Spa-Francorchamps report

Porsche-Pirelli-SuperCup - 7th Round at the GP of Belgium ---------------------------------------------------------

Third victory this season puts Patrick Huisman into points lead

Patrick Huisman from the Netherlands won the seventh round of the Porsche-Pirelli-SuperCup on Belgium's 6.968 km Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Driving for Manthey Racing the 31-year-old swept across the finish line after a ten lap sprint closely shadowed by Horst Farnbacher from Germany (Zepter Racing-Farnbacher). Now with three wins to his credit, Huisman returns to the top of the points table again, having already led half way through the season. Said the Dutchman, "It was a tough battle, but everyone drove like true sportsmen. I think we promoted motorsport very well today. For me this was a dream weekend - my birthday, my personal best qualifying time, and victory!"

Horst Farnbacher just two points shy of Huisman, now lies second overall in the championship. Over much of the sprint distance Farnbacher snapped at Huisman's heels, but was in turn threatened from behind by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Malcher (Oberbayern Motorsport). Malcher, the 1995 champion, secured third, followed closely by Oliver Mathai (D, Gillet-Manthey Racing). The Farnbacher-Malcher-Mathai trio finished all within eight- tenths of a second of each other.

RTL-VIP driver Marc Duez, delighted home crowds with his excellent performance. The recent Spa-24 hours victor started on pole and finished his race fifth. "I left the track in the chicane trying to avoid another car. After that I had problems with the steering and couldn't maintain my front position, but the experience was fantastic." Second RTL-VIP Carrera pilot, Ellen Lohr, finished her race 13th overall. "You have to attack right from the beginning. There's no holding back - next time I will know."

Patrick Simon (D, Oberbayern Motorsport) had a perfect start immediately surging to the front, however on minor mistake cost him his lead, rele- gating him to sixth place. Matteo Maria Galimberti from Italy (Knupfing Motorsport) performed excellently on the season's toughest circuit, and saw the chequered flag tenth.

Race result (top 10)

Pos     Driver/Nat              Team                            Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      Patrick Huisman/NL      Manthey Racing             21:06.387
 2      Horst Farnbacher/D      Zepter Racing-Farnbacher     + 0.627
 3      Jean-Pierre Malcher/F   Oberbayern Motorsport          0.826
 4      Oliver Mathai/D         Walker Gillet-Manthey Racing   1.101
 5      Marc Duez/B             RTL-VIP Carrera                5.723
 6      Patrick Simon/D         Oberbayern Motorsport         13.364
 7      Dominique Dupuy/F       DDO                           13.726
 8      Michael Neugarten/B     DDO                           18.827
 9      Harald Grohs/D          Manthey Racing                21.712
10      Matteo Galimberti/I     Knupfing Motorsport           24.703

Standings (top 6): Pos Driver Pts --------------------------- 1 Huisman 114 2 Farnbacher 110 3 Dupuy 107 4 Simon 105 5 Malcher 96 6 Mathai 92