Sean Edwards from “Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit“ stood on top of the podium in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race in Barcelona, however, was set back to position 12th due to a retrospective penalty. Sascha Maassen thus achieves position 11. Khaled Al Qubaisi ends up on position 14 and registers his first championship points.

The penny has dropped, however, also in Barcelona the race result of the “Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit“ drivers still does not show the true performance. Sean Edwards was considered being one of the front-runners for the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup European season opener and achieved the result that complied to his performance –in the unofficial race standings. The stewards’ decision to impose a 25 second penalty on him means the officials deprived him of the victory.

In free practice as well as in qualifying, the 23-year-old clearly marked his territory with position 2. “I am pretty sure to also find the 0.3 seconds that are missing to the pole sitter”, was his comment after the timed session. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have another clear lap in the end.”

The race started perfectly for the young Brit and he immediately set himself upfront. In the following 14 laps, he delivered some great race action in his battles against the runner-off Jeroen Bleekemolen. A true racing feast for the spectators’ eyes at the “Circuit de Catalunya”.

The battle came to a head in the last two laps, when Jeroen Bleekemolen managed to get passed Sean Edwards. In the following counter strike, Bleekemolen closed the door and the “Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit” pilot was not able to prevent the contact. „I am sorry that I collided with Jeroen, but he didn’t leave any room any more. We had a captivating fight in the race. That was great. Unfortunately, my tyres lost grip, as I pushed a bit too early in the race. The stewards decided afterwards, that my contact would have been avoidable and gave me a 25 second penalty, which was too much. But I have to accept this decision of course.”

Edwards’ obvious disappointment was quickly allayed by the team’s backer Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA). “This is what the sport is all about – the ability to deal with set-backs and move on to future triumphs,” said Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General, ADTA.

Sascha Maassen was dogged by bad racing luck. After the change of the differential lock on his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup after qualifying, the balance of his car was performing as expected. Starting from position 14, the 40-year-old, however, had to evade colliding competitors and was in the end pushed into the gravel from behind. “All of a sudden, you start it all again – from the back”, was his comment with a grim sense of humour. Due to the following catch-up, he finished the race on position 11. “All in all, I caught up 10 positions. The car feels better with the new differential lock. Many thanks to the whole team, who did everything to convince the Porsche race organisation that a change was necessary.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi, the third pilot of “Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit” experienced a truly unleashed race. The “king of the race start”, as he is called in his home country Abu Dhabi, was fully complying to his nickname and caught up five positions in the race start. “It was a great race for me. The start was perfect. In the race itself I most of all tried to hold the speed and keep out of the collisions in front of me.“ With a constant performance, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup “rookie” managed to capture position 12, however finished on position 14 due to a smaller driving mistake. “I am not only very confident, but absolutely happy. I was able to reduce the gap to the front constantly during the weekend. Furthermore, the result means my first two championship points.”

“Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit” team manager Michael Seifert comments: „It is absolutely annoying. Our performance is good, however, also this time it is not shown in the result. The battle between Sean and Jeroen was captivating and in the end unfortunate for us. Sean did not want to send him off track, however, there was no other chance. Sascha is still dogged by bad luck. For Khaled we are very happy. The result means the first championship points for him and he was able to close the gap to the top. That’s a great result for him.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps adds: „At first, the weekend showed the results that we are able to achieve. This confirms not only us in our team composition, but also the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Deutsche Post and Windreich AG in partnering with us. That we had to step back from the top of the podium in the end is to be regretted. But that’s racing.”