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Sean Edwards extends overall lead with third win of the season

At the Hungaroring, Britain's Sean Edwards pocketed his third win of the season in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup to further extend his lead in the championship. At the wheel of his Allyouneed by Project 1-run new 460 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, which is based on the seventh generation of the 911, he won in sweltering heat on the Grand Prix course on the outskirts of Budapest with a 0.664 second advantage over Germany's Christian Engelhart (FACH AUTO TECH). Third place went to Poland's Kuba Giermaziak of the VERVA Racing team.

It was another commanding lights-to-flag victory for Sean Edwards, who had already won the first races of the season in Barcelona and Monaco. From pole position he won the sprint at the start against last year's winner Christian Engelhart and held onto his lead over the entire 14-lap race distance. In the overall classification of the attractive brand trophy series run as support to Formula one, he increased his lead to 16 points because his strongest title rivals were plagued by bad luck: Denmark's Nicki Thiim (Attempto Racing), the Silverstone winner, had to settle for eighth place, while Michael Ammermüller (Germany) of the Lechner Racing Team, who secured podium results from the first three races of the season, only saw the flag in 14th place.

Frenchman Kévin Estre (Attempto Racing) and the Austrian Porsche Junior Klaus Bachler (FÖRCH Racing) displayed a spirited fight for fourth place. Although Klaus Bachler turned the faster lap times in the closing phase of the race, he did not manage to get past the experienced vice-champion of last year. For the Supercup rookie, who started from tenth on the grid, fifth place marks his best result so far this season. Denmark's Michael Christensen (DAMS), the second Porsche Junior in the strong field, finished tenth this time after his recent maiden win at the Nürburgring, but still managed to hold on to his lead in the rookie classification. Behind him on eleventh came Frenchman Jean-Karl Vernay who receives support from Porsche as the winner of the International Cup Scholarship for his Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup campaign this season.

Experiencing the greatest bad luck in the race was Richie Stanaway. A strong performance in qualifying saw the New Zealander start from the third grid spot. But his race came to a preliminary end when he collided with Michael Ammermüller shortly after the start. Markus Pommer from Germany had better luck: Driving for the Lechner Racing Academy team, the Supercup newcomer clinched seventh place - his first top ten placing this season - and even beat well-known competitors like Nicki Thiim and the double Supercup champion Jeroen Bleekemolen (Lechner Racing).

Sean Edwards (winner): "That was of course a perfect weekend. It is victory number three for us and we've extended our lead in the championship. It was a tough race in which we were able to implement everything we had planned. I wouldn't mind it continuing like this."

Christian Engelhart (second): "I got away well at the start and my car ran superbly in the first half of the race so I could put Sean under pressure. Unfortunately it just wasn't enough to overtake him. Nevertheless, we're very happy with second place and I think we can build on this over the remainder of the season."

Kuba Giermaziak (third): "Of course I would rather have won. We started with new tyres but unfortunately this didn't quite work. My start was much better than in the last races and I could match the pace of the frontrunners initially, but after four, five laps I lost contact to them. Still, we made up some ground in the championship with third place."

Klaus Bachler (Porsche Junior, fifth): "I'm really very pleased. That was a great weekend. I took off from tenth on the grid and was on precisely the right line so I could move into fifth already after the first lap. Early on I was cautious with the tyres and later attempted to push Kévin into making a mistake in front of me. That didn't work. I reckon we gave the spectators an exciting performance."

Michael Christensen (Porsche Junior, tenth): "It was a difficult race with a turbulent start where I lost a few positions. The result is not exactly what I was hoping for. Now we just have to try and do better in Spa. We've already shown what we are capable of at the Nürburgring."

Jean-Karl Vernay (Winner International Cup Scholarship, eleventh): "That was a crazy race. In the first lap I made up eleven places. Unfortunately I made a mistake that threw me out of the top ten. Still, it was great fun."

Race result
1. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Allyouneed by Project 1, 26:01.021 minutes
2. Christian Engelhart (D), FACH AUTO TECH, + 0.664 seconds
3. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), VERVA Racing Team, + 1.414
4. Kévin Estre (F), Attempto Racing, + 14.079
5. Klaus Bachler (A), FÖRCH Racing, + 14.818
6. Patryk Szczerbinski (PL), VERVA Racing Team, + 17.235
10. Michael Christensen (DK), DAMS, + 22.732
11. Jean-Karl Vernay (F), MRS GT-Racing, + 26.903

Points' standings after 5 of 9 races
Driver
1. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Allyouneed by Project 1, 88 points
2. Nicki Thiim (DK), Attempto Racing, 72
3. Michael Ammermüller (D), Lechner Racing Team, 64
4. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), VERVA Racing Team, 60
5. Michael Christensen (DK), DAMS, 54
6. Kévin Estre (F), Attempto Racing, 50

Rookie classification
1. Michael Christensen (DK), DAMS, 54 points
2. Klaus Bachler (A), FÖRCH Racing, 34
3. Ben Barker (GB), Team Bleekemolen, 30

Spa-Francorchamps: Preview to the 6th of 9 races on 25 August

Last year in Spa-Francorchamps Nicki Thiim celebrated his first victory in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Now he returns to the storied Belgian circuit in the Ardennes as one of the title aspirants. What has not changed since last year is the strong opposition spearheaded by points' leader Sean Edwards, who has managed to pull away slightly from his pursuers after his victory in Budapest. Should Nicki Thiim pull another victory out of the hat in Spa he could at least maintain contact to the leader. TV stations Eurosport and Sky broadcast the race live.