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Title defender continues charge

Sports

SILVERSTONE, Great Britain—The steady rain that fell early during the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup qualifying may have hindered the hunt for the top in the world’s fastest international one-make race series but after a turbulent qualifying, René Rast of Germany took round six.

At the wheel of Lechner Racing’s 450 hp 911 GT2 Cup based on the street-legal lightweight 911 GT3 RS sports car, Rast was almost half a second faster on the storied British race track than VERVA Racing’s pilot Kuba Giermaziak.

“That was the perfect qualifying,” Rast said. “Our strategy was really good. I didn’t drive once on rain tires, but waited until the end and then went out on slicks when the track was relatively dry and that worked beautifully.”

When the rain stopped in the second half of the qualifying and the track dried up, the hunt of pole position got serious especially in the last five minutes when the top times tumbled by the second.

Several pilots went out on wet tires in order to at least register a qualifying time while others waited, which turned out to be the right decision.

“I’m very pleased with second in qualifying. Actually, I only had one really quick lap on the second I made a mistake and went off the circuit,” Giermaziak said. “Thank you to my team and well done to my teammate Patryk who drove strongly today and was rewarded with the fourth quickest time.”

Sean Edwards, British-born Monaco winner, looked set to clinch pole at his home race but ultimately had to settle for the third quickest time.

“That was quite difficult,” Edwards said. “I went out on wet tires right at the beginning so that I had a time in any event. On the dry circuit, my fastest time wasn’t recognized and during two other quick laps, I encountered slower traffic. But that’s not so bad.”

The final qualifying result scores were:

1. René Rast (D), Lechner Racing Team, 2:06.164 minutes
2. Kuba Giermaziak (PL), VERVA Racing Team, + 0.429 seconds
3. Sean Edwards (GB), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.489
4. Patryk Szczerbinski (PL), VERVA Racing Team, + 0.537
5. Norbert Siedler (A), VELTINS Lechner Racing, + 0.541
6. Christian Engelhart (D), Konrad Motorsport, + 0.674