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Faulkner wins Bahrain SuperCup
opener
09.04.08
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by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent
MOVILLE racing driver Damien Faulkner got his
Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup challenge off to the
perfect start in Bahrain at the weekend by taking
the opening round in Bahrain. |
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But it was a mixed
weekend for last year’s runner up. He had a
disappointing performance in the second race,
eventually finishing in 10th position to leave him
in 4th place in the drivers’ standings, ten points
behind Championship leader Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The Dutch driver’s two second place finishes gave
him 36 points, two points more than Sunday’s race
winner Chris |
Mamerow and ten ahead
of Faulkner.
The weekend had started perfectly for the Lechner
Racing Team driver when polesitter René Rast retired
in the warm-up lap.
During the 12 laps of the race Faulkner was
four-tenths of a second faster than the rest of the
grid. With an advantage of eight seconds the Irish
man comfortably finished the race in first position
to repeat last year's success in Bahrain. |
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“It was pretty perfect
from when the green lights went out, to be honest.
I’m a bit confused as to why our pole-sitter went
into the pits, but obviously he had some technical
drama, which wasn’t nice for him,” said Faulkner in
reference to Rast’s difficulties. |
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“I benefitted from that
and made a good start and had to defend Jeroen [Bleekemolen]
who was a little bit aggressive at the first corner,
but no problem and then it was just a matter of
pulling out a gap and doing out twelve laps without
a mistakes and that’s what I did. The car was
fantastic and I’d like to give a big, big thank you
to the team. My family are here and my girlfriend,
her family too. We’re all one big family here this
weekend. The support has been fantastic.”
Bleekemolen, last year’s eighth placed driver,
finished in second position and newcomer Jan
Seyffarth finished third.
Faulkner qualified in 5th position for Sunday’s
second round and his difficulties continued into the
race as he lost several positions due to a bad start
and was unable to make up any ground and finished in
10th place almost 15 seconds behind the winner,
Chris Mamerow.
The next round of the Porsche Mobil 1 SuperCup will
take place on the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona
on April 27th. |
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