After the accolade as best team of the season in Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland a few weeks ago, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ secures the vice-championship in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in front of its home crowd in Abu Dhabi.
‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ pilot Sean Edwards finishes the season on the 4th place of the driver standings with the same amount of points than the third ranked driver, but unfortunately with less race wins. Team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen secures 6th place equally tied to the 5th ranked driver. And local hero Khaled Al Qubaisi finished the season on 17th position with 15 points overall.

For Brit Sean Edwards, the weekend in Abu Dhabi didn’t run according to plan. After having started both races from 7th place, he was only able to make up one position in race one and finished the 2nd round on position 4. Jeroen Bleekemolen also lacked the ideal starting position, although the speed was good in both races. Having started from 6th and 5th place, he scored positions 7 and 5 respectively in the races. Khaled Al Qubaisi experienced some bad luck. The Emirati star finished the first race on position 17 and was not able to finish the second round due to a breaking failure.

Sean Edwards: “Being tied onto the 3rd ranked driver and missing the podiums finishing 4th in the end is obviously a bit disappointing. But we need to look forward to next year’s season. The year went well for the team. The vice championship is well deserved.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “After Engelhart hit me, the second race was almost over for me. I am pretty happy that I was able to finish it, however, was obviously lacking all competitiveness. Finishing on position 6 of the driver standings is not very satisfying for me, however, motivates for the coming season.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi: “That was obviously not the way how I wanted to finish the season. After breaking late on Sebastian Bleekemolen, the car locked up and I ended in the wall. But I had the right speed and I enjoyed the races in front of my home crowd a lot.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “I look back on the season with mixed feelings, as we obviously would have preferred to win the title. We put in a lot of effort and passion into this season. That makes me proud. This year, we became best Porsche team at the 24 hours of Dubai, secured the team titles in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East and Porsche Carrera Cup and now secured the vice championship in the Supercup. After my first year as head of motorsport, I am obviously very happy with these results.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “We gave our best on and off the track this weekend and that’s what everyone is used to see from us. Being the runner-up obviously means that we are not champion, but nevertheless the vice championship is a great reward for the team as well as for our partners at Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Deutsche Post, aabar, SR Technics, Windreich and Etihad. I am using this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to them for their support. We look forward to next season.”

1, 2, 3 – that‘s the season result for ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ in Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland 2011. The team achieved first place in the team standings with a gap of 36 points. The ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ drivers Sean Edwards and Jeroen Bleekemolen furthermore secured 2nd and 3rd place in the driver championship.

In 2011 ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ was the team to beat and again showed its dominance with Sean Edwards leading the season finale in Hockenheim right from the beginning. After having started from 2nd place, he took over the lead in the first curve, leaving his competitors behind for the remaining 17 laps. The driver title, however, was out of reach for him due to two races where tough luck and a damaged tyre left him behind Nick Tandy in the team standings. With this last victory of the season, however, he secured the vice-championship.

After having started from position 9, team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen caught up one place after the other. Celebrating his birthday today, he finished 5th and secured the 3rd place in the driver standings in the end, although he only competed in 7 out of 9 races, due to obligations in the American Le Mans Series.

Sean Edwards: “First of all, I would like to thank the whole team, mechanics, management and my team mate Jeroen for this great season. We won the team championship and are the team to beat in this series. Of course, I am also a bit disappointed that I missed the driver title. Above all after the tough luck in Oschersleben. But I guess that only means that we will come back next year to close unfinished business. Congratulations to Nick Tandy for winning the title.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “It was a great season for us with a great finish. I am obviously very happy to finish 3rd in the driver championship despite of having missed two out of the nine races. The team did a great job and we jointly achieved some great results. The races have been fun with a lot of fair duels. Hopefully we can continue in the same manner in 2012.”

Michael Seifert, tolimit head of motorsport: “In this season, we have been able to show our true potential. We invested a lot of hard work, tears and sweat and finally achieved our aim. We are very satisfied with the performance of the whole team. Thanks to everyone! We absolutely deserved it.”
Paul Schlotmann, tolimit Technical Director: “I am simply proud of our mechanics and the whole crew. They gave everything and showed that you can reach your target with hard work.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “This perfect season finale again shows that we can be very proud on the performance of our whole team. Everyone worked together perfectly. With view to the driver championship, we will for sure be back next year. Thanks to the team and to our partners, above all from Deutsche Post, that contributed so much to our joint success.”

More information on the team is available on www.tolimit-motorsport.de and on www.facebook.com/tolimit.

‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’ successfully maintained the lead in the team standings of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland at the second to last race of the season in Oschersleben. Having started from position 4, Sean Edwards experienced a short run off track and once again showed an impressive catch-up race to eventually finish 5th. Robert Renauer, who replaced Jeroen Bleekemolen at this round, achieved a solid 8th place.

Qualifying in Oschersleben didn’t turn out as expected. In the first part of the session, Sean Edwards was fastest, however, after the change of tyres for the second part, he finally scored 4th behind his direct competitor Nick Tandy. Robert Renauer didn’t have a perfect qualifying, too. In his last flying lap he braked too late into the last corner and eventually had to start from 8th instead of 4th.

In the race, Sean Edwards had a good start, maintained his 4th position and overtook Nicki Thiim in the first lap. However, a braking error caused a short run off track and took him back to 8th place. After a great catch-up race, the runner up in the driver standings eventually finished 5th with a gap of 12 points to championship leader Nick Tandy. Robert Renauer showed a solid performance and collected precious points for the team while finishing 8th.

Sean Edwards: “My start was ok. Unfortunately, I lost my front lip spoiler when driving over a kerb and that obviously affected the balance of the car. So I simply tried to collect as many pints as I could. Maybe we will have some more luck in the season finale in Hockenheim and be able to also win the driver championship aside of the team championship.”

Robert Renauer: “Those were some pretty awkward conditions for me. My last race in the cup car happened a while ago, so I don’t have the most of experience in the rain currently. Positions 5 and 8 respectively, obviously aren’t the result we wanted, but we continue to lead the team standings.”

tolimit managing Hans-Bernd Kamps: “I am not satisfied with the result of today. We want to win both the team and driver championship for our ‘Team Deutsche Post by tolimit’. We will fully concentrate on that in our preparation for the season finale in Hockenheim.”

More information on the team is available on www.tolimit-motorsport.de and on www.facebook.com/tolimit.
The race dates:
October 23, 2011 DTM Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, Germany

After a solid performance in yesterday’s qualifying of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup round in Italian Monza and starting positions 4, 5 and 23 respectively, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ experienced a jet black day come race day. Title contender Sean Edwards was involved in an unlucky incident in the first part of the race and wasn’t able to finish the competition. Team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen span, fell back to the back of the field and caught up to position 13. Khaled Al Qubaisi spun from the track and didn’t see the chequered flag, too, however, was finally weighted 21st.

Due to not scoring points, Sean Edwards fell back to position 4 in the driver standings, however, still has all chances to win the title in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, where two races will be carried out. Jeroen Bleekemolen ranks 6th in the championship.

In the team standings, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ still ranks 2nd with good chances for the title in the season finale.

Sean Edwards: “That was the full package of bad luck today. After a good start, I was fighting with the leading pack, when Balzan ran wide. When he rejoined, he forced me to take the outside line and Siedler touched me from the back. The inevitable contact with my right rear fired me into a spin and hard into the inside wall. That’s for sure not the result that I wanted, but one thing is for sure: I will fight until the end.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “Definitely not a good race for all of us in the team. I had a reasonable start, but then got stuck in the field and someone hit me from behind. I had to cut the chicane and lost a lot of positions. Afterwards I had a good speed and was faster than Tandy. But then coming out of the 1st chicane, I simply dropped my right rear in the gravel and spun. That was my mistake and I can’t even remember the last time something like this happened to me. I am very sorry for the team. As my car was good, I was able to make up a lot of positions, but due to the safety car being out that long, position 13 was all I could do in the end.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi: “I was struggling with my grip the whole weekend. In the race, every one of us had some incidents and I was coming off track, too. That wasn’t a good day for the whole team, but for sure we will be pushing hard in the season finale. There’s nothing more to say.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “If bad luck hits you, for sure it hits you hard. Sean had been in a good position in the race before hitting the wall. We had a look on the broadcast of course and I have to say that according to my experience and the video, we have to tick this off as a race incident. There simply were too many cars at one place. That’s bad luck, but a matter of fact. Jeroen and Khaled both spun, especially in Jeroen’s case this happens very rarely. But that’s racing. Although it is quite difficult at the moment for us, we need to keep our heads up and prepare everything for our comeback in the Abu Dhabi season finale.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “That’s not the result we wanted to have, but if it was easy everyone would be able to do it. I can only say that we will be back at full force in Abu Dhabi. Together with the whole team, we will be working intensively in the next weeks to be perfectly prepared for the finale: now more than ever.”

More information on the team, results and photos can be found on www.facebook.com/tolimit and www.tolimit-motorsport.de

The race dates:
November 13, Abu Dhabi

Mixed emotions at ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ while Jeroen Bleekemolen from ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ hardly missed the podium with a 4th place at the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup round in Spa-Francorchamps, team mate Sean Edwards chose the wrong line at the start, achieved position 6 and had to hand over the lead in the driver championship. Khaled Al Qubaisi achieved another good result with position 18 at the challenging and iconic Belgian track and due to guest starters ahead of him secured two more championship points.
In a qualifying session full with yellow flags, neither Sean Edwards nor Jeroen Bleekemolen or Khaled Al Qubaisi managed to smash a completely free lap. Nevertheless, starting positions 3 for Edwards, 6 for Bleekemolen and 19 for Al Qubaisi were better than expected under these conditions.

Sean Edwards: “Unfortunately, my qualifying was destroyed by yellow flags, but my first lap fortunately was good enough for position 3. In the race, I actually had a good start, but no place to go in turn one, so I had to open the door for Tandy. I thought it would work out to get past him again, but then I got on the marbles and also had to let Jeroen and Rast pass by. Then Engelhart hit me later on, too. 6th place is obviously not what you hope for when started from 3rd place, but the championship is still wide open. So I am concentrating on the next race in Monza.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “We took a bit of a gamble in the qualifying and went out late, but my laps were compromised by yellow flags, too. My race was quite ok, but some of the other pilots cut off every single curve in every single lap. That makes me wonder and I hope that the stewards will have an eye on it. My car was good and it would have been good enough for the podium if everyone would have stuck to the regulations.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi: “The qualifying was strange. My wish came true and it rained, but then so much water fell down from heaven that we decided to wait a bit until it becomes less. And then I only had two flying laps that were affected by the yellow flags, too. Two laps are simply not enough for me to get into the rhythm. The race afterwards was pretty crazy. I had a great start and almost ran into Matthias Lauda. The track was completely dry, so I had to get used to the new breaking points. That took me quite some time, but then I caught up to the mid field. As there are some guest starters in front of me, I will get two championship points for position 18. I am happy with the result.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “Not an ideal weekend for us. Unfortunately, Sean took the wrong line at the start. Jeroen, however, drove a good race, and could have even achieved a podium position. And Khaled again collected some championship points. With view to the team championship, the result is ok. We are still on the 2nd position and within reach of the title.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “It’s not my style to be hypothetical. I am facing reality and this means that there are still three races to go where we can show our full potential and win the team and driver championship.”

More information on the team, results and photos can be found on www.facebook.com/tolimit and www.tolimit-motorsport.de

The race dates:
September 11, Monza, Italy
November 13, Abu Dhabi