SPA, Belgium — At round two of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, Loek Hartog (Team GP Elite) climbed to the top of the podium for the first time.
The Dutchman scored his first one-make cup victory on Saturday at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium).
“Winning has been my big goal since my first Carrera Cup race two years ago. Now I finally did it. I was under a lot of pressure on the last lap so that makes me all the more pleased with this win,” said Hartog.
His compatriot and teammate Larry ten Voorde secured second place in a nail-biting championship race held as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC support program. The trophy for third place went to Morris Schuring (Netherlands) from the Fach Auto Tech team.
When drizzle set in shortly before the race, all teams on the grid opted for rain tyres on their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. Hartog made perfect use of his Cup-911’s 510 hp at the start and promptly catapulted from second on the grid past polesitter ten Voorde at La Source corner.
Over many laps, Hartog held a comfortable lead, however, tension mounted in the final moments: a safety car phase bunched the 31-strong field together for the last lap. Spectators in the grandstands were treated to a spectacular finale – which ultimately saw Hartog sprinting across the finish line first ahead of his teammate ten Voorde.
After enthralling wheel-to-wheel duels with Harry King (UK/Allied-Racing), 18-year-old Schuring took the flag in third place.
Porsche-Junior Bastian Buus rounded off the top five on the 7.004-kilometre Formula 1 circuit. Driving for Allied-Racing, the Dane put in a blistering start and made up four places from ninth on the grid.
Theo Oeverhaus (CarTech Motorsport Bonk) from Germany was the best rookie and Talent Pool driver with position six.
In the ProAm category, Georgi Donchev celebrated a double victory. After winning his class on Friday, the Bulgarian followed up with another victory for his ProfilDoors by Huber Racing team ahead of Ahmad Alshehab (Kuwait/CarTech Motorsport Bonk) and Sören Spreng (Germany/GP Elite).
After the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland doubleheader event, Hartog ranks first in the championship. With 41 points, the 20-year-old leads the series ahead of ten Voorde (40 points) and King (38 points).