostling on the first lap as his rival Larry ten Voorde (GP Elite) from the Netherlands and current third overall, UK driver Harry King (BWT Lechner Racing). Polesetter Dorian Boccolacci (CLRT) from France also finished outside the top 10. However, the Silverstone result did not change the order in the overall standings: Buus remains at the top of the championship rankings ahead of ten Voorde, King and Boccolacci.
“Now, that’s what I call an unexpected race!” commented Oliver Schwab, Project Manager Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. “Congratulations to Alexander Fach on his first Supercup win. Robert de Haan and Alessandro Ghiretti also put in really strong drives. Fortunately, the events of the first round have little impact on the standings.”
In a fortnight, the next round of the international one-make cup with the 375 kW (510 PS) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup will be contested as part of the Hungarian Grand Prix support programme in Budapest (21 to 23 July 2023).
Result, race 3 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Silverstone (UK)
1. Alexander Fach (CH/Fach Auto Tech), 29:05.235 minutes
2. Robert de Haan (NL/Richardson Racing), +0.927 seconds
3. Alessandro Ghiretti (F/Martinet by Alméras), +1.263 seconds
4. Keagan Masters (ZA/Ombra Racing), +2.966 seconds
5. Jaap van Lagen (NL/Dinamic Motorsport), +3.859 seconds
6. Leon Köhler (D/Huber Racing), +4.559 seconds
Full results and championship standings
The Qualifying
Premiere for Dorian Boccolacci: Driving for the CLRT team, the Frenchman wrapped up a Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup qualifying session as the fastest for the first time. He shares the front row for round three of the season of the international one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with Dutchman Larry ten Voorde.
The GP Elite driver lapped the Silverstone Formula 1 circuit just 48-thousandths of a second slower than the polesetter. BWT Lechner Racing has locked out the second grid row: Englishman Harry King and Porsche Junior Bastian Buus from Denmark will tackle the Supercup race as part of the British Grand Prix support programme from positions three and four. The race gets underway on Sunday at 11:55 am local.
Dorian Boccolacci could hardly believe it himself: “We were the only ones among the top teams not to test in Silverstone. Plus, I didn’t do anything differently than usual,” said the Frenchman, surprised by his top qualifying time for the third round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season. “But my team gave me a perfect car and I managed to turn a flawless lap.” The 24-year-old from Cannes in the south of France has been a regular driver in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup since 2021 and competes for CLRT since the beginning of this season. For the first time ever he secured the pole position. Boccolacci’s best results to date at the wheel of the 375 kW (510 PS) Cup Porsche were two second places in Monza, Italy, in 2021 and in Monaco in 2022.
The second fastest qualifier, Dutchman Larry ten Voorde from GP Elite, was also somewhat surprised. “I was hit by problems during Friday’s practice. We analysed the data for a long time afterwards. My race engineer and my mechanics then made some major set-up changes for the qualifying. While everything went in the right direction, I honestly didn’t expect that it would be enough for second place,” revealed the two-time Supercup champion.
The third grid spot was claimed by local hero Harry King. In front of packed grandstands the UK racer lapped the 5.891-kilometre Silverstone Circuit around two-tenths of a second slower than Boccolacci. “Obviously, I’d have preferred to start my home race from pole position,” King admitted. “Still, I reckon I have a good chance from the second row. I think my race speed is better than my qualifying speed.”
Porsche Junior Bastian Buus secured fourth place on the grid. Like King, he competes for the BWT Lechner Racing squad. “I don’t know exactly what happend, but I really struggled today – especially with the traction. I couldn’t adapt my driving style to the difficult conditions,” admitted the 20-year-old Dane. Rain shortly before the qualifying had significantly changed the grip conditions of the circuit compared to the previous day’s practice session. “Now I’ll attempt to win from fourth on the grid. It’ll just take a bit more effort.”
Two teammates also share the third grid row: Alexander Fach from Switzerland and Morris Schuring from the Netherlands compete for FACH AUTO TECH. Seventh place in qualifying went to the fastest rookie in the 32-strong field, South African Keagan Masters driving for the Ombra Racing team. The close result is testimony to the fierce level of competition: positions 1 to 16 were within one second of each other.
TV and internet coverage of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race
Round three of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Silverstone gets underway on Sunday (9 July 2023) from 11:55 am local time and runs over 14 laps. Among others, TV channels Eurosport and Sky Sport provide a live broadcast of the race, with the streaming service f1tv.formula1.com also televising the race.
Qualifying result, round 3 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Silverstone (UK)
1. Dorian Boccolacci (F/CLRT), 2:02.132 minutes
2. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 2:02.180 minutes
3. Harry King (UK/BWT Lechner Racing), 2:02.357 minutes
4. Porsche Junior Bastian Buus (DK/BWT Lechner Racing), 2:02.511 minutes
5. Alexander Fach (CH/FACH AUTO TECH), 2:02.558 minutes
6. Morris Schuring (NL/FACH AUTO TECH), 2:02.641 minutes
