26 May Questionable penalty avoids victory of Norbert Siedler
It was an emotional roller coaster for Konrad Motorsport in Zandvoort. In the race on Sunday Norbert Siedler showed all his talent and crossed the finish line on the first position. But due to a questionable penalty the fastest man of the race was set back to rank four. On Saturday a failure on the clutch prevented Siedler from participating in the race at all. His team-mate Michael Christensen was the best rookie in the second race near the Dutch North Sea coast.
Norbert Siedler had a difficult start into the seventh race weekend of the season. In the qualifying on Saturday morning a lot of traffic prevented Siedler from using the full potential of his 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3. Starting positions five and eight were not what Siedler had expected. Even more disappointing for him was the first race in the afternoon. Already after the formation lap Siedler had to go back to the pits because of a clutch failure.
But Siedler should get his deserved result on Sunday. He started into the race from the second position on the grid. Already on the first straight he has been able to improve up to the third place. In the first corner he passed the Brit Sean Edwards for rank two. Due to a heavy accident of Kévin Estre the safety car was deployed directly afterwards. After the restart Norbert Siedler put a lot of pressure on leader Nicki Thiim. In the following laps there was an extremely exciting battle between the two drivers. Three laps before the end of the race the Konrad-Motorsport-Pilot started the decisive manoeuvre and took the lead. Also the beginning rain could not prevent Siedler from crossing the finish line first, 1.8 seconds ahead of Thiim.
But the joy over the supposed victory should not be long-lasting. Beside eight other drivers also Siedler received a 30-seconds-penalty for setting a personal best sector time under yellow flags. ”The penalty is much too severe,“ he commented on the questionable decision of the race control. ”I slowed down a lot at the scene of accident. But in the other corners I was still fast enough to drive a personal best time.“ Finally Siedler was classified on the fourth place.
Also his team-mate Michael Christensen experienced a weekend of ups and downs. In Saturday’s race one he was a little bit too optimistic when attacking Jeroen Mul. After the following spin he had to let the whole field pass. By lap seven he had already made it back to position 14 but the race was suspended due to heavy rain. In the second race on Sunday it went a lot better for the young Dane. Starting from the ninth position he managed to improve up to the seventh rank. This result meant the Porsche-Junior being the best rookie driver of the race.
Konrad Motorsport’s young gun Tomas Pivoda finished the races on positions twelve and 16. As it was his first appearance at the difficult track in Zandvoort he was quite content with his achievements. Also guest driver Mark J. Thomas draw a positive conclusion: “I enjoy every race in the Porsche Carrera Cup.“ The Canadian gentlemen-driver finished on positions five and six of the amateur class.
The highlights of the race weekend can be watched on Monday 27th August at 6:30 PM on the German TV-Station N24. Also TV-Station Sport 1 broadcasts a selection of the best scenes from Zandvoort cialis canadian pharmacy on Saturday September 1st at 3:00 PM. At the next weekend Konrad Motorsport travels to the tenth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Spa-Francorchamps. The next races of the Porsche Carrera Cup will be held in Oschersleben from the 14th to the 16th September.