Author Archive for Kyle Williams
A very wet morning greeted the Supercup drivers in Monaco. Teams left it till the last minute to decide what setup went on the car, but as the race neared, it was clear that it would be very wet. In fact, so wet that there were two safety car laps and a rolling start, rather than the normal standing start used in Supercup.
As Bernd Maylander pulled the AMG safety car off the track, the race was on, with Jeroen Bleekemolen pushing hard a few corners before the finish line, the field was strung out a bit. But Sean Edwards was glued to the back of Uwe Altzen, following his every move, with almost 0 visibility. The race was fraught at the front, with the top 4 cars covered by no more than two seconds for most of the race. Edwards kept the pressure on Altzen and finally he made a mistake into Saint Devote, hitting Damian Faulkner in the process. Edwards was then able to get a good run out of the corner and pass Altzen on the run up to Casino Square.
Bleekemolen seemed to be holding Edwards and Faulkner up, but there was no way past in Monaco, without big risks anyway. No matter what the both tried, Bleekemolen had it covered. Altzen was putting increasing pressure on Edwards for 3rd and giving him the odd tap in the process! Edwards held off the super experienced Altzen too finish an incredible 3rd place on his first racing visit to the streets of Monaco and only 1.2 second off the winner.
“That was an incredible race. It was almost impossible to see anything. I had a reasonable start, taking it easy for the first few laps and then I started to put pressure on Uwe and he eventually made a mistake. I tried everything to get past Damien, but it’s almost impossible here without significant contact, which I did not want to risk! Uwe was really pushing me hard in the last few laps, and hit me quite hard a few times, but luckily I kept it out of the wall and got a great result for myself and the team, who did a amazing job as usual with the setup of the car. I really hope we can take this momentum forward for the rest of the season.”
The next round will be in Magny Cours in mid June, but most of the Supercup field is off to a test day at Magny Cours on Tuesday, which is organized by Lechner Racing.
Sean Edwards finally got qualifying right, with 4th place on the grid, round the super hard Monaco streets! He was running second for most of the session, but a late charge by Faulkner and Altzen, saw him drop too 4th. Nevertheless, he is in a great starting position for round 5 of the Supercup and with a 90 hance of rain for the race, it should be very interesting. Sean was also the highest Supercup and Monaco rookie, and hops to keep it that way in the race.
Sean commented after qualifying. “It’s really great to finally get qualifying right and be right up the front. The team did a great job on the setup and the car was handling great. I actually had food poisoning last night and felt really bad in qualifying, but somehow managed to pull a couple of laps out. The doctor has said I should be ok for the race on Sunday. I had a crash in the casino on my second set of tyres, trying to push for a top 3, but the car will be ok for the race, thanks to the efforts of the team. I really hope I can finish in the top 5 and stay out of trouble.”
His team mate who is leading the championship had a difficult qualifying session due to traffic, finishing in P7, but hopes for a better race! The two team mates will try and work together and get the best result possible for the team.
The first and second round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup were held in the kingdom of Bahrain, at the Bahrain Sakir circuit. This remote desert track is the hottest on the Supercup calendar, with temperatures reaching 39 degrees Celsius outside and over 55 degrees Celsius inside the cockpit! “It will certainly be a tough race, both on the car and driver” said Sean Edwards.
This will be Sean’s first season in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and he is definitely looking forward to it. “I have a very steep learning curve, as I only know four tracks on the calendar (Monza, Spa, Hockenheim and Silverstone), as well as never doing a standing start in a Porsche and going back to sprint racing after being in GT’s for the past three years, but I am really looking forward to the challenge.”
The Supercup weekend schedule normally consists of a 45 minute practice session on Friday in order to learn the track and setup the car. This is then followed by a 20 minute qualifying session on Saturday and usually there is one race, which lasts around 30 minutes, right before the Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday. However, this weekend there will be two races; one on Saturday right before the Formula One qualifying and one right before the main Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.
Testing got off to a good start for Sean, learning the track and bedding in a set of brake pads for the race. He ended the session in a very respectable 7th position. “The track is a lot harder to get right then I had anticipated” commented Sean “But the team has given me a good car that is working well round the track, I just need to get all the sectors right in qualifying.”
Unfortunately, soon after the practice session, he was called to the race stewards, for an infringement during practice. He had a personal fastest sector, during a yellow flag. As punishment, he will lose his fastest lap from qualifying, a serious wakeup call that the FIA don’t have any lenience, even to new drivers. “The penalty is more than fair, if you do not slow down for a yellow flag” said Sean “But, I had just run in my brake pads for the race, there for lapping a good 10 seconds off my normal pace. I then tried for one quick lap, but saw the yellow flag in the last sector and slowed down sufficiently. Unfortunately for me, the sector was still my fastest, as it was my first fast lap of the session and the stewards do not give any tolerance, which is not fair, but what can I do.”
On top of this, he came down with a nasty virus on Friday night, which lasted for the whole weekend. Not something you want in the heat of Bahrain and on your first Supercup weekend!
In qualifying, it is needed to do two fast laps, there for determining you’re grid position for race one and race two. This will only be relevant for this weekend, with the two races. Sean seemed to have a good gap to start his first qualifying run, which was vital to get a good time down, especially with his impending penalty. “I had a 100 meter gap to Saleens in the Irwin car, but he locked up going into Turn 1 and came back on directly in my path, ruining my first lap and would not let me past. Eventually I did get past, but the tyres had gone off and I came in for my second run. I had two moderately good laps of 2.05.1 and 2.05.5, which should have put me around 10th in both races, but my fastest time was taken away and I was left with a 2.05.5 and 2.06.0, which left me all the way down in 17th for race one and 19th for race two” said a frustrated Sean after quaifying. It was going to be difficult to get any sort of result from there, especially with the amount of mayhem that goes on mid field.
Race One Highlights
Race one saw Sean get a very good starting, making it up to 12th place by the end of lap one, from his 17th place grid position. Unfortunately on lap two, contact with 2005 Supercup champion Zampedri left Sean with bent suspension and a damaged damper. “I made a small mistake trying to get past a car ahead and Zampedri got a run on me into T12 and tried to go round the outside, it was inevitable that we had contact, as you can’t really pass there. This damaged my car quite badly and I had trouble keeping the car on track, with a lot of turn in oversteer” said Sean. Even with this damage, he went on to finish a very respectable 13th place on his Supercup debut.
The team worked hard over night to repair the car, ready for race two. “All four corners of the car were bent to different settings, as per the ones I set them too!” commented Kosta, Konrad’s engineer.
Race Two Higlights
In race two, the task was even more difficult, starting down in 19th. Sean got away to a bad start, dropping down to 22nd off the line. “I used a few too many revs and got passed by a few cars” but he wasted no time in getting right back up there. “There was an accident ahead, which I was trying to avoid and I got tagged by someone from behind, which put me into a half spin and nearly into the wall. This lost me quite a bit of time to the leaders unfortunately” explained Sean. Once he got going again, he was on a charge, pushing through the field very quickly, with some amazing overtaking manoeuvres. One of the best moves, which was caught on TV, was on four times Supercup champion Patrick Huisman and experienced Lechner driver Stefan Rosina into T1. “They were both trying to overtake one another and I got in their slipstream down the main straight. At the last minute I dived to the inside, when they were side by side and overtook them both!” One of the best moves of the weekend no doubt. He then caught up to race one winner Damian Faulkner, but he defended hard from Sean and he could not get past the Irish driver in the end. “I tried everything, but he was blocking me quite hard. In the end my tyres had gone off and I did not want to risk taking Damian and myself out of the race, so I settled for 11th.”
A very good debut for the quick Englishman, especially considering the circumstances. He now has a few days rest before flying straight to Germany for the VLN in the Porsche 997 RSR and then back to the UK for the first round of the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone and then back for the third round of the Porsche Supercup in Barcelona.
Sixty Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars were delivered to the teams of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup and the Porsche Carrera Cup in Hockenheim on the 4th of March. This was followed by a two days test session for 26 teams from both championships, on the Formula 1 GP Circuit.
With the two-day test now complete and positive feedback from everyone involved, the season opener of the German Carrera Cup and the Supercup has ended in Hockenheim. The new 420hp 997 GT3 Cup car was considerably faster than the official Supercup lap record.
Sean Edwards was by far the best Supercup rookie in 3rd position, setting a time of 1.42.558, only .204 off 1st position. “I have known it before”, his team manager Franz Konrad was pleased. “It was the right decision and I am convinced that Sean will provide some surprises this year! The test was very meaningful because almost all of the teams competing in the Supercup participated. Not to mention all of the good drivers in the German Carrera Cup were here, who all know each and every meter of Hockenheim.”
“The test went very well”, commented Sean. “We used the first day to really bed the car in for the season ahead and put around 500km on it. Hockenheim was a new track for me and I have also never driven on ceramic brakes before, so it was a lot to take in! It has been really good for me to practice qualifying and race runs, which should put us in a good position for Bahrain. The team had a good base setup, which we worked on along with Phil Hindley (Manager), to suit my driving style and we ended up right at the front, which was great!”
Directly behind Sean were some formidable Supercup names such as Nicolas Armindo, Damien Faulkner, Jeroen Bleekemolen, David Saleens, Danny Watts and Patrick Huisman. The top 17 cars being covered by only 1 second!
Former DTM driver Christian Abt managed only 33rd. “Its a terrific, but not an easy to handle race car. I still will have to get used to it”, he says and with a laugh delivers the reason. “Too few feet for too many pedals”, he explains with a hint to the fact that as a DTM-driver he is not used to blipping the throttle when shifting down the gears.
For all the teams of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup and the German Carrera Cup, the preparatory phase of the season starts now. The Porsche Mobil1 Supercup will have its first round in Bahrain on the 5th of April and the Carrera Cup starts the new season in Hockenheim one week later.
Sean Edwards, one of the leading Porsche drivers in the UK, is set to join the Mobil Porsche Supercup grid for 2008.
The 21 year old from Henley-On-Thames, London will drive a Konrad Motorsport prepared Porsche 997 GT3 Cup machine.
With guidance from driver manager Phil Hindley, and team boss Franz Konrad, Sean is ideally placed to learn from the current Porsche masters, and compete at the highest level in front of the Formula 1 crowd. ‘Konrad Motorsport were our perfect choice in terms of providing Sean with the best machinery to perform, their history in Porsche Motorsport has been outstanding and I am confident that we will be competitive’ – quotes Hindley
The Mobil Porsche Supercup supports the Formula 1 grid in Europe, creating a fantastic environment for sponsors and guests to appreciate the finest Porsche machinery and driving talent, a truly exciting spectacle.
‘My Porsche driving career to date with Tech 9 Motorsport has been very successful. Winning the European FIAGT3 title in 2006, then opened doors for me into the FIAGT Championship in a Porsche 997RSR. I had a great experience in this Championship and driving alongside the Porsche greats of Maassen, Collard and Lieb has given me the appetite to develop my career and establish myself, in what is regarded as the toughest Championship for a Porsche driver’ – quotes Edwards.
The test program with Konrad starts in Hockenheim 5/6 March, followed by Budapest 7th with the eagerly anticipated first races in the Championship to be held in Bahrain 5/6 April.
Sean will also have a chance to race some of the other Konrad fleet, including the 997 RSR in VLN and maybe the GT1 Saleen in FIA GT among other things…
