Porsche Mobil1 Supercup - First pole position for local hero Nicholas Tandy

Everything went perfectly for Nicholas Tandy: On the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, the local hero used his home advantage to grab his first pole position in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. In the fiercely-contested qualifying for the sixth round of the season, the Supercup newcomer was 0.167 seconds faster in his Konrad Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup than points’ leader René Rast (Germany), who has yielded four wins so far this season for the Al Faisal Lechner Racing team.

On the traditional 5.898 kilometre circuit, where the history of the Formula 1 World Championship began 60 years ago, Britain’s Sean Edwards (Abu Dhabi by tolimit) claimed the third grid spot ahead of Bleekemolen Harders Plaza pilot Jaap van Lagen from the Netherlands, who snatched the fourth quickest time. Austrian Norbert Siedler (VELTINS MRS Racing), winner of the Barcelona round, posted the fifth fastest time with Slovakian Stefan Rosina (Lechner Racing), and shares the third grid row on sixth for Sunday’s race.

Kuba Giermaziak brought home a fitting result to celebrate his 20th birthday from Friday. Driving for Verva Racing, the Pole secured the seventh spot on the grid and his best qualifying result to date. Taking up the race alongside the Supercup rookie on the fourth row is four-time Supercup champion Patrick Huisman (Netherlands, Konrad Motorsport). Another Briton made a promising start at his guest appearance in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup: Euan Hankey, as one of the many talented youngsters contesting the Carrera Cup Great Britian, qualified his 911 GT3 Cup on the ninth grid position, ahead of Jan Seyffarth (Germany) from VELTINS MRS Racing.

Nicholas Tandy (pole-sitter): “A fantastic result. It’s shaping up to be a successful Supercup weekend. We could certainly do with the two extra points for pole position. Actually everything ran perfectly. And that’s good, because I turned my fastest time in the first lap and hence we have a brand new set of tyres for the race. From the start to the first corner in Silverstone is not very far, so it’s crucial to start up the front. I hope we can use this advantage on Sunday. Then I might even bring home my first Supercup victory.”

René Rast (second in qualifying): “Risk a lot, lose a lot. I took a big risk today and I lost when I made a braking error at the end of my fast lap. That cost me half a second and the pole, which I’m sure I’d have taken. Still, I’m happy enough. The last few races were somewhat one-sided, this time I’ll have to fight hard for victory. And I like that idea. It won’t be easy by any means, but it’ll certainly be exciting.”

Sean Edwards (third in qualifying): “I wanted pole position but I gave it away by making a mistake. Obviously I’m not totally pleased, but there’s worse starting positions than the second row. In the race I’ll try to make the best of the situation. The two in front of me are fighting for the championship, so I have nothing to lose. Perhaps this is an advantage that I can use.”