Points from season opener: Promising start in Barcelona
First race weekend of the season for Jeffrey Schmidt in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Top 4 position in qualifying, a messy start to the race followed by a charge into the points.
The opening weekend of the 2015 Supercup could hardly have got off to a better start, could it?
As the Spaniards would say: Muy bien! I was really pleased with fourth place in qualifying. It was my best result so far in the Supercup, and from a driver’s perspective of course, that is massive motivation. After all, the best Porsche drivers in the world are in the line-up here. When my team-mate Michael Ammermüller grabbed pole, I was less than four-tenths behind. We have since analysed where we lost time compared to him.
You ultimately finished the race in eighth place. Are you satisfied with the result?
To be honest, I wasn’t. I feel sure that there was scope for much more in Barcelona. Unfortunately, I had a minor technical defect at the start and didn’t get away very well. I was battling to close the gap on the leaders and tried to get past on the inside. Unfortunately, another car spun round in front of me and got in my way. Although I was able to take avoiding action, that dropped me back to 14th place. Later in the race, I regained six positions, but in the end eighth place was more like damage limitation.
All the same, your race pace looked pretty good. Do you think you could have finished any further forward?
It’s true that I had very good pace and that I managed to move up the field after my messy start. However, the track characteristics in Barcelona mean that there aren’t all that many opportunities for overtaking. So I had to fight my way through a tightly packed field. That was pretty tough, because everyone was driving at the limit. Towards the end of the race, I was bunched up with four other cars. But it was great racing, and I’m sure we provided some fabulous entertainment for the fans.
What positive aspects do you take from the race weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya?
My result could certainly have been better. However, the speed of our Lechner team gives me great confidence that we can challenge for a podium in the next race. We had a really good setup for this difficult track, and it also happened to be quite windy, so many thanks to the guys at Lechner! With this lights-to-flag victory, my team-mate Michael Ammermüller showed what is possible. We finished with three cars in the Top 10. So despite the strong competition, we have no need to feel overawed by the opposition.
You’re back in action as soon as next weekend with a genuine highlight on the calendar.
Yes, this coming weekend, I’ll be competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup which is held in the context of the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring. For a racing driver, there is nothing more amazing than driving on the legendary North Loop. We won’t be doing all that many laps on the 20-kilometre circuit, but there will certainly be a lot of corners to negotiate. I have generally positive memories of the Nürburgring. I had podium finishes in both Carrera Cup races there last year. The Nordschleife is obviously a different challenge, but in 2013 I was able to accumulate quite a bit of experience during the 24-hour race weekend.
