Hockenheimring: Tudor Motorsport event summary

TUDOR'S KONRAD MOTORSPORT 2nd OVERALL IN CHAMPIONSHIP

Following their success at Silverstone, where the two Konrad Motorsport drivers amassed a 1st and 3rd on the podium during the sunny Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, this weekend Tudor-sponsored Patrick Huisman earned the eight points needed to keep Konrad Motorsport in 2nd place in the overall team classification with 151 points, behind current leader Al Faisal Lechner Racing with 196 points, and just above VELTINS MRS Racing in 3rd position with 140 points.

It may be July, but conditions in Germany's Hockenheim had more in common with winter than summer, with lots of water on the track for free practice and qualifying although race day remained rather dry. Guest driver Nicolas Armindo (FRA) took the race win, followed by Jan Seyffarth (GER) in 2nd and Christian Engelhart (GER) in 3rd.

The race saw a good fight for all drivers after an exciting qualifying session where drivers battled well for pole position. Tudor-sponsored Huisman qualified in P11 while pole went to guest driver Nicolas Armindo. "I am not going to mention the guest drivers because in fact they are partly responsible for my disappointing qualifying result which later impacted my race," said a disappointed Huisman. "The guest drivers are on the track to have fun and give exposure to their sponsors while we are on the track to fight for the championship. We do not have the same pace in any of the sessions. In the qualifying session, for instance, I was P1 with 1:43.919 for a short while before Bleekemolen and Edwards clocked a better time. I finished three-tenths off the pole and two-tenths off the first row. But Edwards destroyed my run by mistake. I was improving my time after struggling to warm up the tyres on the rather cool track after the morning rains, and Edwards blocked me as he mistakenly thought I was Mathias Lauda, one of the guest drivers who had blocked him earlier on. So from P4, I fell directly to P11 in qualifying. No need to say that I am a bit upset."

Nicholas Tandy (GBR), Huisman's teammate at Konrad Motorsport, started from the front row while current leader of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Rene Rast (GER), was on the second row next to German driver Christian Engelhart.

For some of the frontrunners, the start of the race saw a number of incidents including both Tandy and Rast suffering from a flat tyre after contact, leading to a DNF (Did Not Finish) result for each driver. Jan Seyffarth's 2nd place is a great result for the young German and he said, "It is a bit like a fairy tale and I am really pleased to have made a last minute comeback for this race with Veltins-MRS. It could not be better for me to have a great comeback here. I knew I was not going to get closer to Nicolas Armindo so I am pleased to score 20 points. This gives me a real boost in the Championship. I wanted to come back in a great way after my accident in 2009 and forget all my troubles that followed it."

3rd place winner Christian Engelhart explained on his way back from the podium, "I was lucky in this race even if I started from 3rd and finished in 3rd. It was difficult to get the tyres to the right temperature, but I made it happen. I avoided the problems at the start and I feel so totally happy for my sponsors and everyone who supported me this season. For now my adventure finishes here on a high note at the wheel of the SANITEC/GILTRAP Racing car. I can only hope that my sponsor budget allows me to come back in Spa or for another race before the end of the season."

Patrick Huisman said, "On my first lap I clocked a good time. On my second lap, there was a yellow flag and I had to back off and as I started my third lap Edwards made a mistake and went off in front of me. After our good team tests in Budapest, we need a strategy like we used in Silverstone and we must solve the braking issues that we encountered in qualifying.

Huisman went on, "It is not a good result to finish 10th, but it feels good to earn eight points. My car was consistent. If qualifying results had been better and if the opening lap had not been so messy with guys overtaking and passing from both the inside and outside, maybe we would have had a better result. Anyway, what we have keeps the team in the 2nd position in the championship. I would have liked a better ending and I would have liked to be on the podium for this race, our team's home race, but in the end, my result is a great achievement that keeps us in the top for the Championship, which is a good thing ahead of Hungary next weekend.

-source: tudorporschemotorsport.com