Supercup: Yelloly Wins at Hockenheim
The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup returned to Germany after a year’s absence – since its debut season in 1993 Supercup has raced at the Hockenheimring a total of 20 times. On this occasion though it was not a homegrown German driver who dominated qualifying on Saturday for round five of the championship, but a Briton. Nick Yelloly put his Fach Auto Tech 911 GT3 Cup on pole position ahead of Sunday’s race, and used that position to his advantage during the race, pulling clear of the field immediately after the lights went out.
Yelloly took a commanding win, leading from lights-to-flag to finish 3.6-seconds ahead of second-placed driver, Mattia Drudi who had passed Mikkel Pedersen in the early laps. Behind, fierce battles for the remaining positions developed. Current championship leader Michael Ammermüller started the race in fifth position and overtook Pedersen then Porsche Junior Thomas Preining to finish third. Preining ultimately came home in fourth place after a thrilling battle with Pedersen, Dylan Pereira finished fifth with Pedersen in sixth. Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer started from eighth on the grid and made up one place during the race to cross the line in seventh.
On taking his second win of the season, Yelloly commented: “I got away well at the start and that laid the foundation for my win. To drive unchallenged at the front of the field might look easy, but you have to be totally concentrated over the entire distance. And I succeeded in that.”
After five races, Ammermüller still leads the championship with one victory and 81 points to his name, Yelloly is second with two victories and 76 points. Pereira sits in third place in the drivers’ classification with 58 points. Round six of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup takes place on 29th July at the Hungaroring in Hungary – the venue has hosted the Supercup series every year since its inaugural season in 1993.