Black Falcon scores podium position at Porsche Carrera Cup season highlight
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The Porsche Carrera Cup Germany’s season highlight at the Norisring saw Black Falcon take two podium positions. In the race on Saturday, Christian Engelhart claimed the third position overall. Gabriele Piana finished fifth bringing home his best result yet. Carlos Rivas claimed the second position in the amateur cup. Sunday’s race marked the beginning of the second half of the season. Again, Engelhart was the highest ranked Black Falcon driver, finishing fourth in front of 125,000 spectators. Gabriele Piana crossed the chequered flag in eighth position while Carlos Rivas crossed as fifth of the amateur cup.
Start number 4 – Gabriele Piana – RN Vision Team Black Falcon
Competing in his first Carrera Cup season, Gabriele Piana is finding his way more easily from race to race. From the very first race, the RN-Vision-driver constantly improved his results and continued this trend at the season’s highlight at the Norisring. He set the fifth fastest lap during the qualifying, setting himself up for a great starting position on Sunday – a new personal best during his debut on the narrow street course. He claimed the same position in the seventh race of the season on Saturday – another new personal record for the 30-year-old driver. Piana finished the second race on the 2.3 km long track in position eight.
Start number 5 – Christian Engelhart – Black Falcon
After a tough qualifying session, Christian Engelhart had to make do with starting positions six (Saturday race) and seven (Sunday race). However, the races went surprisingly well for the routinier: During the 27 laps of the seventh race, the 30-year-old gained some positions and found himself standing on the podium as third overall on Saturday afternoon. He repeated this type of pursuit raceon Sunday overtaking three cars during the start of the race. The following 35-lap-long battle for position three was intense, but this time Engelhardt did not manage to pass his competitor and eventually finished fourth overall.
Start number 6 – Carlos Rivas – Black Falcon
The Norisiring weekend meant highs and lows for Carlos Rivas. On Saturday, he set the second fastest time in the amateur cup for the following race and even claimed pole position for the eighth round of the champions cup on Sunday. During the seventh race, the Luxembourgian crossed the finish line as second.. It looked like another great result would be possible on Sunday, when Rivas defended his pole position and lead the race for more than two thirds of the distance before he hit a bump in an unfortunate way and was set back to the end of the field. He finished the race as fifth of the amateur cup but lost precious points in the battle for the championship lead.
Team Black Falcon after the race
Eve Wallenwein – team manager Black Falcon
“It was a weekend with a mixed feelings. We had a great race on Saturday with podium finishes for Christian and Carlos. In addition to that, Gabriele scored his best result yet. On the other hand, especially Carlos had a lot of bad luck on Sunday. The next race at the Nürburgring is our home turf and we are looking forward to that.”
Wolfgang Drabiniok – speaker RN Vision Team Black Falcon
“We’re very happy with the weekend. Gabriele improved his performance once again and scored his first top 5 result. The first half of the season was very good. This is an excellent basis for the second half and we’re already looking forward to the races at the Nürburgring.”
Gabriele Piana – driver start number 4
“The weekend was quite good for me overall. I’m really happy with the results from Saturday and especially my first top 5 finish. On Sunday, the car was lacking some speed, but I can’t really explain what wasthe reason for it.”
Christian Engelhart – driver start number 5
“I wasa bit disappointed after the qualifying session with starting positions six and seven. However, the races went a lot better and I’m happy with the third and fourth position. We’ll now shift the focus to prepare for our home race at the Nürburgring.”