Team ‘Abu Dhabi by tolimit’s Sean Edwards was the dominating pilot in this weekend’s Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race in Barcelona with a faultless race from start to finish. Team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen finished fifth. Khaled Al Qubaisi unluckily fell out in the first lap of the race.

It was a perfect weekend for Sean Edwards. Already the qualifying session went to his utmost satisfaction: “It was a very good qualifying. The car was really good and I set an almost faultless lap at the very beginning of the session. And this was the pole.” In the race, the young Brit took the lead right away from the start.”This was obviously a great race. Although Nick Tandy had a slightly better start, I managed to hold him off and then got a big enough gap to keep it until the end. A big thanks to the team for a perfect weekend. Hopefully we can keep this performance on to Monaco.”

Team mate Jeroen Bleekemolen was not as satisfied with the race weekend: „It was a quite disappointing qualifying. The car was good, but I had some issues with the brake balance on my first set of tyres and went off track three times. Although it would have been important to set the fastest lap at the beginning, I was able to improve my time on my second tyre set. But to start form 5th is obviously not the best precondition for the race.” The race of the driver, who is well-known for his fairness, was then dominated by another duel with René Rast: “It was really disappointing. René blocked me for the second time now and touched me when breaking. So we both went off track and lost one position. I was able to gain it back later on, but with all the pick-up on the tyres, wasn’t able to fight for the front.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi did not have a smooth weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya, too. Having achieved a fastest sector time under yellow flags in free practice, the pilot from Abu Dhabi had to accept a qualifying penalty: “I went out for three laps and set out a time that was ok. I wanted to save tyres, as it didn’t make sense to go faster due to the fact that I was set back for 5 positions in any way due to the penalty.“ The race of the 35 year-old-business man from Abu Dhabi, however, was over faster than expected: “I had a good start but then was getting too close to Langhorne. I am not really sure what happened, but we both collided. I apologize to him for ruining our race. I will need to learn from it.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert is satisfied with the result:“Everything went out perfect for Sean this weekend. It’s the maximum output for him with 20 points for the race and 2 for pole position. He takes the lead in the driver championship now together with Tandy who, however, doesn’t have a race win yet. Congratulations. With today’s results, our ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ caught up one position in the team standings and now ranks second with a gap of only seven points to the front. Thanks also to Jeroen for the collected points despite of some unfair actions from our competitors. Hopfefully the fight in the front stays fair, so that I don’t have to visit the stewards too often. Unfortunately, Khaled did not experience a good race weekend. It’s a pity that the collision in the first lap cost him his whole race. We will do our very best to get the car repaired as soon as possible for the next race weekend in Monaco.”

The race dates:
May 29, Monte Carlo, Monaco
June 25, Nürburgring-Nordschleife, Germany
July 10, Silverstone, Great Britain
July 24, Nürburgring, Germany
July 31, Budapest, Hungary
August 28, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 11, Monza, Italy

‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit’ drivers Sean Edwards, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi achieved a solid performance with the positions 4, 6 and 17 respectively, at the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season opener at the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey.

Having started the race from positions 4 and 5 respectively, Dutch Bleekemolen and Brit Edwards both had a decent start, but got passed by current champion René Rast, who came off even better and wheeled himself past them. Other than expected due to his great previous performances and due to ongoing technical issues with his brake system, Emirati driver Khaled Al Qubaisi didn’t have a very good start and fell back to position 18. In the course of the race, however, he was able to catch up one position to finish on position 17. His race was dominated by an ongoing duel with Turkish guest starter Yadel Oskan and blocking tyres – an issue that will need to be investigated back in the workshop.

The most important scene for ‘Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit‘ drivers Edwards and Bleekemolen happened in lap 11, when Rast was making a quite severe driving error. Edwards benefited the most out of the situation and passed both Rast and Bleekemolen on the right side to finish on position 4, while his Dutch team mate found himself blocked by Rast slamming the brakes and hardly managed to avoid him. As a result, he lost his chance for the podium and finished on position 6. With 24 points for the team standings, the Lohne-based crew achieved a solid performance at the season opener and created a good basis for the fight for the championship.

Sean Edwards: “It was a difficult race. Rast got a good start and passed me in the first corner. The car was ok, but we couldn’t completely keep pace with the cars in front. In lap 11, Rast made a mistake and I passed him on the right hand side. Jeroen obviously was hardly able to avoid him, so I found myself on position 4 in the end. It’s a decent team result for us and I am looking forward to the next race in Barcelona.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen: “It was a quite disappointing race for me. I had a good car, definitely one that could have achieved 3rd place. Rast had a good start, but made some mistakes in the race and just when I wanted to pass, he slammed the brakes and blocked me, which was somehow unfair. I was hardly able to avoid him and finally lost two positions where I could have made it to the podium.”

Khaled Al Qubaisi: “The balance of the car was ok, but unfortunately, I was having problems with the brakes and locking tyres throughout the whole weekend. We will now need to take out the brake system back in the workshop and find out what the problem is. At the end, I even had to go slow and fight hard to only keep my position. Nevertheless, it’s great to be back at in the top series of the one-make-cups. Together with our team manager Michael Seifert, I will now be flying to Germany in order to get prepared for this year’s highlight event at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife. I look forward to it and to the next race in Barcelona.”

tolimit head of motorsport and Supercup team manager Michael Seifert: “With regards to the team result, the weekend was ok for us. Nevertheless, it could have gone better for our drivers, especially for Jeroen who stayed very fair throughout his duel with Rast, only to be blocked by him later on. This is a proof that the competition is fierce in Supercup, but we will stay focused on our overall target. However, we are looking forward to the next Supercup race in Barcelona. The race here in Istanbul showed that we have the pace to fight for the title. So we are confident to catch our first race win soon.”

tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps: “A decent start into the season for our ‚Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit‘ and a performance that we can work on. As always thanks to our partners Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Deutsche Post, Windreich, DHL, aabar and SR Technics for their support. We will continue working on our performance and I am convinced that they will see their brands on top of the podium quite soon.”

Eurosport will show a summary of the race on Tuesday at midnight in the ‚Race RX‘ show. The next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup will take place on May 22 in Barcelona, Spain.

The race dates:
May 22, Barcelona, Spain
May 29, Monte Carlo, Monaco
June 25, Nürburgring-Nordschleife, Germany
July 10, Silverstone, Great Britain
July 24, Nürburgring, Germany
July 31, Budapest, Hungary
August 28, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 11, Monza, Italy

Sean Edwards and Phil Hindley attended the FIA and Porsche awards in Monaco and Germany over the December month to collect their trophies for their respective championships.

Sean collected his trophy for winning the FIA European GT3 title at the FIA awards, as did Phil collect his trophy for winning the FIA European GT3 Teams championship. This evening was held in the prestigious Monte Carlo sporting club.

They were also both invited to attend the annual Porsche evening in Stuttgart Germany, where they both received trophy for their success with Porsche and Sean also collected a Porsche Design watch.

Above, Sean meets Michael Schumacher, his F1 hero since he was young. Sean said “It’s amazing to meet and speak to Michael, I have supported him my whole life and it’s a shame to see him leave F1 forever. But I am really glad I could meet him in person, he is a really nice guy.”