With a victory on the Circuit de Catalunya on the outskirts of Barcelona, Richard Westbrook started the European season of the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. Competing for Federsand-Jetstream Motorsport, the Briton put in an immaculate drive and relegated Jeroen Bleekemolen, double victor of the season-opening rounds in Bahrain, to second place. With this result however, Westbrook was not able to knock the Konrad Motorsport pilot off the top of the points’ table.

For the second time this season, Supercup newcomer Matt Halliday from New Zealand brought home a podium result. Coming from the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge of his country, the Federsand-Jetstream Motorsport pilot secured third and holds onto his lead in the rookie classification. Securing fourth after the 14-lap sprint on the Grand Prix circuit was Stefan Rosina (Slovakia) of the Walter Lechner Racing School team, with Patrick Huisman taking fifth. As the most successful Supercup pilot with four championship titles and 24 race victories, Huisman (SPS Performance) managed to defend his second place in the overall rankings.

Pole-setter Jeroen Bleekemolen was overtaken in the first corner after a slight collision with Renè Rast (Germany), who, however, couldn’t capitalise on it. The Carrera Cup winner of 2008, who competes for VELTINS MRS Racing, gradually fell back down the grid shortly afterwards with a crooked right rear wheel to see the flag in tenth. Richard Westbrook was the beneficiary of the duel between Bleekemolen and Rast. The Supercup champion of 2006 and 2007 emerged from the first lap in the lead, which he held on to until the flag. Westbrook won with a 0.7 second advantage over Jeroen Bleekemolen.

After the problems of his team mate René Rast, who didn’t see the chequered in the season-opening race in Bahrain either, Austrian Norbert Siedler brought home precious points for VELTINS MRS Racing in seventh. Eighth went to Briton’s Richard Williams (SPS Performance) ahead of Jiri Janak from the Czech Republic (Konrad Motorsport). Local hero Siso Cunill (Konrad Motorsport), who lives just 15 minutes away from the Circuit de Catalunya, also retired from the race, as did SANITEC-RACING pilots Luigi Ferrara (Italy) and William Langhorne (USA) as well as Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia) from the Walter Lechner Racing School squad.

Richard Westbrook (winner): “A great win – even if we were a little lucky. My start wasn’t so good but this didn’t turn out to be a disadvantage. On the contrary: When René and Jeroen touched in the first corner I profited from it and could take the lead. I put in four quick laps to pull away from the rest of the field and brought victory home without problems. I’m very pleased and only hope this was the first of many wins to follow this Supercup season.”

Jeroen Bleekemolen (second): “Of course I’m disappointed. I had a very good car today and could have won. The nudge with René, which happened because he pulled towards the inside, was totally unnecessary. He could have passed me and we would have had a great fight. But instead my car was slightly damaged. I could still turn the fastest race lap, which goes to show what a great car we had, but it was not enough to beat Richard to victory.”

Matt Halliday (third): “In the first corner after the start I left the track briefly, but that can sometimes happen on an unfamiliar circuit. Perhaps I drove a little too cautiously. But I overtook René and tried to follow Jeroen which worked well initially. Then he pulled away, and with Richard too far ahead to catch, I concentrated on bringing home third place and on using the chance to gather experience. Two podium results from three races: what a great start to the season.”

Race result
1. Richard Westbrook (GBR), Federsand-Jetsetream Motorsport, 26:32,604 min.
2. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), Konrad Motorsport, + 0,764
3. Matt Halliday (NZL), Federsand-Jetstream Motorsport, + 7,876
4. Stefan Rosina (SVK), Walter Lechner Racing School, + 11,240
5. Patrick Huisman (NED), SPS Performance, + 20,848

Drivers’ classification after 3 of 11 rounds
1. Jeroen Bleekemolen (NED), 64 points
2. Patrick Huisman (NED), 44
3. Richard Westbrook (GBR), 42
4. Matt Halliday (NZL), 40
5. Damien Faulkner (IRL), 34