In the GT4 Clubsport group, Tomas Guedes didn’t let anything slip and crossed the finish line twice as winner on the Paul Ricard circuit. Ekaterina Lüscher, the driver of the young talent promotion program of Porsche Switzerland SA and Porsche Motorsport Club Switzerland, was delighted with her fourth place in the first race. In the second race, she had to go flawless. In the Open GT group, the winner of the two sprint races is Philippe Menotti. He started at the wheel of a 404 kW (550 hp) Porsche 911 GT3 R of the 991.2 generation. In the category reserved for the current 911 GT3 Cup, equipped with traction control and racing ABS, it was first the Indian Guru, then the Brazilian Marcelo Tomasoni, who won the biggest trophy. In the Porsche Drivers Competition Switzerland, Xavier Penalba and Gabriel Piaget set the most consistent laps in the shortest classification race, with an identical result. In the nine-lap event, it was Philipp Müller who allowed himself the smallest deviation from his own average time.
Porsche Sprint Challenge Switzerland: GT3 Cup
Felix Hirsiger picked up at Le Castellet where he left off at the Red Bull Ring in Austria – but better: the GT3 Cup debutant achieved the “Grand Slam” twice at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of around 375 kW (510 hp), but also secured pole position and the fastest lap in the race each time. The Zougois, who has just celebrated his 26th birthday, finished the first 18-lap heat with a 15.5 second lead. During the second, he still had more than twelve seconds ahead. Four starts, four victories: Hirsiger thus occupies first place in the drivers’ ranking.
Second place was won both times by William Mezzetti. The Italian had to win against Dylan Yip during the starting lap of the second race. The 20-year-old from Macau caused a sensation during the first race by successively moving up from seventh position on the starting grid to third place. He thus relegated Gregor Burkhard to fourth place. The latter immediately took his revenge in the following sprint race and took third position from Yip. The latter’s fourth place was even put under pressure by Roderick Christie: starting in tenth position, the Briton actually crossed the finish line in fifth position. Just behind: Peter Hegglin, Marc Arn, Sébastien Pidoux and Jan Klingelnberg.
Porsche Sprint Challenge Switzerland: GT4 Clubsport
The man of the day in the GT4 Clubsport group was Tomas Guedes. The Portuguese celebrated two victories at the wheel of the 368 kW (500 hp) 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport. In the first race, he was able to outrun his pursuer Remo Stebler by a good three seconds and also secured the fastest lap in the race. The second was much closer: Guedes then only maintained a tiny lead of 0.595 seconds and failed to match Stebler in terms of lap time. With three victories now this season, he is at the top of the drivers’ standings.
Third place in the first round went to Patrick Schetty. The reigning champion won from the start against Ekaterina Lüscher. The 17-year-old from Aargau is supported this season by the Porsche Motorsport Club Suisse and Porsche Schweiz AG as a junior driver. She again started the second race from third place on the starting grid, but had to stop her race car prematurely after three laps. Andreas Heiniger thus rose to third place. The other places went to the Briton Matthew Wells as well as the Swiss Roman Steiner and Guillaume Châtelain.
“Qualifying went well for me. I am proud of my two third places on the starting grid and my lap time, said Ekaterina Lüscher. But I immediately lost a position in the first race – I managed to catch up, then I suffered understeer. That’s why I stayed in fourth place. Unfortunately, during the second race I had a collision which damaged my car. Because of that, I couldn’t finish the race. »
Porsche Drivers Competition Switzerland
Xavier Penalba and Gabriel Piaget achieved a rare feat during the shorter regularity test of the Porsche Drivers Competition Switzerland: they varied by only 1.48 seconds from their own average time during their five timed laps on the Paul Ricard – Penalba circuit with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS of the 991 generation, Piaget with a 718 Cayman GT4. As he had set the fastest lap time of 2:23.06 minutes, Penalba was awarded first place. Ranks three to five were reached by Kevin Lattion, Philipp Müller and Peter Meister.
The second round took place over nine laps, of which only the best eight were taken into account in the ranking. This is where Müller took the advantage: with his 718 Cayman GT4 RS, he only deviated by 1.7 seconds from his own lap time average. He was followed by Lattion, Penalba, Piaget and Meister, who occupied positions two to five.
“The Paul Ricard circuit was once again worth the trip for our participants,” explains Richard Feller, director of the Porsche Sports Cup Switzerland. This state-of-the-art circuit, located in the immediate vicinity of the Mediterranean, is an experience for all drivers and motorsport enthusiasts, with its varied corner combinations. »
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Photos of Castellet
Password: PSCS_LeCastellet_2024
