In the fourth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in Spielberg in Austria, Lorcan Hanafin showed a brilliant race of overtakes. At the Red Bull Ring he gained more positions than anyone else in the field and moved up from 21st to tenth place overall. The tragic hero of the race was teammate Jukka Honkavuori. The Finn lost his eighth place due to a time penalty and ended up 17th overall.
“It really was a crazy race. I had an unlucky start and even lost a few positions. After that, I took every chance and managed to catch up bit by bit. I am really very happy with this result, especially after the disappointing qualifying,” said Lorcan Hanafin about his overtaking race.
With his dauntless race, the young Brit not only secured another top 10 result for the FACH AUTO TECH team in the overall standings, but also third place in the rookie class. He was doing more than just damage limitation after his unsuccessful qualifying the previous day which included a spin.
The Finn Jukka Honkavuori also delivered an on-track thriller in Styria. As the team’s best driver in qualifying, he initially had to take a few steps back after the start and two safety car periods. Thanks to fearless overtakes, however, he made it to eighth place, which would have equalled his second-best result in the Supercup. That made the penalty for exceeding track limits even tougher, which ultimately dropped Honkavuori to 17th place.
Team colleague Alexander Fach started as the second-best rookie but had to admit defeat to the strong competitors during the opening phase and later on in the race. He ended in 15th place in the overall standings as well as with his first point in the championship.
“The fact that we saw two of our drivers in the top 10 again was a great result. Of course, Jukka’s time penalty was a bit disappointing, and Alexander still has to learn to assert himself more in the battles. Lorcan made up a lot of places and I think we can be satisfied,” said team manager Alex Fach, summarizing the nerve-wracking race.
After some eventful weeks, it is now time for the FACH AUTO TECH team to take a deep breath and recharge their batteries before heading to Le Castellet on the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup from 22 to 24 July.