Dominating Oeverhaus extends the championship lead in Abu Dhabi
At the fourth race weekend of the season at the famous F1 Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, 19-year-old Theo Oeverhaus from Germany again was the dominating driver, claiming his sixth and seventh victories out of eight races and extending his championship lead to 61 points.
For once, at least the free practice - after two days of testing - saw different names on top: Janne Stiak was fastest ahead of his German fellow contryman Colin Boenighausen and Jackson Walls from Australia. Khaled Alahmadi from Saudi Arabia topped the ProAM and the GCC categories, while Austrian Leo Willert was the quickest in the AM class.
But already in the first qualifying, Oeverhaus set the signs for the rest of the weekend: He claimed pole position just six hundredths of a second ahead of Janne Stiak, with Colin Boenighausen closing out a German Top Three. Saud Al Saud from Saudi Arabia topped the ProAM and GCC categories, with Leo Willert fastest in the AM class.
In the race, Oeverhaus then immediately took the lead, “even if I didn«t have a perfect start," while Janne Stiak was able to defend P2 until the end against Australian Jackson Walls, who, with a good start, had managed to jump ahead of Boenighausen and was able to keep the position. Saud Al Saud from Saudi Arabia topped the ProAM and the GCC categories, with Khaled Alahmadi also on the podium - finally, a great result for Saudi Racing, which had been quite a bit unlucky at the start of the season.
This kept Al Saud in the run for the ProAm championship, currently led by last year's champion Bashar Mardini from Canada. Austrian Leo Willert was first in the AM class. On Sunday, Oeverhaus set pole position again in qualifying for the second race. This time, the young German finished two tenths of a second ahead of Colin Boenighausen, with Janne Stiak in P3. Saud Al Saud from Saudi Arabia again topped the ProAM and GCC categories, while Austrian Leo Willert was fastest in the AM class.
Jackson Walls's spin, caused by British rookie James Wallis during the first lap of the race made it exciting. The rookie, who before his debut in Abu Dhabi had never driven a Porsche 992 Cup car in the dry, later received a 10-second penalty, while Walls made it back to the P5 from the back of the field. Soeren Spreng also had a spin in the back of the field, but was also able to continue.
Oeverhaus, the rookie champion of the German Porsche Carrera Cup 2023, again took the lead and was only slightly challenged during the very beginning. Afterwards, he was able to pull a gap with Boenighausen and Stiak fighting for P2 over the whole distance, finally crossing the line in this order. “ Oeverhaus was over the moon: “It was such a great weekend again; I really don«t know what to say. It«s absolutely unbelievable.” Colin Boenighausen and Janne Stiak, also from Germany, completed the podium. Saud Al Saud from Saudi Arabia celebrated his second victory in a row in the ProAM and the GCC categories, followed by teammate Alahmadi, while Leo Willert again was first in the AM class.
Series Head and Promoter Robert Lechner was
“very pleased with the close racing we saw over the whole weekend. I want to thank everybody - our drivers, teams, engineers, mechanics, and also the organisers, Yas Marina Circuit and Porsche Middle East & Africa FZE - for a great event. Now we have a little break, which is rather welcome after our back-to-back UAE tour, which was quite a logistical challenge for everyone involved. But I am already looking forward to our last two race weekends in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where we will be part of the Formula 1 events.”
Copyright: Lechner Racing