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

With a double podium finish for the drivers Jeroen Bleekemolen and Sean Edwards on positions 2 and 3 respectively, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ finishes as the best team at the Hungaroring and impressively fights back the lead in the driver standings for Sean Edwards. The first Top 10 position for Abu Dhabi representative Khaled Al Qubaisi completes the weekend for the Lohne-based team.

Again a race under mixed weather conditions, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup round at the Hungaroring was shaped by a lot of position changes. Having started from position 7, Jeroen Bleekemolen was the one to profit the most out of it: “It was a very good race. At first I los t some positions at the start, as I didn’t have much grip, but soon after it all worked out well and I had some great overtaking manoeuvres. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take the win, but despite of this it was a perfect weekend for me and the team.”

Team mate Sean Edwards would have liked to take the two extra points for the pole position. However, having started the race from 2nd place and finishing 3rd, he impressively fought back the lead in the driver standings: “It was a crazy and action-packed race, but it was great fun. For some reason, I didn’t have the pace and couldn’t find enough traction in the corners, so I am lucky to finish on the podium. I just wanted to keep my competitors behind and collect as many points as possible, as I didn’t know that Rast was out. In the end, Jeroen caught me, we had a nice battle, but I didn’t fight him too much. It’s great to finally have two Abu Dhabi drivers on the podium.”

The first ever sports car racer from Abu Dhabi, Khaled Al Qubaisi, experienced an almost perfect weekend, too and achieved his first top 10 position despite of having started from 18th place: “I was hoping for rain and my wish came true. Today’s conditions suited very well for me. Everyone started on rain tyres. I had a good pace and the tyres were good, too. 10th place is my best result ever, so I am really very happy.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “It was an almost ideal race weekend for us. We have not only been able to achieve two podium positions, but also fought back the lead in the driver standings while our biggest competitors seemed to have some problems. We will continue to build on this performance after the summer break.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “A great success for us to be the best team at the Hungaroring! It’s a great feeling to harvest the fruits of our labour step by step. Congratulations to the team from Timo Rumpfkeil for a well-deserved race win! Now I am looking forward to the Carrera Cup race at the Nürburgring this coming weekend and the next Supercup round in Spa. And I can promise our friends and partners, that we will continue to work hard for the championship.”

Eurosport will show a summary of the race on July 31, at 5.30 p. m. in the frame of their “Motorsports Weekend Magazin”. Results and photos can also be found on www.facebook.com/tolimit or on www.tolimit-motorsport.de.

The race dates:
August 28, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 11, Monza, Italy
November 12/13, Abu Dhabi

With the positions 3, 6 and 18 respectively, for its drivers Sean Edwards, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi, ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ stays tuned in the fight for the team and driver championship at the 6th round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup series at the Nürburgring. In the 200th race of the championship, rain specialist Sean Edwards only started from 7th place, however, scored another podium in a great catch-up race. In the driver championship, he ranks 2nd with 90 points and within reach of the leader René Rast.
Jeroen Bleekemolen starts from position 8, however, catches up one position, too. Being one of only two race drivers who managed to be on every podium of one Supercup season, he therefore scores 10 points and continues to rank 5th. Khaled Al Qubaisi once again shows a great start in the race and competes on position 9 for some time. However, being started on rain tyres, he falls back to position 18 on the drying track during the race.

Sean Edwards: “Starting 7th and finishing 3rd is obviously a great result. Our car was fast especially in the wet. I didn’t have a perfect start, but was able to catch up some positions in the first lap. Unfortunately, I lost some time in my catch-up race, but am happy with finishing 3rd. I didn’t fully attack in the end, as I didn’t want to risk too much in the fight for the title. We will be coming back strongly in the next races, so I am already looking forward to it.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “A good race with lots of overtaking and fights. I had a great duel with Patrick Huisman and I am pretty happy to finish in front of him, as he was the fastest on the track. Not a bad result.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi: “Obviously, we took the gamble today and I started on rain tyres. It worked out well in the first two laps and I showed up in the mid field. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay wet so I wasn’t able to keep up in the end. But I had a lot of fun and it was worth taking the risk.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “This race weekend, we once again showed that we are fighters. Although qualifying wasn’t ideal, we never gave up. Sean showed a great catch-up race and still fights for the title. Jeroen also never gave in and Khaled obviously pushed his luck, but wasn’t lucky enough to gain the rewards. Nevertheless, he showed that he is able to show up in the mid field. In the team standings, we are hot on the heels of the leader. We simply make the best out of every situation.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “I am extremely proud that we were once again able to show our great fighting spirit, especially as it was in front of many of our business partners and friend. We will stay tuned and focused to realize our target to become champions. Thanks to our partners and sponsors for their support.”

Eurosport will show a summary of the race on July 24 at 11.00 p. m. in the frame of their “Motorsports Weekend Magazin”.

The race dates:
July 31, Budapest, Hungary
August 28, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 11, Monza, Italy

After the retirement of the German women’s national soccer team against Japan, also the Lohne-based ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ suffered from challenging conditions. Mixed weather conditions and frequent rain resulted in the drivers Jeroen Bleekemolen, Sean Edwards and Khaled Al Qubaisi starting from positions 6, 10 and 23 respectively. Despite of cutting the losses in the race, the team had to settle for positions 6, 10 and 22 in the end.

Sean Edwards: “Unfortunately we pushed our luck in the qualifying. My lap on the first set of tyres was fast and we therefore wanted to save the second tyre set. But the times became faster and when I went out again, the rain was setting in and I wasn’t able to improve. The race was not good, too. We were simply lacking general pace. We will now need to sort out what was going wrong for the next race at the Nürburgring, and then come back fighting.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “I didn’t have a completely dry lap in qualifying and had to learn the new part of the track. Especially in the first corner it is hard to find the right line and lots of drivers cut the edges. But 6th on the grid was ok. The race, however, was simply bad. We didn’t have the pace. I had a great start, but was made running wide by a competitor and almost lost a few positions. After that the leading group just took off and the rest of the field wasn’t able to keep up.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi: “In the qualifying I concentrated on not losing too much time to the front. The track wasn’t completely dry, but the lap was ok for me. In the race, I ran wide in the first corner trying to avoid traffic, but unfortunately, I went off track and later had so much dirt on the tyres that I wasn’t able to push any more. It was a weekend to forget for the team, but I am happy that I finished the race.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “Among others, the mixed English weather put a spoke in our wheel, but that sort of things happen. Now we unfortunately lost the lead in the driver and team standings, but we are running up close and will do everything to gain it back in the next race at the Nürburgring.”

tolimit general manager Hans-Bernd Kamps: „Our performance on the weekend was simply not good enough. We will look at what hasn’t worked out right away on Monday back in the office. We are definitely able to perform better than shown in Silverstone. For this weekend, my favourite saying fits once again: Only those show real greatness that are able to stand up after having fallen down. Different to the German women’s national soccer team, we will use our chance to win the title.”

The race dates:
July 24, Nürburgring, Germany
July 31, Budapest, Hungary
August 28, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 11, Monza, Italy