Great recovery race for BWT Lechner Racing - rookie win for Robert de Haan
What a great recovery race for BWT Lechner Racing at Zandvoort: After a difficult qualifying on Saturday under tricky weather conditions and with two Red Flags, Robert de Haan and Harry King made up a lot of ground in the seventh race of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2024. At the tight track in the Dutch dunes, where overtaking is notoriously difficult, they nevertheless showed great speed and racing spirit. Local hero de Haan made it to P3 in the overall classification on track, even if he had to give a position back later, and also scored the rookie win, with Harry King finishing in P5.
De Haan had started from P7, but already managed to overtake two competitors on lap 1, then made it to P4 where he stayed for most of the race, always keeping in close contact with the top three cars and leading the rookie classification. During the last lap, with a decisive move, he claimed third place and so was able to celebrate on the podium in front of his home crowd. Later it was decided that the position had to be given back to his competitor due to contact between the two cars, so officially he finished in P4. Nevertheless in the rookie championship he is now only six points behind the leader – so everything is possible at the season final in one weeks time.
Overall championship contender Harry King fought his way up from P9 on the grid to P5, showing also great race speed and fighting spirit in a very close field. By this he kept the title fight open until the final race at Monza, a track where anything can happen as seen in the last years, when the races provided a lot of action.
Theo Oeverhaus had to start from P17 and had also already made up a few positions, but rather soon damaged his front splinter in the close midfield fighting and so finally dropped back to P20.
Robert Lechner, BWT Lechner Racing Team Principal: “When I went to the track today, I wished we could repeat the Saturday qualifying, as I knew we had the speed. We proved this today in the race, the cars were very fast, the team did a great job, as did Robert and Harry with their speed and fighting spirit. Really sad we couldn´t start from further up front today, as the team worked so hard and the cars were absolutely competitive!”
Michael Schöch, BWT Lechner Racing Team Manager: “Zandvoort provided quite a big challenge with the changing weather conditions, starting with having to set up everything in the pouring rain and wind. But the team mastered all this very well, also reacting to the different conditions on track. Now everything is focused on get as quickly and well-prepared as possible to Monza, where we will attack again in the season final."
Harry King: “Of course the qualifying result was not what we had anticipated, so we had to fight back hard in the race. Coming from P9 to P5 on a circuit where most of the time you can´t really overtake makes me proud. The pace of the car was really good, so I am really looking forward to the final race in Monza. I will give everything – and then we will see what the outcome will be."
Robert de Haan: “What an amazing race, they gave me a mega car in the race. Coming from P7 to P3 on track and winning the rookie class at home is the best feeling I can have.”
Theo Oeverhaus: “Fights in the midfield of the Porsche Supercup are as hard as at the front, so I need a better qualifying at Monza to be able to aim for a rookie podium again.”