Evans keeps his 2021 title hopes alive with another podium performance
The winner of round four of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup was announced not before long after the race had finished. Although the French guest driver Marvin Klein had crossed the finish line first on the Hungaroring, a subsequent technical scrutineering showed that the amount of fuel in the tank of the CLRT team’s 911 GT3 Cup was below the mandatory remainder of two kilograms. As a result, the Stewards of the Meeting disqualified Klein from the race. Thus, victory went to the runner-up, in this case, the current leader of the standings Larry ten Voorde (Team GP Elite) from the Netherlands.
Had the field not completed four laps behind the safety car at a relatively slow speed, Klein may not have made it over the finish line anyway – a situation that speaks against deliberately putting too little fuel into Latorre’s car. “We have no explanation,” said Benjamin Floch, engineer at CLRT. “According to our calculations, we refuelled our two cars identically. And after the race finished, we pumped eight kilos of petrol out of Florian Latorre’s car.”
Larry ten Voorde was not particularly satisfied about his inherited win. “Marvin was clearly the best today, a few kilograms of fuel in the tank would not have made any difference,” he said, paying tribute to the guest driver. With this result, the defending Supercup champion extends his championship lead by 17 points over New Zealander Jaxon Evans (Martinet by Alméras), who took the flag in second place. Third place went to the Frenchman Florian Latorre in the second 911 fielded by CLRT.
Due to a collision, the safety car came out for a few minutes after the first lap so that the marshals could salvage a damaged vehicle. At this point, Larry ten Voorde had already charged from fourth to second place and had settled in behind Marvin Klein. “I took advantage of the fact that Jaxon Evans and Florian Latorre were locked in a battle through the first two corners. This gave me the chance to overtake,” reported the Dutchman.
After taking up the race from second on the grid, Evans was somewhat disgruntled. “Actually, I wanted to reduce my gap to Larry in the overall standings. Unfortunately, that didn’t work,” stated the New Zealander, who currently ranks second overall. Nevertheless, Evans managed to fend off repeated attacks from Latorre over the entire race distance. Ayhancan Güven (BWT Lechner Racing) followed the Frenchman over the line. “After a less than ideal qualifying, I couldn’t really expect much more,” admitted the Porsche Junior from Turkey, who took up the race from the fifth grid spot.
Behind Güven, the two Germans Laurin Heinrich and Leon Köhler took the chequered flag. Both compete for the Nebulus Racing by Huber team. With this result, Heinrich won the rookie classification for the second time in a row. Nicolas Misslin (Lechner Racing Middle East) from Monaco also secured his second straight victory in the ProAm category.
“Gripping races and close qualifying results in the region of thousandths of a second – once again, the Supercup offers plenty of action and variety in the 2021 season. It’s great that spectators are back at the tracks to cheer the drivers on,” said Oliver Schwab, Project Manager Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, giving a mid-season review.
Next up on the Supercup calendar is one of the fastest races of the season: on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps from 27 to 29 August 2021.
Race 4 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, 15 laps, Budapest (H)*
1. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite)
2. Jaxon Evans (NZ/Martinet by Alméras)
3. Florian Latorre (F/CLRT)
4. Ayhancan Güven (TR/BWT Lechner Racing)
5. Laurin Heinrich (D/Nebulus Racing by Huber)
6. Leon Köhler (D/Nebulus Racing by Huber)
Overall classification Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup after 4 of 8 races*
1. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 95 points
2. Jaxon Evans (NZ/Martinet by Alméras), 75 points
3. Leon Köhler (D/Nebulus Racing by Huber), 46 points
4. Florian Latorre (F/CLRT), 41 points
5. Dorian Boccolacci (F/Martinet by Alméras), 38 points
6. Laurin Heinrich (D/Nebulus Racing by Huber), 36 points
* Full results and overall classifications:
https://motorsports.porsche.com/usa/en/article/2021/03/12/pmsc-2021-results
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Sources: Angus Thompson/Porsche Cars Australia