Dylan Pereira has secured pole position for the first round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season. In the approximately 375 kW (515 hp) Cup nine-eleven, the Luxembourger from the BWT Lechner Racing team turned the fastest qualifying lap at the Autodromo Dino e Enzo Ferrari in Imola, northern Italy. Pereira shares the front row of the grid with reigning champion Larry ten Voorde (Team GP Elite), who was 0.249 seconds slower. BWT Lechner Racing team-mate Bastian Buus from Denmark as the fastest rookie and the German Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich (SSR Huber Racing) start the season opener on Sunday from third and fourth place. The race starts at 12:05 CEST directly before the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna.

"On the first set of tyres I stayed on the safe side and was therefore only third fastest," reported Pereira. "In the second attempt, I was able to take a higher risk, brought my tyres perfectly to temperature and caught every notch optimally." Larry ten Voorde was also not dissatisfied with second place: "My second fast lap was not as fast as I had hoped. But I start from the front row – from there everything is possible in the race," the Dutchman remained confident.

In sunny weather, 33 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup went on a time hunt. As a guest rider with start number 911, five-time motorcycle world champion Jorge Lorenzo is contesting only his second automobile race. "Only thirty minutes on the track, which were also interrupted again, is very short for me as a Supercup newcomer. I didn't find a free lap," summed up the Spaniard, who drives with an Italian racing license and whose Cup nine-eleven therefore bears the tricolor as a nationality mark.

The Porsche Supercup celebrated its world premiere at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in 1993. The traditional circuit in the hills of Emilia-Romagna has changed little since then. The 4.909-kilometre-long asphalt strip has 17 curves as well as uphill and downhill passages, which are rather unusual for modern Formula 1 slopes. After the pandemic-related spectator restrictions, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is driving in front of a full house for the first time in two years. "Fantastic to see so many spectators. Especially on this traditional race track with the natural grandstands, the atmosphere is great," beamed pole-setter Dylan Pereira. "The Autodromo is also quite 'old school' in other respects: when you get off the track, you end up in a gravel bed and not on an asphalt surface. Overall, the route is comparatively fast. Also the extreme robbers over the kerbs offers the fans a great show."

Former Supercup champion Jörg Bergmeister is "Driver Steward"
In 2001, Jörg Bergmeister was the overall winner of the Porsche Supercup. On his way to the title, today's Porsche brand ambassador won seven races, including the season opener at Imola. This weekend, Bergmeister returns to Emilia-Romagna – in a unique role as "Driver Steward" of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. In this position, he mediates between drivers and race control in controversial actions on the racetrack.

"I have fond memories of Imola: this circuit is very demanding, but it's really fun. In qualifying in 2001 I managed a perfect lap and I was much faster than everyone else. Victory in the race was then the ideal start to the season," says the Leverkusen-born driver, who over the course of his career won the 24-hour races at Le Mans (France), Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) and Daytona (USA) with racing versions of the Porsche 911. Bergmeister knows the current Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from his role as a development driver. "The current Cup nine-eleven is much more of a racing car than the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from 2001," he enthuses. Technologies that have long been familiar today, such as shift paddles on the steering wheel, were not yet an issue in the Supercup 21 years ago: "Back then, as in the standard nine-eleven, we had an H-shift."

he Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup on TV and on the InternetThe
season opener for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will run over 14 laps on Sunday (24 April 2022) from 12:05 CEST. The TV channels Eurosport2 and Sky Sport as well as the streaming service f1tv.formula1.com broadcast the race live. Eurosport will repeat the entire race on Monday (25 April 2022) from 12:00 noon.

Result Qualifying, 1st round Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Imola (I)
1st Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/BWT Lechner Racing), 1m 42.741s

2nd Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite), + 0.249 seconds

3rd Bastian Buus (Denmark/BWT Lechner Racing), +0.305 seconds

4th Laurin Heinrich (Germany/SSR Huber Racing), +0.456 seconds

5th Marvin Klein (France/CLRT), +0.460 seconds

6th Dorian Boccolacci (France/Martinet by Alméras), + 0.461 seconds