A one-two in the marques’ ratings and fastest lap for Edwards 05.05.2009: The Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, based Mühlner Motorsport Team entered two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S in the opening round of the FIA European GT3 Championship at Silverstone at the weekend.

Mühlner Motorsport satisfied with FIA GT3 season opener


The Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, based Mühlner Motorsport Team entered two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S in the opening round of the FIA European GT3 Championship at Silverstone at the weekend.

Both Mühlner Porsches drew attention from the very first free practice session with quick lap times.

Tim Bergmeister and Jaromir Jirik were driving Porsche number 18 and Sean Edwards, the FIA GT3 European Champion from the first year of the series, 2006, was paired with Oliver Morley in the number 19 car.

In qualifying for the first race, Jirik put the number 18 car 12th on the grid whilst Morley landed in 33rd “I’m not yet really at one with the car and need to adjust quite a few elements of my driving, for example my use of the clutch on downshifts. That’s why I’m taking too long too be able to go for a quick lap and by then the tyres are past their best” explained Morley after his qualification lap on new tyres was over a second slower than he had managed on used tyres in free practice.

In the first race, both Mühlner Porsches were brought in for the driver change right at the beginning of the pit stop window and Bergmeister and Edwards took over in 9th and 26th places respectively.

Bergmeister got up to 5th place in the remaining 36 minutes, although the car was far from perfect due to damage sustained when Jirik had collided with a Ferrari. Edwards had also fought his way up into the top ten before having to serve a drive-through penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag. Edwards then finished in 13th and the two Mühlner Porsches were thus first and second in the Porsche marques points.

In the second race on Sunday, Edwards started from the front row and Bergmeister from P7. The latter fell back in the early stages and was running 12th at the end of the first lap. Edwards also lost his 2nd place and collided with a Ford GT whilst contesting 3rd. Shortly afterwards he made a charge to catch and then pass the second placed Corvette, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.

Bergmeister was unable to get through traffic into the top ten and only after the driver change was Jirik able to pass a few cars and bring the car home as best Porsche in 6th place.

Edwards brought his car into the pits in second place overall, just behind the race leader, but Oliver Morley, in his very first race in a Porsche dropped steadily down the order to 10th place. In a field of 36 cars from 11 manufacturers, this was still good enough for second Porsche behind the sister Mühlner Porsche.

“Tim and Jara scored good points in both races and Sean, with his fastest lap, proved that our Porsches are competitive even in the international arena of the FIA series” was the summary of a satisfied Bernhard Mühlner after the first two of twelve FIA GT3 races.


- Bernhard Mühlner -  also photos