A tailor-made debut for Harry King (Allied-Racing) in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland: At the season opener at the famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), the Briton won ahead of the two Dutchmen Larry ten Voorde and Loek Hartog (both Team GP Elite). King celebrated an immediate victory on his debut in the German Porsche one-make cup. "It's a great feeling to start the season with such a sense of achievement. We used the free practice session to set up the car optimally for the track. That's why I'm all the more pleased that we were able to reward ourselves as a team," said King about his success in the supporting programme of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

In sunshine and an outside temperature of 19 degrees Celsius, the 32 drivers drove onto the grid in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. As a pole-sitter, King won the sprint to the first corner with his 375 kW (510 hp) Cup car. The 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux champion gained a lead of just under two seconds in the opening minutes, but lost it again due to a safety car period. Over two laps, the field followed the Taycan Turbo S, which this season is wrapped with a special design on the occasion of the "75 years of Porsche sports cars" anniversary. At the restart, King fended off ten Voorde's attempts to attack and crossed the finish line first after 13 laps.

Ten Voorde made up two places in the race and took silver. "There was a lot on offer for the spectators in our race. After the safety car period, Harry King and I drove wheel to wheel through the Eau Rouge, which was spectacular. Second place is a great result in the end," said ten Voorde. The podium was completed by his teammate Hartog. The 20-year-old took third place shortly after the safety car period and successfully defended it in the closing minutes against his compatriot Morris Schuring (Fach Auto Tech). "That was an intense race. In the end, I lacked a bit of concentration, but I was able to bring the result to the finish," Hartog explained. Schuring crossed the finish line in fourth place.

Porsche Junior Bastian Buus (Allied-Racing) finished fifth in the first race of the season. The Dane started the race from eighth position and worked his way up with several overtaking manoeuvres. "Of course, I would have liked to finish further up the field, but in terms of my grid position, it's a decent result. On Saturday, I'll start the race from ninth position and want to finish at least in the top 5," said Buus. Vincent Andronaco (Allied-Racing) finished sixth in his first race in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. The 17-year-old from Hamburg is thus the best driver from the Talent Pool, the development squad of the one-make cup.

Janne Stiak (Germany) experienced a special race: At the age of 16 years and 49 days, the young driver from ID Racing set a new record as the youngest participant in a race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland. Stiak replaced Schuring, who was just 20 days older on his first debut. However, the season opener at Spa-Francorchamps was unfortunate for Stiak – due to a collision, the driver from Steinhude near Hanover had to park his car in the pits prematurely.

The first ProAm winner's trophy of the Georgi Donchev (ProfilDoors by Huber Racing) secured the season. The Bulgarian held his own on the 7.004-kilometre circuit in the Ardennes ahead of the two Germans Sören Spreng (GP Elite) and Kai Pfister (HRT Performance).

The second race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland season will take place at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday. Larry ten Voorde is on pole position. The two-time champion (2020 and 2021) won the two championship races on the popular Formula 1 circuit two years ago. The race starts on Saturday at 9:20 a.m. local time and will be streamed live on various platforms: Fans can follow the race on www.ran.de, the Facebook and YouTube channels of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland as well as the Porsche Motorsport Hub.

Race result round 1, Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland
1. Harry King (Great Britain/Allied-Racing) 2. Larry ten Voorde (Netherlands/Team GP Elite) 3. Loek Hartog (Netherlands/Team GP Elite) 4. Morris Schuring (Netherlands/Fach Auto Tech) 5. Bastian Buus (Denmark/Allied-Racing) 6. Vincent Andronaco (Germany/Allied-Racing)

7. Harri Jones (Australia/Scherer Sport PHX) 8. Theo Oeverhaus (Germany/CarTech Motorsport Bonk) 9. Leon Köhler (Germany/Huber Racing) 10. Alexander Tauscher (Germany/Huber Racing.

Full race result
https://motorsports.porsche.com/germany/de/category/carreracup/pccd-2022-results