The newly formed Schumacher CLRT team tackles its first season in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Two drivers from the French squad dominated the qualifying session for the third race of the season: Marvin Klein set the fastest lap on the Red Bull Ring in midsummer temperatures. His teammate Larry ten Voorde was only eight-thousandths of a second slower and will start the race on Sunday morning (11:45 hours) from second on the grid.

Qualifying for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Red Bull Ring was a nail-biter. In the end, Frenchman Marvin Klein and Larry ten Voorde from the Netherlands secured the front row of the grid for their team Schumacher CLRT. Klein took pole position on the Formula 1 circuit in Styria one week after his 25th birthday. Championship leader Larry ten Voorde heads into the third race of the season from second place. South African Keagan Masters from the Ombra team and UK driver Harry King, who drives for home team BWT Lechner Racing, share the second row of the grid. The two are separated by just three-thousandths of a second.

Directly behind them were two newcomers to the international one-make cup with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: Ariel Levi from Israel (Uniserver by Team GP Elite) and Theo Oeverhaus from Germany (BWT Lechner Racing). Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti, who also drives for Schumacher CLRT, qualified on P7. Ex-Formula 1 driver Timo Glock once again makes a guest start at the Red Bull Ring. The German planted the VIP 911 of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup on P22.

“That went perfectly, I felt at one with the car, so to speak. I had the right strategy and a clear lap without being hampered by other drivers. The key to my fastest lap was also down to the brake balance,” reveals Marvin Klein. The two-time champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup France was alluding to the option of on-the-fly adjustment of braking force distribution between the front and rear axles from the driver’s seat of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup via a control knob.

“The track conditions often change from lap to lap. The only way to adapt the car’s setup without a pit stop is by adjusting the brake balance. That’s where a lot of experience and feel for the car comes into play,” confirms two-time Supercup champion Larry ten Voorde. On most racetracks, the top drivers utilise this feature several times per lap. This process can be seen on the onboard television recordings when the driver makes a right-handed adjustment to the knob on the dashboard.

“On the Red Bull Ring, the corners differ hugely in terms of tarmac quality and radius. On top of that, we need to brake from very high speed more than on other circuits. That means the braking zones are very long. With the wrong brake balance, your car becomes very unstable, with the right one you gain a few hundredths of a second every time,” explains Keagan Masters. The South African goes on to reveal: “In tight corners, I shift the braking force heavily towards the rear axle. As a result, the rear wheels build up less lateral force. Consequently, the rear of the car kicks out on purpose and helps me turn into the corner.”

Result Qualifying, Round 3 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Spielberg (A)
1. Marvin Klein (F/Schumacher CLRT), 1:31.747 minutes
2. Larry ten Voorde (NL/Schumacher CLRT), +0.008 seconds
3. Keagan Masters (I/Ombra) , +0.205 seconds
4. Harry King (UK/BWT Lechner Racing), +0.208 seconds
5. Ariel Levi (IL/Uniserver by Team GP Elite), +0.231 seconds
6. Theo Oeverhaus (D/BWT Lechner Racing), +0.266 seconds

Complete qualifying results on the Porsche Motorsport Hub:
https://motorsports.porsche.com/international/en/category/mobil1supercup/