The Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland had just been about one
man: Larry ten Voorde. The Dutchman won four of the first six races and hadn’t
finished outside of the top four in any race. However, a double DNF during rounds
seven and eight at the Norisring blew open the championship chase at the half
way stage of the season.
The season began at Hockenheim back in May and ten Voorde’s
pace looked pretty ominous. He took a double pole position and then backed it
up with two comfortable lights to flag victories. He won the opening race from
Jaap van Lagen, Jaxon Evans and Igor Waliko but the former two drivers were excluded
from the results due to technical infringements whilst the latter was given a
20 second penalty following a collision with Michael Ammermuller dropping him
out of the points. This amended result promoted Henric Skoog, to second giving Overdrive
Racing by Huber a 1-2 finish, and Berkay Besler to third. In race two ten
Voorde led home van Lagen and Evans once again, and this time they were able to
keep their finishing positions.
Rounds three and four took place at Most in the Czech
Republic. Twice Supercup champion Michael Ammermuller took a double pole
position as he looked to bounce back from an incident laden opening round at
Hockenheim. However, it wasn’t quite the points filled weekend he would have
hoped for, as he was out dragged off the line in round three by fellow front row
starter ten Voorde. He was then passed by his BWT Lechner Racing team mate
Julien Andlauer later in the race. Thus ten Voorde, won by one second from
Andlauer, with Ammermuller a distant third. In race two, Ammermuller did secure
a lights to flag victory. However a huge start line incident between Soren
Spreng, Stefan Rehkopf, Matthias Jeserich and Sebastian Daum meant that the
race had to be red flagged and restarted. Consequently, less than 75% of the
intended race distance was completed and only half points were awarded. Ten
Voorde finished second, ahead of Dylan Pereira in third.
The championship then headed to the Red Bull Ring in Austria
for rounds five and six. Ten Voorde and Ammermuller shared the pole positions.
In the opening race ten Voorde took another lights to flag victory ahead of Pereira
and Luca Rettenbacher who claimed his best result of the season to date. Round
six was won by Andlauer from team mate Ammermuller and Pereira, to give Walter
Lechner’s team a 1-2-3 at their home circuit. Ten Voorde had to settle for a
distant fourth, his first failure to finish on the podium this season.
At this point ten Voorde’s championship lead was handsome
and it seemed a case of when not if he’d win the title. However, this all
changed as chaos reigned at the Norisring. Ten Voorde and Skoog shared the pole
positions as the weekend began in a calm, controlled manner for the Overdrive
Racing by Huber squad. This all changed in round seven when ten Voorde was
eliminated after a clash with Andlauer. The Frenchman made a perfect dive down
the inside for the lead at turn one at half race distance. Ten Voorde tried to
retaliate but made a misjudgement and clouted the side of Andlauer’s car. This
damaged the suspension on ten Voorde’s car and he slammed into the barriers at
the next corner as his car failed to turn. Andlauer continued unscathed and
took victory from Ammermuller and Jaxon Evans in third. In race two, pole
sitter Skoog led an Overdrive Racing by Huber 1-2-3 from ten Voorde and Waliko
for much of the race. However, a late race lock up under braking from Waliko
caused him to plough into the back of ten Voorde, in turn pushing him into
Skoog. All three cars were eliminated on the spot. Fourth placed Julien
Andlauer had to swerve to avoid the carnage and in doing so lost time and
positions to Ammermuller and Leon Kohler. He was unable to rectify this in the closing
stages and the order stayed unchanged to the flag with Ammermuller claiming his
second win of the season from Kohler and Andlauer.
This weekend the series heads to Zandvoort in the
Netherlands for rounds nine and ten of the series with ten Voorde holding a
four and a half point lead over Andlauer, with Ammermuller a further 18 points
behind.
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| Larry ten Voorde leads the pack, as he has done for most of the season. |
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| Following the Norisring chaos, the two BWT Lechner racing team mates are closing on ten Voorde in the championship. |
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