2016 Porsche Supercup: 24th season of the most popular one-make series
Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, the most popular and the world’s oldest single-make racing competition, would enter its 24th season next weekend at Circuit de Catalunya, again as a supporting event for the Formula One Grand Prix. The 2016 season calendar features 10 races on nine race tracks. In October, at the last round of the season at Circuit of the Americas, we will have a new Supercup winner, since there are no previous winners competing in 2016 season.
Porsche Supercup drivers at last pre-season test in Barcelona
With Philipp Eng gone, Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup awaits a new champion
Since its beginning in 1993, Porsche Supercup was a supporting series of Formula One events and it made the competition widely known and popular all over the world. In the previous 23 editions of the Supercup, 16 drivers from nine different countries took the titles.
Video : 2016 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup qualifying crashes at Circuit de Monaco
Last year’s champion was the Austrian Philipp Eng, who is this year concentrating on racing with Rowe’s BMW M6 GT3 in the Blancpain GT Series and VLN Endurance seriestherefor, there is no chance for a consecutive title win, and Philip’s successor will come from the field of at least twenty drivers listed on the entry list for this season. The current number of drivers is 21, but the participation of many other old and new drivers is expected during the season.
Sven Muller and Jeffrey Schmidt – maybe the future Supercup champions?
Sven Müller opened the 2016 season with three wins
The main favorites for 2016 are definitely Michael Ammermüller and Sven Müller, Lechner Racing drivers who would compete in the #1 and #2 Porsches. Müller was a runner-up in the last year’s Supercup while Ammermüller finished third. Müller had already had a very successful start of the season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, with three wins in four races, so we can be sure that he is eager to continue his winning pace. As for Michael Ammermüller, the race at Catalunya would be the first race of the season, so we still don’t know if he is in the mood for winning.
Christian Engelhart is next on the list of the drivers who we can count on for podiums and victories. In 2015, he finished fourth in the final standings, tied in the points with Ammermüller. In 2016, Engelhart continues to drive for MRS GT-Racing.
Three of four best drivers from 2015 will start again in the 2016 season
FÖRCH Racing by Lukas Motorsport attacking with four cars
Jeffrey Schmidt, who won the latest race of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, will also seek for new triumphs in the #19 car of Lechner Racing Middle East team. His teammates would be Irishman Ryan Cullen and Kuwaiti Zaid Ashkanani.
FÖRCH Racing by Lukas Motorsport announced the line-up of four experienced drivers: Patrick Eisemann, Robert Lukas, Chris Bauer and Santiago Creel. Although he is a rookie in the Supercup, the Mexican Santiago Creel is an experienced Porsche driver with a number races in the American Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, but also as a guest driver in the Supercup in the previous two seasons.
The young Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet is a member of the Porsche Junior programe
Cairoli and Jaminet also among Mobil 1 Supercup favorites
FACH Auto Tech also has two strong drivers: Matteo Cairoli and Philipp Frommenwiler. MOMO-Megatron Team Partrax will be represented with two rookies – Paul Rees and Dylan Pereira. Last but not the least, the French team Martinet by Almeras announced three French drivers – Steven Palette, Mathieu Jaminet and Roland Berville.
Same as in the previous three seasons, all drivers will compete with identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, based on the latest 991 generation of the legendary ‘elfer’. 460 wild horses are hidden under the bonnet of each car and they eagerly wait to run again.
One of the venues of Porsche Supercup in 2016 again will be Silverstone
