Cold as ice Pereira reaches the #BoilingPoint.

25 degrees and cloudy does not serve up glowing asphalt, which we know to be typical for Budapest. But it did give us perfect racing conditions. The 22 pilots who entered the race graced us with 15 entertaining laps. And even though the Hungaroring is not an overtaking paradise, there were plenty of wheel-to-wheel duels from start to finish and throughout the entire field. And this was exactly how the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup brought the 4.381-kilometer-long arena in the outskirts of Budapest to a boil without the blazing sun.

One man was unstoppable this past weekend : #2 Dylan Pereira (LUX/BWT Lechner Racing). He pulverised the three-year old qualifying track record of former teammate Michael Ammermüller (1:46.926 minutes back in 2017) by almost half a second with 1:46.489 minutes! Porsche Junior #22 Ayhancan Güven (TUR/Martinet by Alméras) was 0.286 seconds behind as the second fastest – unusual for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. “I caught a perfect free lap,” said the Luxembourger about his supreme best time.

During the race, we expected Güven to be a bigger threat. The Porsche Junior went in for the attack from race start, but Pereira only left him the outer track – no passing possible. Güven let Pereira know he was right there, giving him two slight nudges in the rear. Showing his excellent driving skills Pereira maintained his position. Following behind them, #25 Larry ten Voorde (NED/Team GP Elite) took rookie #23 Marvin Klein (FRA/Martinet by Alméras) by surprise in a corner and could advance to position three. The Dutchman had grid position five at race start but was handed a position from Rookie #3 Leon Köhler (GER/Lechner Racing Middle East), qualified on P4, who had to bow out of the race at short notice due to technical problems.

The wild chase was abruptly interrupted by the safety car after only two laps: #12 Philipp Sager (AUT/Dinamic Motorsport) hit the rain-soaked Astroturf at the finish line and backed into the pit wall: Race end for the ProAm Classification winner from the season opener and runner-up of Round 2 on the Red Bull Ring. The good news was that he got out of the car without injury.

At the restart on lap 6, Pereira tried to get away using some motorsport trickery. Güven combined his natural instinct with his Porsche Motorsport school training and was able to remain so cool that a serious attack developed. Twice he tried to pass from the outer track during the first two turns, and then from the inner track for the following fast right turn. However, it was Dylan Pereira who advanced to become the perfect defender and kept Güven behind him.

The top positions were settled. Pereira drove relatively unhindered towards victory, winning with a lead of 1.915 seconds, making it his second win in a row and the third out of three races for BWT Lechner Racing. Overall, Pereira and Güven drove with extreme precision, leaving the field far behind.

Just like at the top, there were plenty more duels happening from start to finish throughout the racing field. Take for instance Marvin Klein, who clearly couldn’t accept that Larry ten Voorde had brought his game from the beginning. For more than 10 laps, Klein hung behind the Dutchman. Not impressed by all this, ten Voorde remained cool and collected 17 points in the championship, keeping the Rookie behind him. Both delivered strong racing performances and fought fairly.

The fight for fifth position was even harder. Porsche Junior #1 Jaxon Evans (NZL/BWT Lechner Racing) had to swallow the bitter pill of track limits after the Qualifying Session and instead of starting from P2, he started from P6, which became P5 due to Köhler’s race retirement. Shortly after the restart, #5 Jaap van Lagen (NED/FACH AUTO TECH), the most experienced driver in the whole field, joined in the fun. With eleven seasons participating in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, plus eight seasons of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, no one can hold a candle to him. Using his chance after the safety car phase in turn 11, he pushed passed Evans with a strong manoeuvre: “I heard Jaxon hit the speed limiter and I used that moment to overtake him.”

From this point, Evans went on the counterattack but needed to remain calm. Rookie #4 Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (FRA/Lechner Racing Middle East) and #33 Florian Latorre (FRA/CLRT) were also within striking distance and were waiting for their chances if an opportunity opened up during the duel happening in front of them. So without much of a break, Evans went on the offensive with van Lagen. Forced back onto the fighting line again and again, van Lagen was able to keep Evans in his rear, including a few body checks.

The fight escalated, however during lap 12 in Turn 1: Evans was again in the outer track, while van Lagen defended on the inside. Suddenly, the front tires of the two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup grazed, forcing Evans off the track, losing a place to Simmenauer; van Lagen went out one turn later with a puncture. Bad luck for the Dutchman, who was having his first really strong race of the season. Once again, no measurable result for the 43-year old veteran of FACH AUTO TECH.

From this point, Simmenauer and Latorre slid into places five and six. Simmenauer also took second place in the Rookie Classification behind the dominant Klein. The Top 10 were completed by #10 Marius Nakken (NOR/Dinamic Motorsport), #6 Jordan Love (AUS/FACH AUTO TECH), #24 Max van Splunteren (NED/Team GP Elite) and #31 Daan van Kuijk (NED/GP Elite): three more Rookies.

The ProAm Classification was a swift affair for #20 Roar Lindland (NOR/Pierre Martinet by Alméras) after Philipp Sager had to retire. In 16th place overall, he had a 10.330 second advantage over teammate #19 Stéphane Denoual (FRA/Pierre Martinet by Alméras). Third place went to #21 Clément Mateu (FRA/Pierre Martinet by Alméras). "It was going well for me all weekend. I'm happy to be back in the lead at this stage of the season," summarized the personable Norwegian.

After three races in just 14 days, the teams and drivers of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup have their first opportunity to take a breather, analyse their performances and recalibrate their focus. On August 2, we’ll cultivate #HighSpeedTradition on the legendary Silverstone Circuit.