Perfect weekend for Bastian Buus: After best times in practice and qualifying, the 19-year-old Dane also secured victory in the fifth round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. After 13 laps in hot summer temperatures on the Le Castellet Formula 1 racetrack, Buus crossed the finish line around half a second ahead of his British BWT Lechner Racing team-mate Harry King. Third place went to defending champion Larry ten Voorde (Team GP Elite) from the Netherlands. Dylan Pereira (BWT Lechner Racing) from Luxembourg defended his lead in the standings with fourth place.

Bastian Buus kept a cool head in the Mediterranean heat and temperatures above 30 degrees. The 19-year-old Dane contested only his fifth Supercup race in Le Castellet. The youngster from the BWT Lechner Racing team also started from pole position for the first time. But Buus defended this position in the first few meters in the style of a veteran against his hard-attacking team-mate Harry King. Even at the restart after a safety car phase that was triggered during the course of the first lap, he didn't let himself be taken by surprise. Buus kept the lead again and then drove an unchallenged victory in the 375 kW (510 hp) Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

"To be honest, I messed up the start a bit - Harry was already next to me. But I swore to myself: I won't brake until he brakes. It was extremely late, but it just worked,” Buus described the first few seconds of the race. Not everything went smoothly for the 19-year-old from the port city of Kolding on the final lap either. “Towards the end of the race, Harry came dangerously close because his tires seemed to be in even better shape than mine. I thought it would be tight on the last lap. The checkered flag came as a complete surprise to me – I had expected one more lap.”

Harry King paid a lot of respect to his young teammate. "Bastian didn't make a mistake that I could have exploited. I saved my tires to attack him again at the end – that almost worked. But I'm also extremely happy with second place," summarized the BWT Lechner Racing driver from England.

Great relief also for Larry ten Voorde: The defending champion from the GP Elite team recorded a clear lap in the previous race in Austria due to a collision through no fault of his own. With third place on the Circuit Paul Ricard, he was able to close the gap to the top of the table again. "First of all, I would like to congratulate Bastian Buus on his first Supercup victory - I almost feel old against him," joked the 25-year-old Dutchman. “I'm happy to be back on the podium after the bad luck at the Red Bull Ring. I'm not thinking about defending my title yet. I just want to win races.”

Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich finished fourth. However, the 20-year-old lost this position as a result of a subsequent time penalty of three seconds: the sports stewards blamed the German from the SSR Huber Racing team for overtaking outside the track boundaries immediately after the start. Heinrich therefore had to hand over fourth place to Dylan Pereira. The Luxembourger from Team BWT Lechner Racing thus defended his lead in the standings.

“Congratulations to Bastian Buus: The fact that he wins a race in his first Supercup season is extremely impressive and speaks for his great talent. All in all, we saw a varied race with exciting battles for positions at the front, in midfield and in the back third. My respect goes to the drivers and the teams, who worked professionally as usual in these midsummer conditions,” commented Oliver Schwab, Project Manager Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.

In the rookie classification, Bastian Buus remains unbeaten in the fifth race of the season. The Norwegian Roar Lindland from the Pierre Martinet by Alméras team secured victory in the ProAm classification in Le Castellet. Buus and Lindland are also leaders in both classifications.

After the race on the highly modern Circuit Paul Ricard, one of the most traditional Formula 1 racetracks is now on the program for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup: The 911 GT3 Cup will compete in the sixth round in five weeks (August 24th to 26th, 2022) in Belgium Spa Francorchamps.

Result 5th round Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Le Castellet (F)
1st Bastian Buus (DK/BWT Lechner Racing), 29:21.612 minutes
2nd Harry King (UK/BWT Lechner Racing), +0.452 seconds
3rd Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), +3.813 seconds
4th Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing), +10.230 seconds
5th Laurin Heinrich (D/SSR Huber Racing), +10.655 seconds
6th Marvin Klein (F/CLRT) , +11.683 seconds

Standings for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2022 (after 5 of 8 races)
1st Dylan Pereira (L/BWT Lechner Racing), 92 points
2nd Laurin Heinrich (D/SSR Huber Racing), 88 points
3rd Larry ten Voorde (NL/Team GP Elite), 82 points
4. Harry King (GB/BWT Lechner Racing), 80 points
5. Bastian Buus (DK/BWT Lechner Racing), 73 points

All race results and complete standings:
https://motorsports.porsche.com/ germany/de/category/mobil1supercup/pmsc-2022-results