The hot climate did not prevent Precision Motorsports from performing well at Hockenheim, where the team took its fourth straight WC victory and the ninth WT victory of the season.
World Series witnessed a somewhat shy qualifying from the team as per the norm, with Cyril Werdmuller as best in 5th whereas former championship leader Mattias Stahre had a forced withdrawal due to grid penalty. After a good start the Swede's evening continued mediocre due to contact and wing loss with a slow moving car.
As the race grew older the pace of the Precision cars improved, with Werdmuller managing to gain positions due to clever strategy. In the shadow of Werdmuller FSR all time number one point finisher Fred Gosling was making another consistent race after clearing up his way through obstacles. After 67 laps Werdmuller finished in second (eight consecutive top four finish for the Dutch), closely tailed by Gosling in fourth. Further evil penalties imposed brought Stahre down to a net eleventh, which meant the Swede just lost the championship lead to team-mate Werdmuller, whereas Precision continues dominant in the constructors championship.
World Trophy brought little surprises in qualifying as Pedro Melim landed in an ordinary fifth place, followed by a returning Allar Foht. After an unusual safety car period Melim spent the following laps on the look behind the duo Martin Gosbee and Eduard Mallorqui, and as usual the race eventually unfolded into the hands of the Portuguese when the two aforementioned had a coming-together, the implication being a seventh victory of the season for Melim, with a (disappointingly) small margin. Allar Foht finished in third whereas Emre Uysal had to retire due to technical problems.
World Championship as the dessert of the evening produced a great show with home favourite Ronny Hähnel take a career first pole whereas championship leader Bono Huis settled for a somewhat abysmal fifth. After the start Huis managed to regain positions on several car, and as soon became evident, the two team #1 drivers would decide the victory between each other and Bruno Marques. After late pit stops the Precision duo lost ground to Marques, but eventually battled their way past, assisted by problems from Marques.
The final laps saw a terrifying fight between the two drivers with both Huis and Hähnel exchanging positions several times. A less elegant move from Hähnel in the last lap resulted in both cars being momentarily off the track, but with luck both Precision cars managed to finish ahead of Marques, in the order Hähnel-Huis. Jaakko Mikkonen, after a strong climbing from the back, finished in fourth, assisted by clumsy driving over the kerbs from opposition. Rasmus Tali finished in sixth in a fantastic drive after being subject to penalties.
A second season victory from Hähnel saw the German make up ground in the championship fight, whilst Huis slightly increased his lead over Marques and Precision Motorsports their lead over Twister-Racing. The following race will take place in three weeks' time at Hungaroring. Follow us and enjoy the holiday while you can.
Johannes Kunkel, Precision Motorsports teamowner commented:
"The home GP is always special for a team, and naturally you want to score strong results there, so we were approaching Hockenheim with the aim to secure another Hattrick. We almost reached this goal, only in the World Series we were lacking a bit of pace to fight for the 1st place. In World Trophy and the World Championship we can be very happy with the result, however in the World Championship we almost had to experience a "Red Bull-Incident" which wasn´t a good situation at all for those involved, luckily we could still bring home a 1,2 which is great. However, we now have a much needed break for our drivers to relax and find new motivation to give 100% again for the last 7 races. In the Teammanagement we don´t have a break and we have been working hard on improving things and bring new innovations to the team. Some things are due to be released in the next two weeks, so stay tuned."
Pedro Melim (1st) commented:
"Qualifying this weekend wasn't a surprise for me. I could make a better lap but it wasn't that bad since the race pace was good, P5 was a good position to start. Going to the start I managed to pass Jan in T1 for P4 but duo to an accident involving Raino and several other cars safety car was deployed. After the safety car I managed to save the engine for a later attack and when I had my opportunity I passed in lap 20 Martin and then Eduard on the next lap. After the pit stops I managed the gap to the 2nd place man and did lap after lap with no mistakes and crossed the line to win for the 7th time this year. I want to give congrats to my teamates for their results this weekend races, I want to thank the team as well for the great effort on developing the setup for this Grand Prix and for all the management that was done as always by our Team Boss Johannes Kunkel but mostly by our Team Manager Ondrej Kuncman. Now some nice break and then on to Hungary to fight again for the win."
Cyril Werdmuller (2nd) commented:
"What a great race! The qualification was very tight and we lacked a bit pace, but starting from p5 wasn't to bad after all. The race went very nice. After the first lap I gain 2 positions and I was in great shape for the race.
I could follow the guys in front of me and tried to safe boost in the first stint. I decided to pit early and that worked out great because I got the lead after Dimitri de Matos and Marco Conti pitted. But after that my advantage of the tyres where gone and they both could pass me. The second pitstop was planned early again and I was able to get back to p2. That was really the maximum for me today as the leader was just a little to quick for me. I am really happy with this 2th place and I want to thank the team for the great setup and strategy."
Fred Gosling (4th) commented:
"Qualifying went quite smoothly although after being p5 for most of the session, dropping to p8 as the session ended was a bit disappointing. The start went nicely although I was stuck behind Keithley and Yakimenko in the first stint and lost touch with the leaders. Once I passed those two, I could take it a bit easier and look after the car for the finish. I was a bit worried when Karim started to catch me near the end, the first two sectors we were quite even but he was faster through sector 3 every lap. Although he passed me, fortunately I could re-pass him because I think his engine was close to failing. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this result and once again I must thank the team for excellent work on the setup and congratulate my team mates on their performances. Now I'm greatly looking forward to a relaxing summer break, and of course to Hungary where I was fortunate enough to win in 2006 and 2008."
Ronny Hähnel (1st) commented:
"A really great weekend for me. In the qualification I did a 13.8 which was near my PB. I tried to save fuel and tyres in the first stint and could even pull away a bit from Bruno. But in the end of the stint Bono could close the gap because of some mistake in T10 from me. I pitted very early to got a little gap which worked but Bono could close the gap again and pass me right before the second pit stop.
Bono and Bruno did an earlier second stop and therefore they were about one second ahead of me after the stop. The whole last stint I tried to save fuel and engine in the slipstream from Bono and Bruno. Bono could pull away about 2 secounds from Bruno and me but I stayed patient in the back of Bruno. With about 10 laps to go I overtook Bruno and could close the gap to Bono again. And I think besides the last lap there was a nice fight for the first position and hopefully we caught the maximum points for the team again."
Bono Huis (2nd) commented:
"I increased championship lead again, not as much as I could have had because of a questionable move by a teammate. Thanks to the team for excellent work as ever. For the rest, no comment"
Jaakko Mikkonen (4th) commented:
"My qualification was a disaster resulting 15th place on the grid. Start was scary as expected. People doing a bit optimistic moves here and there.
Luckily I survived the first laps without damage, pitted early and got laps on clear track, which I guess allowed me to pass some drivers. Later on the second stint I catched Lee Morris on 6th place. I did an early second stop which allowed me to pass Morris without fighting on track. For the third stint I had Nilsson in front to catch up on for 5th place but that gap was already too big, so I decided to settle for 6th place.
I had pace for better, but as we've seen, the race is half over if the starting position is somewhere back of the grid."
Precision Motorsports
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de
World Series witnessed a somewhat shy qualifying from the team as per the norm, with Cyril Werdmuller as best in 5th whereas former championship leader Mattias Stahre had a forced withdrawal due to grid penalty. After a good start the Swede's evening continued mediocre due to contact and wing loss with a slow moving car.
As the race grew older the pace of the Precision cars improved, with Werdmuller managing to gain positions due to clever strategy. In the shadow of Werdmuller FSR all time number one point finisher Fred Gosling was making another consistent race after clearing up his way through obstacles. After 67 laps Werdmuller finished in second (eight consecutive top four finish for the Dutch), closely tailed by Gosling in fourth. Further evil penalties imposed brought Stahre down to a net eleventh, which meant the Swede just lost the championship lead to team-mate Werdmuller, whereas Precision continues dominant in the constructors championship.
World Trophy brought little surprises in qualifying as Pedro Melim landed in an ordinary fifth place, followed by a returning Allar Foht. After an unusual safety car period Melim spent the following laps on the look behind the duo Martin Gosbee and Eduard Mallorqui, and as usual the race eventually unfolded into the hands of the Portuguese when the two aforementioned had a coming-together, the implication being a seventh victory of the season for Melim, with a (disappointingly) small margin. Allar Foht finished in third whereas Emre Uysal had to retire due to technical problems.
World Championship as the dessert of the evening produced a great show with home favourite Ronny Hähnel take a career first pole whereas championship leader Bono Huis settled for a somewhat abysmal fifth. After the start Huis managed to regain positions on several car, and as soon became evident, the two team #1 drivers would decide the victory between each other and Bruno Marques. After late pit stops the Precision duo lost ground to Marques, but eventually battled their way past, assisted by problems from Marques.
The final laps saw a terrifying fight between the two drivers with both Huis and Hähnel exchanging positions several times. A less elegant move from Hähnel in the last lap resulted in both cars being momentarily off the track, but with luck both Precision cars managed to finish ahead of Marques, in the order Hähnel-Huis. Jaakko Mikkonen, after a strong climbing from the back, finished in fourth, assisted by clumsy driving over the kerbs from opposition. Rasmus Tali finished in sixth in a fantastic drive after being subject to penalties.
A second season victory from Hähnel saw the German make up ground in the championship fight, whilst Huis slightly increased his lead over Marques and Precision Motorsports their lead over Twister-Racing. The following race will take place in three weeks' time at Hungaroring. Follow us and enjoy the holiday while you can.
Johannes Kunkel, Precision Motorsports teamowner commented:
"The home GP is always special for a team, and naturally you want to score strong results there, so we were approaching Hockenheim with the aim to secure another Hattrick. We almost reached this goal, only in the World Series we were lacking a bit of pace to fight for the 1st place. In World Trophy and the World Championship we can be very happy with the result, however in the World Championship we almost had to experience a "Red Bull-Incident" which wasn´t a good situation at all for those involved, luckily we could still bring home a 1,2 which is great. However, we now have a much needed break for our drivers to relax and find new motivation to give 100% again for the last 7 races. In the Teammanagement we don´t have a break and we have been working hard on improving things and bring new innovations to the team. Some things are due to be released in the next two weeks, so stay tuned."
Pedro Melim (1st) commented:
"Qualifying this weekend wasn't a surprise for me. I could make a better lap but it wasn't that bad since the race pace was good, P5 was a good position to start. Going to the start I managed to pass Jan in T1 for P4 but duo to an accident involving Raino and several other cars safety car was deployed. After the safety car I managed to save the engine for a later attack and when I had my opportunity I passed in lap 20 Martin and then Eduard on the next lap. After the pit stops I managed the gap to the 2nd place man and did lap after lap with no mistakes and crossed the line to win for the 7th time this year. I want to give congrats to my teamates for their results this weekend races, I want to thank the team as well for the great effort on developing the setup for this Grand Prix and for all the management that was done as always by our Team Boss Johannes Kunkel but mostly by our Team Manager Ondrej Kuncman. Now some nice break and then on to Hungary to fight again for the win."
Cyril Werdmuller (2nd) commented:
"What a great race! The qualification was very tight and we lacked a bit pace, but starting from p5 wasn't to bad after all. The race went very nice. After the first lap I gain 2 positions and I was in great shape for the race.
I could follow the guys in front of me and tried to safe boost in the first stint. I decided to pit early and that worked out great because I got the lead after Dimitri de Matos and Marco Conti pitted. But after that my advantage of the tyres where gone and they both could pass me. The second pitstop was planned early again and I was able to get back to p2. That was really the maximum for me today as the leader was just a little to quick for me. I am really happy with this 2th place and I want to thank the team for the great setup and strategy."
Fred Gosling (4th) commented:
"Qualifying went quite smoothly although after being p5 for most of the session, dropping to p8 as the session ended was a bit disappointing. The start went nicely although I was stuck behind Keithley and Yakimenko in the first stint and lost touch with the leaders. Once I passed those two, I could take it a bit easier and look after the car for the finish. I was a bit worried when Karim started to catch me near the end, the first two sectors we were quite even but he was faster through sector 3 every lap. Although he passed me, fortunately I could re-pass him because I think his engine was close to failing. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this result and once again I must thank the team for excellent work on the setup and congratulate my team mates on their performances. Now I'm greatly looking forward to a relaxing summer break, and of course to Hungary where I was fortunate enough to win in 2006 and 2008."
Ronny Hähnel (1st) commented:
"A really great weekend for me. In the qualification I did a 13.8 which was near my PB. I tried to save fuel and tyres in the first stint and could even pull away a bit from Bruno. But in the end of the stint Bono could close the gap because of some mistake in T10 from me. I pitted very early to got a little gap which worked but Bono could close the gap again and pass me right before the second pit stop.
Bono and Bruno did an earlier second stop and therefore they were about one second ahead of me after the stop. The whole last stint I tried to save fuel and engine in the slipstream from Bono and Bruno. Bono could pull away about 2 secounds from Bruno and me but I stayed patient in the back of Bruno. With about 10 laps to go I overtook Bruno and could close the gap to Bono again. And I think besides the last lap there was a nice fight for the first position and hopefully we caught the maximum points for the team again."
Bono Huis (2nd) commented:
"I increased championship lead again, not as much as I could have had because of a questionable move by a teammate. Thanks to the team for excellent work as ever. For the rest, no comment"
Jaakko Mikkonen (4th) commented:
"My qualification was a disaster resulting 15th place on the grid. Start was scary as expected. People doing a bit optimistic moves here and there.
Luckily I survived the first laps without damage, pitted early and got laps on clear track, which I guess allowed me to pass some drivers. Later on the second stint I catched Lee Morris on 6th place. I did an early second stop which allowed me to pass Morris without fighting on track. For the third stint I had Nilsson in front to catch up on for 5th place but that gap was already too big, so I decided to settle for 6th place.
I had pace for better, but as we've seen, the race is half over if the starting position is somewhere back of the grid."
Precision Motorsports
Official Press Release
written by John-Eric Saxen
www.precision-motorsports.de
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