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René Rast again brings home comfortable victory

Just a few metres into the race the top spot had already been decided. Pole-sitter René Rast snatched the lead with a perfect start at race ten of the Carrera Cup Deutschland and pulled away from the rest of the field to cross the finish line an incredible 14.258 seconds in front. Driving for the Team Deutsche Post by tolimit squad, the German profited from the fact that the trio trailing him were caught up in a breathtaking three-way fight over the entire 17-lap distance. With his lights-to-flag victory on the Nürburgring, Rast further extended his points' lead. Second across the line at the race in sweltering temperatures was Nicki Thiim (Denmark, Hermes Attempto Racing) followed by Jaap van Lagen (Netherlands, FE Racing by Land-Motorsport) in third.

Whilst René Rast drove a commanding race at the front, behind him raged a battle packed with drama and incident. At the start third qualifier Jaap van Lagen squeezed past Sean Edwards. For the Briton this proved to be a costly mistake with far reaching consequences. Not only did Edwards, as three-time winner this season, get stuck behind the Dutchman he also had to deal with an attack from Lausitzring winner Nicki Thiim. Early on Porsche Junior Michael Christensen (Denmark, Konrad Motorsport) also managed to stay in the slipstream of the leading trio but lost contact after a while. The three in front of him stuck together. At times, the gap between the trio was down to just a half a second. Even when van Lagen at one point ran wide, his pursuers failed to reel him in. In the last corner before the flag, the suspense escalated: The race cars of van Lagen and Edwards touched - with Nicki Thiim enjoying the last laugh while he swept past the pair in the last seconds to claim position two. Finishing in fourth, the unlucky Sean Edwards lost even more ground to his team mate Rast. The Briton now pins his hopes on a good run in Sunday's race from which he starts from pole position, with Rast only taking off from fifth.

Claiming fifth, the 21-year-old Porsche-Junior Michael Christensen was not only the best newcomer in the strong field but also earned more valuable points at the Nürburgring in his first scholarship year in the 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The highlight of his premiere season was a podium result on the Lausitzring. In qualifying for the Eifel race on fresh tyres, the ambitious Dane immediately snatched the third grid spot. Two rivals, however, came out on their second set of rubber to trump him, and the Danish Junior was unable to improve on his time.

For his junior colleague Klaus Bachler from Austria, Saturday's race did not run smoothly at all. Heading into the race from seventh, his compatriot Philipp Eng (MRS GT-Racing) slipped past him and proceeded to pull away. In lap twelve, the 21-year-old competing for the Team Deutsche Post by tolimit squad attempted to make a move at the junction of the 3.629 kilometre short version of the Grand Prix circuit. Bachler pulled alongside Eng, the vehicles touched and spun. Although the pair was able to continue, they lost positions and saw the flag in tenth and eleventh.

On this weekend, the two junior drivers were coached by Porsche works driver Timo Bernhard. The Motorsport Grand Slam winner, who is the only race driver to win all four of the world's major 24 hour races, was a Porsche junior himself in 1999. Bernhard stood in for the usual junior coach Sascha Maassen who is competing in the American Le Mans Series this weekend with a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Profiting from Bachler and Eng's spin were four drivers who finished the sprint on positions six to nine. The Carrera Cup champion from 2010, Nicolas Armindo, made up many places over the course of the race. The Frenchman started the season contesting only selected rounds for Attempto Racing, and managed to yield second in his class at Le Mans. Taking up Saturday's race from 13th on the grid, he ploughed through the field to finish sixth. Seventh went to his French compatriot Kévín Estre (Hermes Attempto Racing), which apart from two retirements marked his worst result of the season.

Switzerland's Philipp Frommenwiler (Attempto Racing) was delighted with his eighth ranking whilst ninth place-getter, Norbert Sielder, showed just what would have been possible had he not become entangled in a spin. Starting from fourth, the incident in the first corner threw the Konrad Motorsport pilot from Austria to the back of the field. From there he launched a sensational chase through the field to bring home a superb ninth place at the flag.

Race eleven takes off tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. and can be viewed in high quality live on the official Porsche website (www.porsche.com) - with editorial clips prior to the actual live-streaming, live-timing and a commentary in German and English. On Sunday evening, 19 August, Sport1 broadcasts the second Nürburgring race from 22.15 hours in its entirety. As always, on the Monday after the race weekend (20 August), news station N24 televises the 30-minute "Porsche Carrera Cup Magazin" at 18.30 hours. And on Sport1, Carrera Cup highlights will be aired on Saturday, 25 August, from 16.00 to 16.30 hours.

René Rast (winner): "That was a perfect race. I got away well at the start and had already built up a good gap to the field after the first lap. Early on I tried to push a bit so that towards the end I could concentrate on maintaining my advantage. In the last lap I made a mistake because I wanted to see what was going on behind me. Tomorrow will be more difficult because I'm starting from position five on the grid."

Nicki Thiim (second): "It's high time I had a bit of luck this season. Still, I'd like to thank all those people who believe in me. The race today was unbelievable. That was pure adrenalin and motorsport at its best. I noticed that Sean was getting mad and I waited for something to happen. But I didn't think it would take so long. When I pulled past him I had to have a little laugh."

Jaap van Lagen (third): "To start from sixth and finish on the podium today is a great experience. I know it was tough for the guys behind me because they had started with fresh tyres and I was on used rubber. I'm a little disappointed in Sean because he nudged me in the last corner and I almost went off. Still, I earned crucial points for third place."

Michael Christensen (Porsche Junior, fifth): "It was a trouble-free run for me today. I got a clean start but then became the meat in the sandwich between van Lagen and Edwards to finish fifth. Early on I was able to keep up, but I noticed that I had no chance to get past them. So I decided to go easy on the tyres, hold on to my position and see if I could profit towards the end. But that didn't happen. Still, I'm happy with fifth."

Klaus Bachler (Porsche Junior, tenth): "My start was good and I was sitting in seventh for quite some time. Philipp Eng was in front and at that stage I was clearly faster, but unfortunately I couldn't get past him for some time. Then I tried it at the junction of the short version but there just wasn't enough space. We both spun and I'm very sorry for Philipp."

Result race 10 *
1. René Rast (D), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, 26:19.064 minutes
2. Nicki Thiim (DK), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 14.258 seconds
3. Jaap van Lagen (NL), FE Racing by Land-Motorsport, + 14.610
4. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 14.659
5. Michael Christensen (DK), Konrad Motorsport, + 16.077
6. Nicolas Armindo (F), Attempto Racing, + 23.175
7. Kévin Estre (F), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 26.997
8. Philipp Frommenwiler (CH), Attempto Racing, + 27.767
9. Norbert Siedler (A), Konrad Motorsport, + 31.735
10. Klaus Bachler (A), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 31.908

Result Amateur
1. Hoevert Vos (NL), FE Racing by Land-Motorsport, 27:04.576 minutes
2. Peter Scharmach (NZL), Marschall Goebel Racing, + 11.229 seconds
3. Hannes Waimer (D), GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, + 27.828

Drivers' classification after 10 of 17 races *
1. René Rast (D), 156 points
2. Sean Edwards (GB), 139
3. Kévin Estre (F), 133
4. Norbert Siedler (A), 116
5. Jaap van Lagen (NL), 105

Amateur classification
1. 'Bill Barazetti' (D), 160 points
2. Harrie Kolen (NL), 151
3. Wolf Nathan (NL), 150

* Results and points' standings are provisional due to on-going investigations