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Difficult weekend at legendary Monza

Jeffrey Schmidt at the Temple of Speed: This was the first outing for the Swiss youngster on the legendary Monza circuit in the context of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. In Sunday’s race, which was held as part of the Formula 1 weekend, Jeffrey came ninth in a field of 39 Porsche Cup cars. In Saturday’s race, he had his first retirement of the season. Jeffrey holds on to third place in the rookie championship.

Jeffrey, there was a huge field of entrants at Monza. What was it like to compete against 38 opponents on this track?
All hell broke loose at Monza. The presence of 39 Porsches made itself felt, especially in qualifying. There was always plenty of traffic, and you needed a bit of luck to get a clear lap. In this respect, though, I had bad luck. I was driving on new tyres and the track was very fast when I got stuck behind a group of other cars. That cost me a lot of time and was also annoying. Especially as my car was super fast; theoretically I recorded the second fastest lap time of anyone out there. But unfortunately I couldn’t get all the sectors to come together, and I had to settle for two tenth places. Looking back, a place on the front row would have been possible.

In the first race, you failed to make it to the chequered flag. That was your first DNF of the season.
Yes, it’s a pity that this fantastic run came to an end. It was evidence of how well the team has been working this year. We had no chance to prevent my retirement on Saturday. Soon after the safety car period, my car was hit by a flying stone which tore a hole in my radiator. As a result, the water leaked out, and that was the end of my race. It was unfortunate, because at that moment I was in contention for a place in the points.

On Sunday, you scored points again with ninth place. How was the race from your perspective?
The race itself was fun. I had a couple of very good scraps in which I came out ahead, but unfortunately these were happening too far back in the field. At the start, there was a lot going on all around me, but I was able to emerge from it OK in ninth. Then I got held up by another car for a long time, and the leading group were allowed to pull away. To be honest, I couldn’t have matched the race leaders for speed today. With this being such an ultrafast track, it was a challenge to keep the car under control on used tyres.

Next weekend, you’ll be competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup at Oschersleben. What memories do you have of the track which your race series will be sharing with the DTM?
I have very fond memories of Oschersleben. I drove my very first competitive race there in 2011; at that time, I was still in single-seaters. I’ve been fast on this track in the past, with or without a roof on my car. After my first victory in the Porsche Carrera Cup recently at the Red Bull Ring, I’m obviously all the more motivated to go for success. I’m second in the championship, and there are still a lot of points up for grabs.

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