Porsche Carrera Cup France

Pereira used the race weekend mainly to prepare even better for the upcoming Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup start in Monaco in two weeks ́ time, “as I had missed out on a bit of testing due to my different commitments this year. So it was a good way to learn a lot and adapt better to the new car.” The 23-year-old from Luxembourg started from P2 in both races, “not too bad, as qualifying was rather difficult for me, because it was the first time I drove at this track in the dry.” On Friday, he tried an attack on the leading Boccolacci already in the first lap, “but unfortunately this did not work out very well and I even lost two places. Later it was not really possible to attack as I was fighting with some oversteer, so I had to put up with P4.” On Saturday, he was stuck behind Boccolacci in P2 from the beginning to the end: “With the new cars it ́s even more difficult to follow somebody really closely, you are losing so much downforce. Had I been in front, I am sure I could have even gotten away from him – the car was very good today after some decisions and changes we made overnight. So a lot of lessons were learned, which was the main goal of the weekend.”

Nicolas Misslin felt that his two second places in the Pro-Am category were like victories for him under the given circumstances: “Psychologically it was not an easy weekend for me, as my mother has a very serious health problem and it is not looking good. So as mentally I was for sure not in top form, the result is worth even more – and it is very valuable for the championship. Especially on Saturday it was not easy as I had lost a few grid positions due to a deleted lap time because of track limits in qualifying. But I had a good start and then was able to stay out of any trouble. Congratulations to Jerome, who drove two absolutely perfect races.”

JB Simmenauer finished sixth in both races and was not too happy with the outcome of the weekend: “I didn’t have the greatest qualifying, for which I paid a price in the races, as starting in the middle of the pack doesn ́t make things easier. Especially on Friday some people ahead of me took the track limits not too seriously, but got away with it,” the young Frenchman was slightly angry. “On Saturday I was hoping that something might happen in the close fight in the group ahead of me, which I could make use of, but it didn ́t. But I have to say, Magny Cours is not my favourite track at all anyway, so not losing too many points is somehow okay and I am confident that I can be further up in the next races in Paul Ricard.”

German Richard Wagner also suffered from a rather mediocre qualifying, “and once you are there in the middle of the field, there is not too much you can do, especially on a track where overtaking is not easy.” Finishing 10th on Friday, he at least managed to gain some places back on Saturday when he dropped back to P18 in the usual chaos directly after the start, nally coming home in P15.

BWT Lechner Racing team manager, Michael Schöch, was not unhappy with the outcome of the weekend: “At the moment, everybody is still on the way to familiarize with the new cars, we all still have to learn quite a bit. Going home with three podiums is not too bad. Dylan only missed out pole only for fractions of a second twice, otherwise a victory would have been possible as well – and he helped the team a lot to make general progress with the new car. Congratulations to Nicolas, who pulled through a very strong weekend under very difficult personal conditions. JB, who will be our main title contender in this series, suffered a little bit from a not perfect qualifying, but his race pace was okay as usual, so that looks promising for the future as well.”