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Double pole, victory, podium: Perfect end to the season at Hockenheim

A dream weekend for Jeffrey Schmidt in the season finale of the Porsche Carrera Cup at the Hockenheimring: in front of 135,000 spectators, the Swiss youngster picked up his second winner’s trophy of the season as well as one for race runner-up. This was after claiming his first two pole positions in the high-calibre Porsche brand trophy series. As most successful driver of the Hockenheim weekend, he finished third in the 2015 championship.

Jeffrey, the last race weekend of the season could hardly gone better for you. What are your own feelings about this superb performance?
That was a great weekend to round off the Porsche Carrera Cup season. I was on pole for the first time, and what’s more, I did it twice. Add to this the victory in the first race and second place on Sunday, and you have an almost perfect weekend. I’m especially pleased that this success came in the nearest thing to a home race for me. The Hockenheimring is the closest circuit to where I live in Switzerland. Many of my friends, fans and partners were there to cheer me on. I hope that I gave them all a nice weekend.

Although the weekend didn’t get off to such a positive start…
That’s right. Things did not go at all well in free practice, and I was way down on the timesheets. But it was clear that this was not a reflection on my performance. We had a problem with the car which was holding me back. At this point, I’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to my guys at Lechner Racing. They put in a night shift and made big changes to the car. After that, my Porsche was swift as an arrow, and in qualifying I grabbed both poles.

You were able to carry over that strong pace into the races. Did you have many problems on the way to securing victory in the first race?
That was a cracking race, which I won’t forget in a hurry! I got off to a perfect start and I was able to pull away immediately. I felt like I was flying along in my Lechner Porsche. After the first lap, I had opened up a gap of more than four seconds on the rest of the field. In the final laps, it got a bit tense again. Christopher Zöchling was steadily catching me up, so I had a real fight on my hands. By the time I crossed the finish line, there were only 0.1 seconds separating us. A great race, in which the fans certainly got their money’s worth.

On Sunday, you made another podium appearance – your fourth of the season. Tell us about Sunday’s race.
I started from P1 again and had high hopes of another victory at Hockenheim. I was initially able to maintain the lead until an early safety car period neutralised the race. At the restart, unfortunately, I was unable to pull away fast enough and lost the top spot. Subsequently, it was very difficult to regain the position. At the flag, I was only seven tenths of a second behind the winner. Second place still counts as a good result, so I was the most successful driver of the entire weekend.

In the championship, you missed out on the runner-up spot by the narrowest of margins. Third place in a field of 27 is a magnificent achievement, but do you feel frustrated about missing out on second place?
Winning the runner-up trophy would have been the icing on the cake. It was incredibly tight at the end – I missed out by only two points. On Sunday, the situation was looking very promising. I was in permanent radio contact with the team, and I knew that sixth place wouldn’t be enough for my main championship rival. Unfortunately, one of the cars behind me spun off the track just before the end, which meant that all the other cars moved up one place. However, it’s much more important for us to be thinking in terms of finishing two places higher next year.

The season is not quite over for you just yet. As early as next weekend, you’ll be competing in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in the USA. Are you looking forward to the race in Austin, Texas?
I’m very excited about the season finale in Texas. It will be my first time there, and I’m not familiar with the track. I’ve heard from fellow drivers that the racing should be real fun and that the fans are passionate about the sport. I’ll be making a quick trip home from Hockenheim, where I’ll pack my things and then fly to the United States on Monday. I am third in the rookie standings and would like to go flat out in the last two races.

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