STUTTGART, Germany — Bastian Buus could breathe a big sigh of relief.
“I’ve finished second three times this season, and now we’ve finally managed to win,” said the delighted Porsche Junior after a turbulent race at the Lausitzring.
Taking up the race from the second grid spot, Buus swept past polesitter Loek Hartog already during the first lap. Shortly after, the safety car was deployed to spearhead the field of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup following a collision on the start-finish straight of the 3.478-kilometre EuroSpeedway. Once the race went green again, Hartog involuntarily reshuffled the order at the front.
While accelerating after the restart, a technical glitch slowed down Hartog’s car briefly hampering his GP Elite teammate Larry ten Voorde. Harry King grabbed this chance to pass ten Voorde. At the same time, Bastian Buus had pulled about three seconds clear of his pursuers.
The Porsche Junior then proceeded to bring home his first win of the season unchallenged. While Hartog had to retire, King and ten Voorde became engaged in a heated duel for the remaining laps.
“Larry put huge pressure on me but we’ve improved compared to yesterday, where the orange cars celebrated a one-two result,” commented King, referring to Saturday’s race that Loek Hartog had won ahead of Larry ten Voorde. Nevertheless, the championship leader was satisfied with his third place.
“With a view to the situation in the overall standings, I didn’t take too many risks,” conceded ten Voorde. His advantage over the new second-placed driver Harry King stays at 54 points. Ranking fourth overall, Porsche Junior Bastian Buus reduced the gap to Hartog and King.
“That was precisely my goal for this weekend. Hopefully, things will continue like this at the Sachsenring,” said the Dane as the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland heads to the next doubleheader event.
Fourth place went to Morris Schuring. The Dutchman succeeded in making up five positions from his grid spot. His fellow countryman Huub van Eijndhoven finished fifth with Harri Jones taking the flag in sixth.
However, both lost their respective positions due to time penalties for causing collisions. These decisions handed fifth place and victory in the rookie classification to Germany’s Theo Overhaus. Ghislain Cordeel from Belgium was classified as second rookie, with Jones in third.
In the ProAm classification, Ahmad Alshehab from Kuwait beat the Bulgarian Georgi Donchev and Michael Essmann from Germany.
“I tackled the race from third in the ProAm class and initially fell back even further in the race. In the second half of the race, I managed to work my way back up the order and only grabbed the ProAm lead on the last lap,” said Alshehab after his 22-lap race on Lausitzring.
“As expected, the two races at the Lausitzring were action-packed and a great start to the second half of the season,” commented Hurui Issak, Project Manager Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. “Congratulations to Loek Hartog, who has made a comeback with his victory on Saturday, and to Porsche Junior Bastian Buus for his first win of the season. Larry ten Voorde has held on to his clear lead in the standings, however the hunting pack has bunched closer together and is definitely determined to catch Larry. There has also been some reshuffling in the Rookie and ProAm rankings.
“In any case, the remaining six races promise to be very exciting.”