The team representing the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority at the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup announced its driver combination for 2010 during its annual Pit Stop Party. tolimit has chosen three drivers, creating a combination of experience, internationality and ambition.
Sean Edwards is an ambitious talent in motorsports and is particularly well known for his good performance in FIA GT2 /GT3 and in the Porsche one-make cup series. The 23-year-old Brit was the 2006 champion in the FIA GT3 European Championship. In 2007, he completed his first 24-hour race in Spa, earning him third place on the podium along side Sascha Maassen, his new teammate.
He has already notched up two victories in Porsche one-make cups during his first season on the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup 2008, and was named the “Best Rookie of 2008”. The Brit, who currently resides in Monaco, discovered his love of GT sport when testing a Porsche GT racing car at Silverstone. “I am looking forward to the new season of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. As part of Team Abu Dhabi, I have an experienced racing team behind me, so we are hoping for many successes on the track. I will give my best to try and win the championship. We haven’t had time for any testing, so it’s important to score some good points in Bahrain and we can then start to properly attack in Barcelona, but I will be trying all I can to get the best possible results in Bahrain.””
Sascha Maassen is returning to tolimit and the Porsche one-make cup after eight years’ absence. Following many successes in international GT and prototype sports, such as the LMP2 class championship in the American Le Mans Series 2006, he has been drawn back to the 911 cup. “I am already excited about the high level of competition in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Many good racing drivers are taking part and I hope I will be able to provide a few good surprises.”
Khaled Al Qubaisi, a 35-year-old businessman from Abu Dhabi, has been supported and trained by tolimit Motorsport since the middle of the 2009 season. The friendly Arab took part in his first Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race in 2009 in the inaugural race at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, wearing the colours of his country. He is focused on fulfilling his dream. Before he became involved with tolimit Motorsport, the fast car fan had never driven a racing car. To develop his talent by gaining experience, the father of four is currently lined up for the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, which will hold its final race on 1st April. “Although I have only ever driven fast street cars until the middle of last year, I have been able to learn a lot so far with the support of tolimit. It is important that I gain even more experience.” The friendly Arab?s ambitions to become successful are modest: “If I pass the 107 percent hurdle in the qualifying round and then win a point in some of the races, I will be a very happy man”.
The head of Team Abu Dhabi, Michael Seifert, is confident: “We will have a say in the battle for the podium places in the 2010 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Sean is a true one-make cup specialist, Sascha has a wealth of experience and Khaled has developed in leaps and bounds over the past six months. I am looking forward to an exciting season.”
Tolimit’s managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps is proud: “We have put together a completely new team, consisting of Michael Seifert, Paul Schlotmann, Wolfgang Knobloch and an experienced team of technicians. I am very proud that this year, we were able to combine all of tolimit?s skills and potential in one team. With this package, we will certainly be able to start the season with confidence. Together with our partners, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Deutsche Post, wetfeet and IPIC, we are fully revved up for 2010.”
Typical for tolimit: The team starts off the year with a combination of motorsport know-how and marketing skills. Professionalism across the board paired with enthusiasm for racing.
Sean was out in Abu Dhabi coaching the drivers from Alex Renner Motors when he was called in at the last minute to race alongside Khaled. He was happy to oblige and his first laps of the circuit were in qualifying, sticking the car in 3rd place on the grid behind the Porsche 997 Cup S of Rene Rast and the Covette GT3 of Karim Al Azhari!
Khaled took the start of the race and the power of the following Dodge Viper meant he lost a place, but settled into a nice rhythm in 4th place. A late call on the safety car created a panic in the pits, as everyone came in at once, with Khaled handing over to Sean. He came right out behind the 3rd place Viper, but the leading Cup S and second place Corvette were behind, it seemed as though the safety car had made a mistake and the first two cars had managed to lap the whole field in the confusion.
On the restart Sean immediately overtook the Viper for 3rd place and pulled away, but Rast was in chase and unbeknown to Sean, he was actually being lapped, not fighting for the lead of the race. Either way, he put up little defence to the much superior Cup S and settled in behind for the remainder of the race. The duo took a well deserved 3rd place in the end, although 2nd on the road ahead of the Corvette.
“It’s a great track, the two cars ahead were much faster compared to our standard cup car, so we did the best we could and were happy with a podium. The team did a good job and Khaled too.” Sean said shortly after the race.
Khaled commented “I am very happy with the result today, it moves me up in the championship and it was great to drive along side Sean, I will be having him back for a few more rounds this year!”
The next round of the championship is at Dubai on the 18 and 19th of March, where it looks like Khaled and Sean will once again be teammates.
The 5th edition of the Dubai 24 hours again took place in January, during the UAE’s so called winter of 30c. Sean Edwards, along with fellow countryman Oliver Morley had set their sights on a podium finish. Rule changes for 2010 had meant that the 997 RSR’s were heavily restricted with extra weight and power reductions, so the race was not going to be easy. But, a 24 hour race is the ultimate endurance test for any driver, team and car. To finish, let alone finish well, so many thing have to go right, with the possibility of so many things to go wrong, it’s the toughest challenge around.
Practice was difficult, with the track being very “green” and the team using the new Dunlop tyre, there was a lot of setup work to be done. By the end of the test session, Sean and the team had worked hard and got the car to where they wanted it for the race. “There was so much oversteer in high speed corners, it was almost undrivable, especially for a long distance race, but I am glad we have resolved the issues now.” commented Sean after the second test session.
Sean was qualifying as usual, but a problem with the from aero splitter only allowed him one lap at reduced speed which resulted in a poor qualifying slot. All the other drivers did their mandatory three lap runs to be eligible for the race.
With the race starting on Friday, everything was set for the long haul ahead. With team owner Miro Knopka starting the car, it was underway to a safe start. Oliver Morley took over for the second stint, putting in a great effort to get the car from 22nd to 8th place by the time he pitted! It had taken it’s tole on him, as he almost collapsed from heat exhaustion when he got out of the car, with cockpit temperatures reaching upto 65c! Richard was third in the car and started off at a decent pace and started to find his rhythm. All of a sudden there was a code 60 yellow and Ricard came on the radio saying the rear right was broken! About ten minutes later the car was recovered by a truck and delivered to the pitlane. Disaster had struck, only three hours into the 24 hour race, with a right rear suspension failure. There was so much damage done to the rear of the car, the race was over, with not enough spare parts to fix it.
“I am gutted, we were progressing really well and I was looking forward to my first stint in the car during the early evening. It’s really bad luck, but that’s racing, so there is nothing we can do.” said a disappointed Sean Edwards shortly after the announced retirement.
Sean is now working hard to secure a full time ride in both the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup for the 2010 season.
Sean Edwards clinched a fabulous second place in the final round of the DTM supporting German Carrera Cup. He was drafted in by the Hermes Attepmto Racing team for Barcelona and Hockenheim, to try and help them move up in the team standings. He scored a 5th and 2nd place respectively, to help move the team into second place in the final teams standings!
The team had a new sponsor called Otto on board for Hockenheim and their 60th anniversary logo provided a very colorful car for Edwards to race. The Otto branded car was on form all weekend, clinching 3rd place in qualifying behind the two title favorites Jeroen Bleekemolen and Thomas Jager. “The car was great in qualifying” commented Edwards “Third is a good place to start and I will try and go for the win tomorrow. Unfortunately the second lap on my new tyres I had traffic in sector three, after I had set fastest times in the first two sectors, so pole might have been possible, but this is racing.” The other team cars placed 5th, 9th and 10th respectively.
At the start of the race, Edwards attacked championship leader Thomas Jager straight away into Turn 1 and took second place, with Bleekemolen establishing a 1.5 second lead at the end of the first lap, Edwards set chase. The young Brit clawed the gap down to just .1 of a second by lap four and tried everything to try and find a way past, but he was not able to pass the Dutch driver. Bleekemolen won the race from Edwards in second and Engelhart in third. Hermes Attempto racing secured 2nd place in the teams championship and the other team cars finished 5th, 8th and 10th.
“I had a good start and got into second immediately. The car was great in the first 10 laps and I could challenge Jeroen for the lead, but I could not get quite close enough in the areas where you can overtake. After that, the car started to loose front grip and I couldn’t keep pace with Jeroen anymore, so settled for second. It’s a great way to finish the season off and I would like to thank Hermes Attempto, Arkin and Kosta for the opportunity!” said Edwards after the race.
The 2010 season is already looking promising and he hopes to be back in the Porsche Supercup to attack for the title. Along with that, a possible German Carrera Cup campaign and endurance racing.
GT2 Report: It was pretty clear beforehand that for Richard Westbrook and Manu Collard the journey down to the technical German circuit at Oschersleben would not be an enjoyable one. “Carrying 90 kilogram of ballast on board of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR meant that the qualifying would be a real nightmare”, Manu Collard commented on Saturday evening. “On top of that we experienced a gearbox problem resulting in not achieving anything better than a tenth place.”
On the other hand it was smiling faces in Edwards/Holzer camp. These young ProSpeed Competition drivers clinched a well deserved third spot on the grid and started the race with great ambitions. Marco Holzer had a difficult start, with all the GT1 cars going off ahead, but slotted into the highly competitive GT2 field well.
“Because I was caught up in traffic we decided to pit early for our second stint. Unfortunately it started raining somewhat too soon and we weren’t able to take full advantage of our strategy. But we kept to a tight pace, and thanks to Sean’s brilliant work in the wet, we climbed up into second place!”, Holzer recounts the race. “We finished second and I have moved up to third in the drivers’ championship and in addition we have helped the team to consolidate their first place in the team championship, especially after the early retirement of Manu and Richard.”
“It was a difficult start to the weekend in GT2 for me, as we had technical problems in FP1, so I didn’t get any running and the few laps I did in FP2 were all in the wet/damp!” Commented Edwards. “The race was great, but unfortunately we made the wrong decision on strategy early on, so we had to do one extra pit stop comparing to the rest and that cost us the win really. We are delighted though with second place and we got good points for the team’s championship which is why I was here. ProSpeed gave us a great car and although there was so much standing water around, we managed to keep the car pointing in the right direction, for the most part anyway! It was a big disappointment for Manu and Richard, but I am sure they will be focusing on the next race already. The infamous Spa 24 hours is next, where I hope we can be one step higher.
Manu Collard was pretty clear about the incident shortly after the start. “What the guy in the Ferrari did was highly unprofessional. He first touched my rear wheel in a place where you can’t overtake, resulting in me losing the car’s balance after which he rammed me fully in the flank. Unbelievable…”
The FIA GT will now be taking a breather for a few weeks up until the 24 Hours of Spa, at the end of July. ProSpeed Competition will not only be defending their leaders positions, the Liege based team are also looking to add their first victory to their record of achievements in Spa, following their second place in this race last season.
