STUTTGART, Germany — The strain was still apparent on his face long after crossing the finish line.
“Bastian pushed me relentlessly on every lap and that was really tough,” declared Morris Schuring, recalling his battle with Porsche Junior Bastian Buus over the entire race distance.
Heading into the race from pole position, Schuring managed to hold on to his lead. Buus, on the other hand, beat Dorian Boccolacci to the first corner and swept into second place. Schuring and Buus then lapped the Formula 1 circuit in eastern Belgium in formation.
At one point, Buus pulled alongside at the end of the start-finish straight but was unable to get past.
“I noticed that Bastian braked a little too late. I held my line and was able to pull ahead again,” said Schuring.
The situation took an exciting turn when rain set in. “Things got really tricky. The front wheels locked up under braking and I got wheelspin when accelerating,” explained Schuring.
When several drivers slid into a run-off zone while braking, the stewards stopped the fifth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup early. “That was the right decision,” stated Schuring.
At the age of 18 years and five months, the Dutchman was crowned the youngest winner in the international one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup that has been held since 1993. For his Fach Auto Tech team, it was the second victory of the season after Alexander Fach won at Silverstone in the U.K.
With this success, Schuring dethroned his Spa rival Buus as the youngest Supercup winner of all time. For his part, the now 20-year-old Dane was satisfied with his second place.
“I finished ahead of my closest rivals in the title fight and that’s the most important thing.” His advantage over BWT Lechner Racing teammate Harry King, who finished fourth at Spa, has increased to 13 points. Buus, however, was not particularly happy about the red flagging of the race.
“As long as it was dry, I had virtually no chance to overtake Morris. On the wet track, however, I coped better with the difficult conditions than he did. I think I would have had a chance to get past.”
Tackling the race alongside Schuring on the front row, Dorian Boccolacci suffered a setback in the first few seconds of the race.
“My start was not good and Bastian immediately overtook me,” Boccolacci said. “Then I had Harry King breathing down my neck, but luckily, I managed to keep him at bay. At least I scored enough points to advance to third place in the standings,” concluded the Frenchman from the CLRT squad.
In the overall standings, Boccolacci overtook Dutchman Larry ten Voorde, who only finished eighth in the 375 kW (510 PS) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by the GP Elite team.
This result put the two-time Supercup champion behind the two fastest rookies. For the Frenchman Alessandro Ghiretti, this was his second victory this season in the special category for Supercup newcomers.
“It’s a great feeling to be on top of the podium and to hear the French national anthem,” said the 21-year-old from the Martinet by Alméras team, who also holds the overall lead in the Rookie classification. The rookie podium was rounded off by Australian Harri Jones (BWT Lechner Racing) in fifth and Belgian Benjamin Paque (CLRT), who finished the race in 12th.