Jeffrey Schmidt still in with a chance of runner-up spot
Jeffrey Schmidt is entering the final straight of the 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup. The Swiss youngster finished sixth and eighth in the two races at the Nürburgring, scoring 18 points and keeping his chances alive of lifting the runner-up trophy in the highly regarded Porsche brand competition.
Jeffrey, qualifying at the Nürburgring once again demonstrated just how competitive the Porsche Carrera Cup has been all year, wouldn’t you agree?
Absolutely. My two fastest qualifying laps were still not enough to put me any higher than ninth on the grid. Over the past few weekends, we’ve had one particular problem that has cost me time and affected my speed in every race. Even though it’s only minor, in a field as competitive as this one, it’s enough to drop you down to the bottom of the Top Ten. In the first qualifying session, I missed out on a place on the first two rows by a mere three-tenths. And in Quali 2, it was by even less. We need to get to grips with this problem very soon so that I can pick up on the form I was showing in the first half of the season.
From ninth on Saturday, you got off to a real flying start. What was it like on the first corner?
Tight! From my grid position, I had to take something of a risk to get myself in among the front-runners. That worked out really well in the first race. Right at the start, I got past three of the drivers in front and improved my position from ninth to sixth. After that, I was able to match the pace of the leading cars. But catching up is one thing, overtaking another. Sixth place was rather damage limitation but at least I scored a few vital points.
And how did it go in the second race on Sunday?
Like I said, it’s not easy starting from midfield. This time, unfortunately, I didn’t get off to quite such a strong start as the day before. As in the first race, I felt obliged to take some risks, but then I had to avoid a collision between two other drivers. Consequently, I didn’t manage to gain any positions. During the race, I overtook one other car and slotted into eighth place. It became more difficult after that, because the Top Ten were all posting pretty similar lap times. With the package at my disposal, I was never going to finish any higher than eighth.
As the season comes to a close, you have identified the runner-up spot as your target. How do you rate your chances?
The race weekend at the Nürburgring was certainly not easy. But I remain confident of finishing the season as runner-up. I am currently third overall, and the gap to second place is only twelve points. So there is still everything to play for in the last two races. It was by no means ideal that my main title rivals picked up a lot of points at the Nürburgring. But that spurs me on all the more to go flat out on the final weekend.
In three weeks, the season comes to a close in the framework of the DTM at the Hockenheimring. Is this a track that you normally do well on?
I’ll certainly be arriving for the final race weekend of the Porsche Carrera Cup with a healthy dose of optimism. The season opener at Hockenheim went really well for me. I recorded my best ever qualifying result and finished the second race on the podium. On that occasion, I went away overall second in the championship. This time, I’ll be going there in third place and try my best to reconquer that initial position.
