06 Feb Successful season opener: Engelhart twice on the podium

Posted at 08:29h in Allgemein by

Konrad Motorsport and its driver Christian Engelhart celebrated two podium finishes at the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany’s season opener in Hockenheim. In the first race on Saturday and also in the second run on Sunday Engelhart finished on a strong third position. His team-mate Felipe Fernández Laser made the team-result perfect with two top-10-finishes, while Rolf Ineichen celebrated two podiums in the B-class.

Already in qualifying Konrad-Motorsport-Spearhead Christian Engelhart secured an excellent initial position for the races with the second starting place. As the lights went green on Saturday he successfully defended his position and was on the best way to take the second place home. But a competitor who was one lap behind did not let Engelhart overtake cleanly and thereby enabled Sean Edwards to pass Engelhart. “This incident was not necessary – otherwise the second place would have been safe,” the 26-year-old reported angrily afterwards.

Also in the championship’s second race on Sunday morning Christian Engelhart had a good start. On the way to the first corner he was already right next to leader Kévin Estre. “I have tried everything to overtake him for the lead. Unfortunately a competitor was able to pass me during this attempt.” Nevertheless the man from Kösching was satisfied with the third position: “Being on the podium twice at the season opener is a great result,” explained Engelhart, who now covers the third position also in the overall standings.

His team-mate Felipe Fernández Laser was part of Konrad Motorsport’s line-up for the first time this weekend. In qualifying the talented young driver caused quite a stir when he claimed starting positions three and five. Even though he dropped back to the ninth place (Saturday) and the eighth place (Sunday) in the races, the 24-year-old was satisfied: “I have not competed in a race since seven months, therefore I am happy with the results. Now I am looking forward to the race on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, where I want to improve further.

The third Konrad-Porsche was driven by Rolf Ineichen this weekend. In contrast to Engelhart and Fernández Laser the man from Switzerland competed in the B-Class. Thanks to an error-free drive he secured the second position in both races and therefore finished on the podium in his class twice.
Team principal Franz Konrad drew a positive conclusion: “The two podium-finishes of Christian Engelhart are a very good start into the season.” He was also satisfied with the performance of his two other drivers: “Felipe Fernández Laser scored two strong top-10-results in his first races for our team. Rolf Ineichen is now leading the overall standings of the B-Class.”

The highlights from the season opener of Germany’s fastest one-make-cup can be seen in the “Porsche Carrera Cup Magazin” on German TV-station “N24” next Monday, May 6, at 18:30 CEST. Also “Sport1” will broadcast an extensive summary of the weekend on May 11, 11:45 CEST.

There is no time for Konrad Motorsport to lay back and celebrate the results from Hockenheim. Already at the next weekend the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup’s season opener in Barcelona is on the squad’s schedule. The series is part of the Formula 1 World Championship’s framework programme.