Porsche Cup Championship Season 2 Round 1
In single make sim racing, the playing field is truly levelled. Porsche’s 911 GT3 Cup machine is arguably the most popular platform to assess one’s ability against competitors worldwide.
Following a hotly contested inaugural season running Porsche’s one make racer, the Apex Racing Academy (ARA) Porsche Cup Championship returns for a second season.
In theory, single make racing should provide an even platform to determine which driver is truly the best. However, in real life racing, this theory never really translates in practice. Teams which hire the best engineers, the best mechanics and critically possess the greatest budget will always bludgeon the opposition. Race fans crave a platform where the fastest driver can be honestly determined.
Over nine rounds and eighteen races, drivers from around the globe will compete for honours in the PRO and AM classes. For round one, drivers in the ARA Porsche Cup were thrown in at the deep end with a visit to the brutal Long Beach. With perilously close concretes walls and vicious bumps, this Californian street circuit leaves no room for error.
In a busy ten-minute qualifying session, Kevin Nielsen dashed to pole position. Dutchman, Niels Langeveld, joined Nielsen on the front row of the grid for the opening twenty-minute sprint. Leon Erger was fastest of the AM class runners and fourteenth overall.
Wasting no time, Nielsen scampered away from pole position and enjoyed crucial clean air into turn one. Nielsen’s rapid getaway allowed the Danish star to cruise to an opening win of the season while others perished in the chaos behind.
Leon Erger’s red letter day at Long Beach continued with an AM class win in race one and pole position on the partly reversed grid for race two. Erger’s nearest rivals in the AM class, Jack Knight and Pete Wadsworth, started race two from the eighth row. However, neither could stop the German star, who doubled up on victories and leaves Long Beach with a handsome AM championship lead.
For two thirds of the feature race, Casper Lund appeared to be in control and cruising to another ARA Porsche Cup victory. However, a mistake at turn eight fired the Dane into the wall and left stranded in the path of oncoming traffic. Moments later, the inevitable deluge of cars arrived and ploughed into Lund, sending his Porsche into the fence and out of contention.
Pascal Costa was next to carry the torch as race leader and began the final lap in the lead. Ironically, a carbon copy of Lund’s blunder denied Costa of victory with three corners remaining. Nevertheless, a delighted Kamil Grabowski happily swept by to pinch victory in the dying moments of a hectic opening meeting of the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup. Six tenths behind Grabowski, was Max Kessler in third.
Porsche Sport’s Josh Camm kept his nose clean to finish third on his ARA Porsche Cup debut. Following the race, the Jet2 airline pilot joined the Apex Racing TV commentary team to give his thoughts on his ARA Porsche Cup debut. “What a nice welcome to the Apex Racing League! It was chaos, but it was great fun. It was an interesting race one, I just tried to feel the track out and survive. In race two I managed to relax and everyone crashed in front of me” revealed Camm.
Next Round
On the 3rd of February, the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup Championship heads to the Nurburgring for two races on the modern Grand Prix circuit. Tune in to Apex Racing TV below at 8pm GMT to catch all the live action.