With a second place in the fifth race of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season 2023 at the classical track of Spa-Francorchamps, BWT Lechner Racing driver Bastian Buus extended his lead in the championship to 13 points. Harry King in P4 after a great chase through the field and Harri Jones in P7 overall and again on the rookie podium as second in this classification made it a great team result for the Austrian squad ahead of the summer break.
Buus had a very good start from P3, immediately made it to P2 and was able to put a lot of pressure on the leader. He also set fastest lap of the race, but had to be content with P2 when incoming rain caused a Safety Car and then a Red Flag with two laps to go. “I knew that I was faster, but overtaking safely not risking to throw very valuable points away is always still another story. But regarding the championship I can be happy with the result, as I was able to extend my lead”, the Danish Porsche Junior stated.
Harry King, starting from P8, had a great first lap and made it already up to P5: „Then I was able to pass another competitor for P4 and caught up quickly to the Top Three, came very close to the podium. I tried quite a lot of things, even had a rather big moment once, but in the end it just didn´t work out to get another trophy. But I am still second in the championship, so all good so far...”
Australian rookie Harri Jones from P7 on the grid also finished in P7, second in the rookie classification. “It was not an easy race. When the rain came, I wanted to attack for P1 in the class, but I was a bit too greedy, the brakes locked up and I would have lost two positions. But luckily with the Red Flag coming soon the results of one lap before count, so the little mistake didn´t do any damage.”
BWT Lechner Racing Team Principal and CEO Robert Lechner was happy with the result: “Sometimes a second place counts like a victory – and this is definitely the case today for Bastian. He did a very good race, as did Harry, who came very close to the podium from behind. From our point of view it might have been better if the race could have gone on for the final two laps under regular conditions. But with the rain and considering that Spa is a very fast track under safety considerations it was the right decision by race control to stop it early. We extended our lead in both the drivers and team championship, made it to all podiums with Harri coming second in the rookie classification again. So a great way to go into the well deserved summer break now for everyone in the team.”