New season, new car, new qualifying record
Stuttgart. The season-opener of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland promises pure drama: Just minutes before the end of the qualifying session for the first round on the Hockenheimring, Britain’s Nick Tandy (Konrad Motorsport) snatched pole position. At the wheel of the new 911 GT3 Cup, the most powerful Cup-911 in history with 450 hp, the 25-year-old turned the fastest lap on the 4.574 kilometre circuit in 1:41.670 minutes. With this, he undercut last year’s qualifying time by more than one second. Twenty pilots from seven nations contest the 21st running of the Carrera Cup. Round one of the series takes off on Sunday (25 April) at 10.35 hours.

Lining up in second on the grid for the 18-lap race is Nicolas Armindo (France) driving for Hermes Attempto Racing. While pole-sitter Tandy hails from the British racing scene and only has a couple of guest appearances in the prestigious brand trophy series under his belt, 28-year-old Armindo is one of the regulars. From 2003 to 2008 he belonged to the circle of front-runners in the series. His greatest success to date was the vice-championship in 2005.

As the best German driver, Christian Engelhart (MRS Team PZ Aschaffenburg) secured third on the grid. The 23-year-old has very fond memories of the traditional track: In 2009 he secured his first podium result finishing third in just his second Carrera Cup season. Taking up the sprint from the second row alongside Engelhart is 23-year-old Sean Edwards (Great Britain) for his team Deutsche Post by tolimit. In 2008, the Briton was the best rookie in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup finishing fifth overall.

Two Germans share the third row. The fifth spot is occupied by Robert Renauer (Herberth Motorsport PZ Olympiapark) ahead of Niclas Kentenich (Farnbacher Racing - PZN). 25-year-old Renauer starts into his sixth season in the brand trophy series. Last year he scored his best overall result with fourth.

Seventh in qualifying went to Hannes Plesse (Germany, Schnabl Engineering), followed by Robert Lukas (Förch Racing) from Poland and the former Porsche Junior Martin Ragginger (Austria, Schnabl Engineering) in eighth and ninth respectively. Philipp Wlazik (Germany, Hermes Attempto Racing) rounds off the top ten.

Double Carrera Cup champion Uwe Alzen (Germany) narrowly missed out on a top ten placing with eleventh. Driving for the Herberth Motorsport squad this season, the 42-year-old was just five-tenths of a second off the pole-setting time. Three promising youngsters take up the challenge as “Porsche Motorsport Talents”. At their debut in the fiercely-contested makes cup, they put in an impressive performance: 22-year-old Harald Schlegelmilch (Latvia) qualified his Konrad Motorsport 911 around one and a half seconds behind the pole-sitter in 14th. Tim Sandtler (Germany, MRS Team PZ Aschaffenburg) will contest his first Carrera Cup race from 16th on the grid. Ferdinand Stuck (Farnbacher Racing – PZN), the 18-year-old son of racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck, takes up the first race of the season from 18th. .

Nick Tandy (pole-sitter): “We knew from the practice that our car would be fast on fresh tyres and this turned out to be true in qualifying. Looking at the times there are at least five very fast contenders this weekend so it’s going to be tight racing. I knew from the start that Franz Konrad’s team would be good for me. Now we look forward to taking up the race from pole.”

Nicolas Armindo (second qualifier): “It was a good qualifying even if our goal was the pole. But our rivals pulled out all stops and have improved considerably from the practice sessions. My 911 was excellently set-up, but I didn’t manage to get a perfect lap in. Still, I’m optimistic for the race.”

Christian Engelhart (third qualifier): “All in all I’m happy with my position. But when I think that I’m only about a tenth of a second off pole position I’m a little disappointed not to be in front. Now I’m looking forward to the race, where I promise to attack. Who knows, perhaps I can do better than third place.”

Qualifying:

1. Nick Tandy (GB); Konrad Motorsport, 1:41.670 minutes
2. Nicolas Armindo (F), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 0.098 seconds
3. Christian Engelhart (D), MRS Team PZ Aschaffenburg, + 0.124
4. Sean Edwards (GB), Team Deutsche Post by tolimit, + 0.288
5. Robert Renauer (D), Herberth Motorsport PZ Olympiapark, + 0.316
6. Niclas Kentenich (D), Farnbacher Racing/PZN, + 0.883
7. Hannes Plesse (D), Schnabl Engineering, + 0.972
8. Robert Lukas (PL), Förch Racing, + 1.001
9. Martin Ragginger (A), Schnabl Engineering, + 1.020
10. Philipp Wlazik (D), Hermes Attempto Racing, + 1.233

Source [Porsche]


Above: Nick Tandy (GBR) Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland - 01 Hockenheimring 2010


Above: Christian Engelhart (GER) Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland - 01 Hockenheimring 2010