An exciting opening phase, spectacular fights and insane overtakes: the third race of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Silverstone had pretty much everything to offer that makes a good race. With Lorcan Hanafin and Jukka Honkavuori, two drivers from FACH AUTO TECH made it into the top 10. With places six and seven, both the Brit and the Norwegian scored their best results to date in the most popular of all Porsche one-make cups.
Despite his team’s double top 10 success, team boss Alex Fach was only partially satisfied. “We were faster than ever at Silverstone, but we had a lot of bad luck,” he explained after the race. “On the one hand, it’s disappointing because there could have been so much more. On the other hand, we have to consider ourselves lucky to have scored well.”
The Brit Lorcan Hanafin achieved the best result and thus the best overall result of this year’s Supercup season. At his home race in Silverstone, he was one of the biggest movers at the start where he was able to improve by three positions. After an early safety car period, Hanafin managed to break away from the rest of the field with the top 5 leading group. However, due to a problem, he was unable to keep the pace of the front-runners. Shortly before the finish, the 19-year-old was forced to give up one place after a stunning overtaking manoeuvre by his competitor Bastian Buus, with whom he had fought a tireless battle in the final laps of the race. In the end he saw the chequered flag in sixth place and with it secured second in the rookie class.
Close behind him, teammate Jukka Honkavuori crossed the finish line in seventh, giving the Swiss team its second top 10 finish of the day. The Finn, who started from tenth on the grid, took advantage of the chaos at the start and achieved his best result so far. A close duel raged between him and Rudy van Buren, who was ahead of him, for almost the entire duration of the race. Continuous attacks and the constant pressure paid off in the end: “I got stuck behind van Buren, but on the penultimate lap I was able to beat him and finished my race in seventh place. The car felt very good and I think this result gives us confidence for the next rounds,” said Jukka Honkavuori.
Rookie Alexander Fach was less successful at Silverstone during the weekend. After a difficult qualifying session in changing weather conditions, he was unable to avoid a collision between two cars right at the beginning of the race, despite a good start. “Our radiator broke on the front left and we had to park the car. It’s always tough, of course, and I have to recover from it first, but I hope I can do better in Spielberg,” he said confidently after his unsuccessful outing.
The team from Sattel in Switzerland hardly has time to catch their breath after the eventful weekend at Silverstone. From 8 to 10 July the next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will take place in Spielberg. At the same time, the Porsche Sports Cup Suisse in Franciacorta in Italy is also on the agenda.