Dams, Porsche Supercup, Round 5, Hungaroring
After a commanding victory in Germany, the French squad put high expectations on Budapest round. However some stroke of bad luck burned them. A 10th place finish for Michael Christensen doesn’t show up DAMS’ cars true pace especially after Richie Stanaway’s brilliant P3 in qualifications which got no reward. The New Zealander got it almost perfectly right in qualification clinching his best result in Mobil 1 Supercup so far. On the other hand, his Danish teammate had to slow down on his second flying lap due to yellow flags and ended 8th on the grid. For Richie alas the race ended as early as Turn 1 when he got hit by a driver trying to outbrake many others. Richie’s car stalled and he wasn’t able to rejoin. At the same time, Michael tried his best to avoid the chaos thus losing some positions. From 13th at the end of the first lap, he remarkably fought his way up to 10th thanks to great moves on this track where overtaking is so tricky. This result keeps him firmly in the lead of the rookie championship. Overall, the weekend feels quite unrewarding for DAMS however not hurting the strong optimism of the whole team. They will strike back as soon as the next race at Spa Francorchamps.
François Sicard, Managing director: « You can’t win all races. This time we suffered some bad luck. But we must focus on the fact that the team’s performance isn’t the cause. Richie could finally put together all his best sectors and confirmed what we knew, he is very quick. I am very sorry for him however he now knows that he can fight for a podium at each race. As for Michael he was an indirect victim of the first corner incident. But he never gave up and grabbed some valuable points for the championship. »
Michael Christensen:« It was a difficult race with a turbulent start where I lost some places. The result wasn’t exactly what we were looking for. Now we just have to try and do better in Spa. We have already shown in Germany what we were capable of… »
Richie Stanaway: « Frustration is the word. I couldn’t do anything when I was hit and I spun. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rejoin afterwards and the race was over. Such a shame after a good qualification. I should have clinched a good result for the team. But I will take positives as I know that we have the pace and hopefully we will succeed in Belgium. »
Next race: August 25, Spa Francorchamps (Belgium).
