Lights-to-flag victory for Porsche Junior Ayhancan Güven at Silverstone

Silverstone is proving to be lucky turf for Ayhancan Güven (Martinet by Alméras). In 2019, he celebrated his very first victory in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. At round five of the 2020 season, held on the occasion of the “70th Anniversary Grand Prix” to honour Formula 1, the Turk, who had advanced to Porsche Junior in the meantime, was once again at the very front. Güven won after a duel against Larry ten Voorde (The Netherlands/Team GP Elite) over almost the entire 13-lap race distance. Hot on their bumpers, Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/BWT Lechner Racing) crossed the finish at the wheel of his 485-hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup third to defend his overall lead in the international one-make cup.

“Initially, I kept making the same mistake every lap, always in the Maggotts-Becketts corner combination,” Güven admitted. “Luckily, I managed to fend off all of Larry’s attacks. Once I finally got Maggotts-Becketts sorted halfway through the race it was easy.” After having to settle for eighth place last weekend at the same venue, Güven dedicated his first victory of the season to his mechanics. “We’ve improved with the car setup from race to race. We have to keep working in this direction.”

Ten Voorde paid tribute to the winner: “I think I would’ve been a little faster than Ayhancan, but he drove an almost flawless race and I had no real chance to overtake him,” explained the Dutchman. Pereira was satisfied with his personal performance compared to last weekend at Silverstone where he finished sixth. “We’ve made significant progress in the setup of my car,” said the points’ leader. “That makes me confident for the upcoming races.”

Behind the trio Güven, Ten Voorde and Pereira, another gripping fight unfolded between the rookies Max van Splunteren (The Netherlands/Team GP Elite) and Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (France/Lechner Racing Middle East). The two fought wheel-to-wheel on several occasions, however, Simmenauer always had to concede. “After the safety car phase my tyres picked up debris, which is why Dylan Pereira could overtake,” declared Van Splunteren. “Luckily, I managed to fend off Jean-Baptiste afterwards. Our clash was fantastic and always fair.” The third-best rookie was Marvin Klein (France/Martinet by Alméras) on sixth place.

The safety car phase that Van Splunteren mentioned was prompted on the first lap when several drivers clashed in a chicane. The cars of Jordan Love (Australia/FACH AUTO TECH) and Moritz Sager (Austria/Dinamic Motorsport) were badly damaged, signalling an early end to the race for the pair after just a few hundred metres.

Victory in the ProAm class went to Philipp Sager (Austria/Dinamic Motorsport), narrowly beating Roar Lindland (Norway/Pierre Martinet by Alméras) and Clément Mateu (France/Pierre Martinet by Alméras). “I had the right idea when my son got caught up in an accident in front of me. In all the chaos, I slipped past Roar. He tried everything, but I managed to keep him behind me,” said Sager.

The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup teams now travel straight to Barcelona. There, they will contest round six this coming weekend as part of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Results round 5 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Silverstone (GB), 13 laps
1. Ayhancan Güven (Turkey/Martinet by Alméras), 28:57.721 minutes
2. Larry ten Voorde (The Netherlands/Team GP Elite), + 0.753 seconds
3. Dylan Pereira (Luxembourg/BWT Lechner Racing), + 1.135 seconds
4. Max van Splunteren (The Netherlands /Team GP Elite), + 5.569 seconds
5. Jean-B. Simmenauer (France/Lechner Racing Middle East), + 5.911 seconds
6. Marvin Klein (France/Martinet by Alméras), + 8.958 seconds

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2020, standings after 5 of 8 races
1. Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing), 97 points
2. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 93 points
3. Ayhancan Güven (TR/Martinet by Alméras), 80 points
4. Jaxon Evans (NZ/BWT Lechner Racing), 62 points
5. Florian Latorre (F/CLRT), 54 points
6. Marvin Klein (F/Martinet by Alméras), 52 points