Felix Hirsiger wins Sprint Challenge

Even before the last race weekend, you have already been confirmed as the overall winner of the Sprint Challenge in the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse. How do you rate this success?

Felix Hirsiger: Extremely high, the importance is huge. It is the best thing that has happened to me in my career and in my life. Also because of the situation surrounding my full-time job. I didn’t have much time to train, but I was still able to deliver this performance.

Never before in the history of this racing series has the winner been decided three races before the end.

Our team boss Alex Fach told me this directly after the decisive race. Others have also driven great, our team has been the winner in this racing series four times in the last five years, but never before has it been able to do so with such consistency. That means a lot to me because when Alex says that, it means something. He doesn’t hire nose pickers as drivers.

As a newcomer, you won nine out of ten races with the “Fach Auto Tech” team from Sattel. What was crucial?

The team gave me time to settle in, but I was always told clearly if something wasn’t going well. After the first stop in Austria, where I won both races, Alex called me on the way home and said that I had driven great, but far from perfect. I would have made life difficult for myself with mistakes. This attitude of learning from mistakes in order to do everything perfectly afterwards has greatly promoted my development.

In which areas have you developed further in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup?

The driver gives a certain input via the steering wheel, more or less aggressively depending on the style. I tend to drive delicately, gently and cleanly, so we opted for a setup in which every input has an extreme effect and goes straight into the axle, the suspension and the tires. Even I drove too aggressively at first and had to learn how to do this, the changes were very difficult. Now it’s like day and night, the car dances like it’s on rails. It’s an incredible feeling.

You only train in the racing simulator. How do you manage the transition afterwards?

It’s pure imagination. If I do 120 laps in the simulator, it’s worth its weight in gold because I know how it will feel on the real track, which line I should take, when I have to brake or accelerate. But I can only get used to the grip, the external conditions and the reaction of the car on site during the training sessions. With our financial resources we cannot afford additional test days.

How do you deal with safety car periods during the race when your lead dwindles?

It’s about not exaggerating and not putting too much strain on the tires so that you can respond again in the event of a safety car phase. I have to put my ego aside, I don’t need to be 10 or 15 seconds ahead, it’s enough if I’m consistently leading by five seconds. If I constantly drive at the limit, I risk having a blunt weapon after an interruption with which I can no longer create a gap between myself and the competition.

What was your top speed?

In Mugello I reached 267 km/h.

The last races are on the program in Misano on October 26th. What are your goals?

A driver is only as good as he was in the last race. We want to end the season perfectly, also out of respect for the championship and the other drivers. It would be easy to say that we won’t start because we could save a lot of money. But that would be arrogant and therefore against our credo.

The Porsche Sports Cup Suisse is considered a springboard, and you jump high. Where will you end up?

Next season I would like to drive in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia. A competition with eight race weekends in which it will be really tight. To prepare for this, more money is needed; a season costs around 400,000 francs (previously 250,000, editor’s note). Planning with existing sponsors is underway, and we will be looking for additional partners in the winter.