PSC: Hockenheim report

• harald.bloche@gmd.de (Harald Bloche)
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Mon Jul 29 23:22:01 EDT 1996

Sixth Round at the German Grand Prix
------------------------------------

Collard Battles to Defend Series Lead, Patrick Huisman Wins

Hockenheim. The 12 lap sprint on the high speed circuit at Hockenheim
turned out to be the most dramatic race of this year's Porsche Pirelli
SuperCup season with three different pilots swapping the lead over the
81.8 km race. Patrick Huisman (NL, Oberbayern Motorsport) took his
maiden victory snatching the laurel from the last year's winner Juergen
von Gartzen (D, Oberbayern Motorsport) after a hefty duel in the ninth
lap. Avoiding pirouetting rivals in the first lap by visiting the gravel
trap, von Gartzen worked his way through the field and took a worthy
second. Six tenth of a second behind the winner, Emmanuel Collard
(F, JMB Competition) crossed the finish line third. Collard had a 
fantastic start shooting from sixth to third position, and fought for 
the lead in the opening stages of the race. However, his hopes for the 
fifth consecutive win were crushed after an incident with German Harald 
Grohs (D, Manthey Racing). Collard continued the race with a damaged car, 
and Grohs, who was leading at the time, retired.  Horst Farnbacher 
(D, Zepter Racing) took fourth after a tactical race in front of reigning 
champion Jean-Pierre Malcher (F, Larbre Competition). Andreij Kulundzic 
(YU, Zepter Racing) made the most of his good qualifying result by 
finishing the race ninth. The Porsche SuperCup Champion of 1994, Altfrid         
Heger, (D,Porsche Zentrum Koblenz) impressed exited crowds during his 
guest appearance with a sixth placing, demonstrating he hadn't lost his
Porsche-touch. His young team mate Patrick Simon topped off the weekend
for the Porsche Zentrum Koblenz team with a tenth place. Danny Pfeil
drove in front of a home crowd to eighth, his best result of the season
so far.

"In the first laps I didn't believe what I saw. They are tough fighters
here! So I made up my mind to keep out of harm's way, but also to keep
within reach of the top guys. It was tremendous to race so close and
even touch other cars at 250 kph, something that is impossible in a
monoposto. I'm thrilled with my seventh placing. It's a great result
for my first Porsche race," enthused Marcel Tiemann. Opel works driver
in the Formula 3 and recent winner of the Formula 3 Grand Prix in
Monaco. Runner up in the 250cc World Championship Ralf Waldmann, in the
VIP Carrera with starting number one, enjoyed his race. "Starting from
22 place and ending up 15th isn't too bad. In the chicanes I mistakenly
selected fifth gear instead of third otherwise I would have been further        
ahead."

Top ten results:

Pos     Driver                  Team                            Time
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      Patrick Huisman/NL      Oberbayern Motorsport       28:51.002
 2      Juergen von Gartzen/D   Oberbayern Motorsport         + 0.380
 3      Emmanuel Collard/F      JMB Competition                 0.649
 4      Horst Farnbacher/D      Zepter Racing Team              4.649
 5      Jean Pierre Malcher/F   Larbre Competition              4.986
 6      Altfrid Heger/D         Porsche Zentrum Koblenz        14.130
 7      Marcel Tiemann/D        Porsche AG                     15.251
 8      Danny Pfeil/D           Kadach Tuning                  15.547
 9      Andreij Kulundzic/YU    Zepter Racing Team             22.930
10      Patrick Simon/D         Porsche Zentrum Koblenz        28.154

CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos     Driver                  Pts
-----------------------------------
 1      Collard/F               128
 2      von Gartzen/D           101
 3      Malcher/F                78
 4      Patrick Huisman/NL       76
 5      Mathai/D                 68
 6      Kelleners/D              45