08 Sep Kuba Giermaziak finished sixth in turbulent Monza-Race
In an exciting seventh race of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup’s season VERVA-Driver Kuba Giermaziak secured the sixth place despite problems with his exhaust. The race in the Royal Park of Monza was characterized by many slipstream-battles and position changes. His team-mate Patryk Szczerbinski finished 19th in the last race on European soil for this year.
At the end of the qualifying on Saturday Kuba Giermaziak covered position four. “Unfortunately we had some minor problems tactic-wise, but the car was for sure fast enough to go on pole,” the 23-year-old reported. “In my fastest lap a competitor blocked me.” As the lights went green at 11.45 AM on Sunday, Giermaziak showed a great start, just as in the last race in Spa. Immediately he was able to overtake Sean Edwards and enter the first corner in third position.
“Then I got hit by Kévin Estre during a battle,” the Pole explained. “It was an absolutely normal race incident, nevertheless my exhaust was damaged afterwards.” In the further course of the race he lost quite some time, especially when he shifted from fifth to sixth gear. “Even in the slip-stream I was not able to follow the other drivers closely,” Kuba Giermaziak complained. He did his best but fell back to position seven in the first part of the race. Shortly after the mid of the race he was at least able to overtake Michael Christensen. After 14 laps he crossed the finish line in sixth place. “This was surely the most interesting race of the season. Because of the bad luck with the exhaust it was unfortunately not a very successful one.”
Even less lucky was his team-mate and fellow countryman Patryk Szczerbinski. With position 22 in qualifying he did not meet his own expectations at all and hoped for a big improvement in the race. But his great ambitions were diminished already at the beginning of the race: “I was sandwiched by two drivers in the first corner and my brakes were damaged,” the talented young driver reported afterwards. “Especially at a high-speed-track like Monza the brakes are extremely important. From then on I could only focus to make no mistakes.” A successful strategy, which helped the youngest driver of the Supercup to finish 19th. “Today nothing more was possible. Not a good result, but the maximum.”
The end of the weekend in Monza does not mean the end of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup’s season. In eight weeks time the season finale will be held within the framework-programme of the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. Exceptionally there will be two races on the modern Yas Marina Circuit at just one weekend. “Even if the championship is not possible any more, I want to score a really good result to conclude the season. Maybe it will be enough for the third place in the overall standings,” says Kuba Giermaziak.