Sean Edwards was able to bring his Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA)-backed 911 GT3 Cup undamaged through the starting collisions to defend his starting position of 4th but had to cut a chicane in order not to collide with competitors. And although the cut did not bring him any advantage, the stewards decided to fine him with a drive-through penalty.He moved upto 3rd place and held this position for the whole race whilst the team fought the stewards over the decision. But it was to no avail, four laps from the finish he had to serve the penalty and dropped down the order to 10th.

“In the starting turmoil, I didn’t have any other chance than to cut the chicane. I don’t understand the penalty, as the move didn’t bring any advantage. Nevertheless, the stewards told us before the race that they would immediately fine, especially in the first laps. And I have to accept it if I like it or not. Silly things have cost us three podiums over the last three races, so our bad luck is now over and we will deliver a good result in Carrera Cup”

Sascha Maassen from ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ battled through with clutch issues at the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race in Monaco – an issue which hampered his winning ambitions when it led to a drive-through-penalty for a jump start. Team mate Sean Edwards was also penalised with a drive-through and eventually scored 10th position. Khaled Al Qubaisi achieved a respectable 22nd position in his first showing in the Principality.

Widely acknowledged as the ‘tight race specialist’, Sascha Maassen showed his competitors in qualifying why he is fully deserving of the title after he secured a second placed qualifying spot – his best performance so far. However, at the race start his 911 GT3 Cup moved off the line too early, resulting in a jump-start penalty. “The jump start was caused by some problems with the clutch I had throughout the whole weekend. Obviously, it looked as if the endurance racer had starting problems. That’s of course annoying,” said the team’s most experienced driver.

For sure, his premature start was noticed in race control. The following damage limitation resulted in a short engine break-down. After some additional turbulence in the first curve, he re-joined the field in position seven. The serving of his penalty finally resulted in him finishing 19th.

Khaled Al Qubaisi, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Emirati rookie, also went through a turbulent race: “It was my first start in Monaco and my ultimate ambition was to stay out of trouble… which I managed to do. Nevertheless, the race was very confusing. There were a lot of rule breaches around me, which were quite irritating. I don’t have a lot of experience on street races so I am looking forward to the race in Valencia to help build confidence.”

Team manager Michael Seifert commented on the race weekend with mixed emotions: “We started into the race with a lot of expectations. We worked hard, the sun is shining despite of a rainy weather forecast. Now we leave with the swallow of another bitter pill. Of course, Sascha wanted to show a good performance. Unfortunately, the clutch put a spoke in his wheel. Sean had to accept a severe penalty for the second time in a row. From Khaled, we only expected him to stay on track and to manage the 107% rule this weekend. It was his first entry in the tight street course so we are very pleased with his improving performance throughout the weekend.”

Technical director Paul Schlotmann added: “Let’s see it positively: we are happy that all cars are undamaged. In the short period between Barcelona and Monaco, the whole team pushed the envelope of burden. The result that we expected after the qualifying performance would of course have been motivating, however, I am sure that we will get our chance to show our performance.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps commented: “All good things come in threes. All bad things obviously, too. Monaco is of course always a special race in which many unforeseen things can happen. Drive-through penalties of course don’t belong to the anticipated ones. The whole team does a lot of hard work, for which we unfortunately have not been rewarded so far. I would like to thank our partners from Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Deutsche Post and Windreich AG, who all were on site to cross their fingers for us and to go with us through all ups and downs.“

The next Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race takes place on June 27, 2010 in Valencia, Spain.