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The rear field of the Porsche Mobil Supercup 2022 drives through a corner shortly after the start in Le Castellet

7/27/2022

Rookie Bastian Buus dominates heated battle in Le Castellet.

New circuits on the Porsche Supercup calendar are usually good for a surprise or two. In Le Castellet, the revelation of the weekend was the performance of Bastian Buus, who put in an outstanding shift as part of a strong BWT Lechner team performance.

The Rookies of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup are some of the top young drivers in international GT racing. Even so, for a Rookie driver to win practice, qualifying and the race, as #7 Bastian Buus (DNK/BWT Lechner Racing) did, is extremely rare. The layout of the 5.842-kilometer Grand Prix track variant at Circuit Paul Ricard seemed to suit Buus particularly well.


The French circuit was on the race plan last year, but had to be removed due to Corona and Brexit-related postponements. This season, our French drivers in particular were looking forward to a race on home soil – e.g. Florian Latorre, who drove the No. 13 CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Four more guest drivers joined the field of permanent drivers, so that again 32 race cars took to the track: #29 Leonardo Caglioni (ITA) for Ombra Racing, #35 Ariel Levi (ISR) for Huber Racing and the two Australians #38 Aaron Love and #39 Stephen Grove for Martinet by Alméras.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of G. Quaresmini races through a corner at Le Castellet during Round 5, Supercup 2022

In Training und Qualifying, it was a pink weekend.

Hot weather, high asphalt temperatures and changing winds presented the drivers and teams with special challenges throughout the entire race weekend. The focus was on the tires, which were heavily stressed in the fast corner combinations. Added to this was the intrigue of a new circuit, which none of the four drivers at the top of the standings had ever raced before – so the top four at least shared the same disadvantage.
The field of race cars of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2022 shortly after the start of race 5 in Le Castellet
The two Lechner Racing drivers #5 Dylan Pereira (LUX) and #6 Harry King (GBR), as well as #25 Larry ten Voorde (NLD/Team GP Elite) and #3 Laurin Heinrich (DEU/SSR Huber Racing) delivered convincing results in Practice and Qualifying Session – but try as they might, they just couldn't get near Buus on pole.

I'm seven tenths of a second off pole position. To be honest, at the moment I don't know where to find them.

#3 Laurin Heinrich(DEU/SSR Huber Racing)
The closest to the young Danish driver was #12 Marvin Klein (FRA/CLRT), with the second fastest time in qualifying. However, due to a penalty from the previous Supercup race in Austria, he had to relinquish his grid position. As a result, the three Lechner Racing drivers took the top three grid positions at the start of the race, confirming the top form of the team, which already has a significant lead over SSR Huber Racing in the team standings. Ten Voorde, Klein, #1 Morris Schuring (NLD/Huber Racing), Heinrich and #16 Simone Iaquinta (ITA/Dinamic Motorsport) completed the top eight grid positions for Sunday's race.
The race cars of R. Lindland and A. Love in a duel in a corner of the Circuit Paul Ricard at the Porsche Supercup
Several Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars in a tight battle on the Circuit Paul Ricard at the Porsche Supercup 2022

Hot race with intense duels.

Under the heat of the midday sun, the complete Porsche Supercup field started the 5th race of the season. Buus defended his pole position with the confidence of a veteran against his hard-attacking teammate Harry King. Even at the restart after a safety car phase triggered in the course of the first lap, he did not allow himself to be taken by surprise. Once again, Buus kept his lead and drove his 375 kW (510 hp) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup all the way to an unchallenged victory.

To be honest, I screwed up the start a bit – Harry was right next to me. But I swore to myself: I'll only brake when he brakes.

#7 Bastian Buus(DNK/BWT Lechner Racing)
Harry King and Bastian Buus splash champagne on the Porsche Supercup podium at Le Castellet 2022
Huge relief also for Larry ten Voorde: The defending champion from Team GP Elite passed Pereira right at the start. After his disaster at the previous race in Austria when caught up in a collision that was no fault of his own, he was able to close the gap to the top of the standings again with a third place finish at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Bastian Buus on his first Supercup win – next to him I almost feel old ;-) I'm happy to be back on the podium after my bad luck at the Red Bull Ring. I'm not worrying about defending the title yet. I just want to win races.

#25 Larry ten Voorde(NLD/Team GP Elite)
Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich crossed the finish line in fourth place. However, the 20-year-old lost this position due to a subsequent time penalty of three seconds: The stewards penalised the German from the SSR Huber Racing team for overtaking outside the track boundary immediately after the start. Because of this, Heinrich had to relinquish fourth place to Dylan Pereira. This allowed the Luxembourger from Team BWT Lechner Racing to defend his lead in the Overall Standings.
Several Porsche racing cars race through a curve in Le Castellet one after the other like a string of pearls
The drivers in the middle of the field also delivered thrilling duels throughout the race, although the French drivers, ironically, were unfortunate at times. Local hero #19 Dorian Boccolacci (FRA/Martinet by Alméras), for example, could not do any better than 12th place.

Congratulations to Bastian Buus: Winning a race in his first Supercup season is extremely impressive and speaks for his massive talent. I would also like to pay tribute to all the drivers and teams who worked tirelessly in these difficult midsummer conditions.

Oliver SchwabProject Manager Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup
In the Rookie Classification, Bastian Buus remains undefeated in the fifth race of the season and is now well clear of his pursuers. Victory in the ProAm Classification went to the Norwegian #21 Roar Lindland (Pierre Martinet by Alméras), who was joined on the Le Castellet podium by two Frenchmen, #11 Clement Mateu (CLRT) and #22 Stéphane Denoual.
ProAm drivers Mateu, Lindland and Denoual hold up their trophies on the Supercup podium at Le Castellet

After the race at the ultra-modern Circuit Paul Ricard, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup action now moves to one of the most traditional race tracks in Formula 1: For Round 6, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars will compete on the Ardennes roller coaster in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.


One familiar face will no longer be there: #4 Michael Ammermüller (DEU/SSR Huber Racing) announced his retirement from racing at Le Castellet. In the season to date, the three-time Porsche Supercup Champion scored just 19 points.

Michael Ammermüller arm in arm with team boss Christoph Huber and Luca Rettenbacher at the Porsche Supercup

Overall Classification Round 5 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2022, Le Castellet

Pos.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
No.
5
3
25
6
7
19
9
20
16
2
1
12
4
24
17
10
26
27
18
8
28
14
13
21
15
23
11
22
Driver
Dylan Pereira
Laurin Heinrich
Larry ten Voorde
Harry King
Bastian Buus
Dorian Boccolacci
Lorcan Hanafin
Jaap van Lagen
Simone Iaquinta
Rudy van Buren
Moris Schuring
Marvin Klein
Michael Ammermüller
Max van Splunteren
Loek Hartog
Jukka Honkavuori
Jesse van Kuijk
Daan van Kuijk
Gianmarco Quaresmini
Alexander Fach
Lucas Groeneveld
Daniele Cazzaniga
Evan Spenle
Roar Lindland
Philipp Sager
Aaron Mason
Clément Mateu
Stephane Denoual
Nation
LUX
DEU
NLD
GBR
DNK
FRA
GBR
NLD
ITA
NLD
NLD
FRA
DEU
NLD
NLD
FIN
NLD
NLD
ITA
CHE
NLD
ITA
FRA
NOR
ITA
GBR
FRA
FRA
Total points
92
88
82
80
73
35
31
30
27
27
26
25
19
18
18
15
12
7
4
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Gran Premio dell'Emilia-Romagna Round 1
25
14
20
17
12
10
8
3
0
9
2
1
4
6
7
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Grand Prix de Monaco Round 2
14
17
25
12
7
20
2
6
8
5
3
9
10
0
1
0
0
0
4
0
0 (DNC)
0
-
0
0
0 (DNS)
0
0 (DNC)
British Grand Prix Round 3
14
25
20
17
12
0 (DNC)
10
3
0
8
4
5
2
0
6
9
0
7
0
0 (DNC)
1
0
-
0
0
0
0
0
Grosser Preis von Österreich Round 4
25
20
0 (DNF)
14
17
0 (DNC)
7
10
12
5
8
0 (DNF)
3
9
4
1
6
0
0
2
0 (DNC)
0
-
0
0
0
0
0
Grand Prix de France Round 5
14
12
17
20
25
5
4
8
7
0
9
10
0
3
0 (DNC)
0
6
0
0
1
2
0
-
0
0
0 (DNC)
0
0
Belgian Grand Prix Round 6
Dutch Grand Prix Round 7
Gran Premio d'Italia Round 8
Overall Classification
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