28 Jul Giermaziak clinches podium-finish in red-hot battle of Budapest
Successful in Hungary: Kuba Giermaziak claimed another podium-finish with the third place in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup’s fifth race of the season. Also his team-mate Patryk Szczerbinski showed a strong performance and finished sixth.
More than 30 degrees air temperature and track temperatures of nearly 60 degrees – due to this hot conditions the durability of the racing tires became an important issue at the Hungaroring. Kuba Giermaziak finished the qualifying on Saturday in fourth place. “My lap was really great and the car was just like I wanted it.” But in contrast to all other top-drivers the Pole only used one set of tires: “This should be a big advantage in the first laps, because I will the start the race with fresh rubber. There a many Polish fans here, therefore I would really love to be on the podium.”
Immediately after the start Kuba Giermaziak was part of the leading trio behind Sean Edwards and Christian Engelhart. “At the beginning I was able to put the two guys under big pressure. Unfortunately overtaking is really difficult on the Hungaroring – especially if everyone is driving at top-level.” The VERVA-Driver posted fastest laps again and again, but could not find a way to pass the two cars in front of him. Finally he crossed the finish line in third, just 1.5 seconds behind the winner Sean Edwards. “This result is really important for the championship, we are really close to the top-3 now,” the 23-year-old, who covers the fourth position in the overall standings, said happily.
His team-mate and fellow-countryman Patryk Szczerbinski had a successful weekend as well. In qualifying he did not really measure up to his own expectations with the 14th place. “Anyway, I am really confident because the gap to the top-10 is really small,” he stated afterwards. His optimism was rewarded and in the race everything went according to plan for the 19-year-old: “At the start I was at the right place at the right time and therefore won many positions.” After only four laps he had already improved to the sixth place.
Until the end of the race Patryk Szczerbinski could pull away from the cars behind him and slowly closed the gap to the frontrunners. But for more overtakings there was no time in the 14-laps-race. With the sixth place the student who lives in Manchester celebrated his best result of the season: “So many improved positions make me really happy.”
There is now a short summer break in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. In four weeks time the next race will be held on the legendary Circuit de Spa-Franchorchamps in Belgium. On the “Ardennes roller coaster” Kuba Giermaziak wants to fight for top-positions again and also Patryk Szczerbinski is confident to continue his uptrend.