On the storied racetrack of Monaco, Porsche Junior Matteo Cairoli scored pole position in his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for the second round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. The 19-year-old Italian, who competes for the Swiss team Fach Auto Tech, turned the fastest lap in 1:35.281 minutes on the 3.337 kilometre racetrack on Friday. “I’m absolutely thrilled with this pole position. I pushed the limit too far in free practice and hit the barrier. Then I posted the top time in qualifying, but I damaged the car again two minutes before the end of the session. I now know my limits for the race,” said Cairoli with a grin. Guest starter Klaus Bachler (A/race: pro motorsport) secured an excellent grid spot for Sunday’s race with second place. Taking up the race from third on the grid is Michael Ammermüller (D/Lechner MSG Racing Team). Sunday marks an anniversary for the series: In Monaco, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup celebrates its 250th race since its inauguration in 1993.
In glorious sunshine and balmy temperatures of 19 degrees Celsius, the international Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup line-up took off into the qualifying session for round two. In the first ten minutes of the session, Bachler set his fastest time with 1:35.655 minutes. With seven minutes left, Cairoli pulled everything together in one perfect lap and undercut Bachler’s time by 0.374 seconds. “I drove my top time on my first set of tyres. With the second set I encountered a lot of traffic on the circuit and couldn’t improve my time. Now I’m looking forward to the race,” declared Bachler, who last competed in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in 2014.
Ammermüller was not particularly happy with third: “My car was perfectly setup, but I couldn’t really get the most out of it. Now I need a little luck for the race, but the podium is in sight,” said Ammermüller. The fourth quickest time went to Ben Barker (GB/Momo-Megatron Team Partrax).
Porsche Junior Mathieu Jaminet (F/Martinet by Almeras) clinched fifth in qualifying. “That was quite tough because you need incredible concentration. This is my first time here with the Supercup so I think fifth is not too bad. From this position I’d like to finish well in the race,” said the Frenchman. Porsche Junior Dennis Olsen (N/Lechner MSG Racing Team), who contests the Monaco round as a guest entrant, concluded the qualifying on position eleven out of 28 vehicles. “I’m here to learn so that I can contest the Supercup next year. This racetrack is simply impressive.” Porsche Junior Sven Müller (D/Lechner MSG Racing Team) returned to the paddock totally disappointed. “I was simply too fast and I crashed. The vehicle now has to be repaired by Sunday and until then I have a lot to think about,” said Müller.
Round two of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup gets underway on Sunday at 9.45 hrs. Sky Deutschland broadcasts the race live, with Eurosport televising the race on Tuesday at 23.30 hrs.
Qualifying Monaco 1. Matteo Cairoli (I/Fach Auto Tech), 1:35.281 minutes 2. Klaus Bachler (A/race: pro motorsport), 1:35.655 minutes 3. Michael Ammermüller (D/Lechner MSG Racing Team), 1:35.781 minutes 4. Ben Barker (GB/Momo-Megatron Team Partrax), 1:35.845 minutes 5. Mathieu Jaminet (F/Martinet by Almeras), 1:35.846 minutes 6. Christian Engelhart (D/MRS GT-Racing), 1:36.038 minutes 7. Jeffrey Schmidt (CH/Lechner Racing Middle East), 1:36.382 minutes 8. Robert Lukas (PL/Förch Racing by Lukas Motorsport), 1:36.462 minutes
