Dylan Pereira held off late race pressure from rookie
Ayhancan Guven to claim victory at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, in round seven of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup yesterday.
“As a Luxembourger, this was a home race for me. To win in
front of my fans, partners and family feels fantastic. I made a slight mistake
shortly before the end, but I managed to defend myself well from Ayhancan
Güven,” he said.
Starting from pole position, Pereira made a strong start to
move ahead of the chasing pack and control the race in the early stages. Guven,
meanwhile had to defend from the fast starting Jaxon Evans. As the race wore
on, Guven managed to shake off the attention of the New Zealander and set off
in pursuit of Pereira.
It wasn’t until the closing stages that Guven was able to take
the fight to Pereira and on the final lap he launched a sustained attack,
making several attempts to pass the leader, which at one point resulted in the
two drivers making contact. However, they were both able to continue unhindered
and Pereira just held on to take his second victory of the season following his
triumph earlier in the season at Hockenheim. This time though, Pereira was
rewarded with twenty championship points unlike in Germany when no points were
awarded due to less than fifty percent of the intended race distance being
completed.
On finishing second Guven said: “My third podium result so
far this season is terrific. I put a lot of pressure on Dylan Pereira towards
the end, but he defended himself brilliantly and deserved to win.”
Evans held on to third and was understandably delighted with
his first Supercup podium: “I’m really thrilled. My start was great and I
managed to beat Larry ten Voorde in the sprint to the first corner.”
Ten Voorde was fourth ahead of Florian Latorre in fifth and
Tio Ellinas in sixth.
One of the most exciting battles of the race raged over
seventh place with Jaap van Lagen coming out on top ahead of defending champion
Michael Ammermuller, who finished eighth, and Julien Andlauer who had to settle
for ninth.
The result means that Ammermuller moves level on points with
Andlauer at the head of the championship. The Frenchman still holds the lead
though, courtesy of more second place finishes so far this season.
In the ProAm class, Roar Lindland maintained his perfect
record by claiming his seventh victory of the season. Philipp Sager was second
ahead of Clement Mateu in third.
The championship continues next weekend with round eight at
Monza in Italy.
Result
Spa-Francorchamps, Race 7 of 10:
1. Dylan Pereira (Momo Megatron Lechner Racing)
2. Ayhancan Güven (martinet by ALMÉRAS)
3. Jaxon Evans (Fach Auto Tech)
4. Larry ten Voorde (MRS GT-Racing)
5. Florian Latorre (Fach Auto Tech)
6. Tio Ellinas (Momo Megatron Lechner Racing)
7. Jaap van Lagen (martinet by ALMÉRAS)
8. Michael Ammermüller (BWT Lechner Racing)
9. Julien Andlauer (BWT Lechner Racing)
10. Mikkel Pedersen (Dinamic Motorsport)
Points standings after 7 of 10 races
Drivers’ classification:
1. Julien Andlauer (BWT Lechner Racing), 92 points
2. Michael Ammermüller (BWT Lechner Racing), 92 points
3. Ayhancan Güven (martinet by ALMÉRAS), 76 points
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| Pereira just held off a determined Ayhancan Guven |
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| This was Pereira's second Supercup victory of the season but his first to result in championship points. |
