Top-6 finish in Supercup opener at Barcelona under banner of Formula 1
No respite for Jeffrey Schmidt! After his win and podium finish last weekend in the Porsche Carrera Cup, the season opener of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup was next up on the programme. The Swiss driver finished sixth at the demanding Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Damage to his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup prevented a better result. 87,245 spectators watched the race on Sunday as support to Formula 1.
Jeffrey, P6 in a line-up that includes the world’s 23 best Porsche drivers. It looks like the opener went well, but what do you think of the result?
I think that we could have achieved a little bit more in Barcelona. I started from sixth place on the grid and immediately moved up into fifth position. I had high hopes of a strong result at that moment in time. We had saved a set of tyres in qualifying, so as to be able mount an all-out attack in the race. However, Engelhart in front of me then blocked my way forwards from the very first lap. He was slower than me, because he was on a used set of tyres. So of course, I tried to overtake him.
That resulted in some real action in the race. What exactly happened in the battle with Engelhart?
A gap opened up on Lap 3, and I tried to dive in. He slammed the door shut, and then we crashed into one another. The scrap began while braking on the approach to the turn, and we lost momentum as a result. I suddenly found myself sandwiched between Barker and Engelhart. Engelhart and I both moved to the inside of the turn, but we then ran out of space. He ended up in the gravel, and my steering got damaged in the incident. We went to see the stewards later. They ruled that it was just a normal racing incident.
How did the remaining eleven laps go in your damaged car?
Driving was not easy. The steering was affected, one of the dampers was faulty, a wheel rim bent, plus, toe-in and camber were no longer on their best settings. Battling for the lead in a car that is one piece is very tricky in a closely matched field like this, but it then becomes a real challenge with so much damage. I kept my team-mate, Michael Ammermüller, behind me for a good while after the incident, but he was faster, and it would have made no sense to get in his way. I managed to hang on to sixth place after the safety car period and can be satisfied with the result, given the circumstances. It’s still a real shame, though, since I might have been in line for a podium on fresh tyres.
How do you rate this year’s field in the Porsche Supercup after the opener?
Very strong. Once again, there are many talented drivers in the line-up, just like last year. In my estimation, there are about ten drivers, who could be in contention to win the championship. I made my full Supercup debut last year in 2015, so I intend to be one of the candidates to take the title this season. The Supercup opener was not perfect, but my win in the Carrera Cup from the previous week proved that I have the capacity once again this year to compete for the lead right from the start. The next Supercup race will be staged in Monaco under the Formula 1 banner. I think my chances there will be good if we can do well in qualifying.
