Turkish rookie Ayhancan Güven dominated the British Grand Prix supporting Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race in front of 141,000 fans to take his maiden victory in the series in style.

With rain hanging in the air prior to the race, rookie Ayhancan Güven lined up on the front row of the grid with 2018 winner Florian Latorre alongside him.

12-year-old Justin Whiting, son of the late Charlie Whiting stood beside Herbie Blash, ready to give the signal to start the thirteen-lap race, and as the lights went out Güven led the field in to the first corner, Latorre bogged down, losing ground to team-mate Jaxon Evans who got the jump on him.

Latorre would fight back through the next few corners but was forced to make do with third place for the first few laps.

After starting in tenth place, Kantadhee Kusiri collided with Al Faisal Al Zubair in the first corner, the Thai racer spun on to the run off area, losing ground on the chasing pack, dropping down to last place.

Credit: Porsche AG / hoch zwei

Over the course of the first lap Güven would build up a gap of seven-tenths of a second to Evans whilst further back the battle for tenth place was heating up as 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Tio Ellinas gave chase to 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship leader Dan Harper.

Ellinas would challenge Harper for position, but after colliding with the eighteen-year-old lost out as Jaap Van Lagen and George Gamble took advantage of the situation, leaving the Cypriot in thirteenth place.

Starting from twenty-sixth on the grid, six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris hoy was on the move, and by the second lap was locked in a battle with Roar Lindland and Ewan Taylor for twenty-second place. Further down the field, Carrera Cup GB Am-class driver John Ferguson suffered a spin before carrying on.

Güven pulls away as battle for podium intensifies

By lap three Güven had extended his lead to 1.3 seconds over Evans who heading in to the Luffield complex left space for Latorre to challenge, a fantastic wheel-to-wheel battle ensued out of Woodcote and along the old start and finish straight. Latorre would secure the position heading in to Copse as Evans fell back in to the sights of Julien Andlauer and Larry ten Voorde.

With the change of position for second place, Güven was now 2.1 seconds ahead of the field; During the opening few corners Andlauer found his way passed Evans with ten Voorde lurking in the shadows as he sat waiting to make his move on the New Zealander.

Chris Hoy gained a position as the under pressure Taylor spun off of the track as the two drivers battled for position.

Championship leader Michael Ammermüller was on the move as he found his way around Mikkel O.Pedersen on the Wellington Straight, sealing the move in to the Luffield complex. The German started the race from an off-colour ninth place after a disappointing qualifying session for the Lechner Racing squad.

Credit: Porsche AG / hoch zwei

Lap six and Ellinas was in the wars again, this time it was with another Carrera Cup GB competitor, George Gamble who he tapped in to Club corner. As Gamble and Ellinas exited the corner, the pair drifted wide on to the start straight, Ellinas kept his foot down and was deemed to have gained an advantage off of the track, resulting in a three-second penalty.

Gamble dropped a position as a result of the commotion, leaving Dylan Periera an opportunity to move up to thirteenth in to Abbey corner.

At the head of the field the battle for fourth place was heating up as ten Voorde closed in on Evans, with the 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion forced out wide, ten Voorde pushed on to try to continue his run of podium finishes in the 2019 season.

By lap seven the top three cars were breaking away from the pack, Güven had a lead of 2.4 seconds by this point over Latorre, Andlauer was another 2.9 seconds behind.

Credit: Porsche AG / hoch zwei

Evans was under pressure again, this time from Australian Joey Mawson heading in to Village, an ambitious move from the Australian saw him spin as he got on the power out of the loop, losing the progress he had made and forcing the chasing pack to avoid him as he tried to straighten up his car and get going again.

Dan Harper was locked in a battle with Pedersen and Al Zubair as they pushed for seventh place, by lap eight the 2018/19 Porsche GB Junior had secured the position against his more experienced rivals.

Andlauer gets the better of his countryman

While Güven was breaking away at the front of the pack, his lead now getting close to three seconds, Andlauer was finally in a position to make the move on Latorre. The French pair entered Luffield, Andlauer moved to the outside, setting himself up for the inside of the long right hand corner and securing the move on the exit; The Porsche Junior now had Güven in his sights.

Australian Mawson was looking feisty again, this time he was looking to pass van Lagen, but learning from his earlier mistake that saw him drop down the order after a spin, lifted off and slotted back behind the veteran Porsche racer.

As the laps counted down, Andlauer was slowly closing the gap to the front, from 2.8 seconds on lap nine, down to 2 seconds two laps later, the Frenchman was running out of time, with only two laps remaining.

Credit: Porsche AG / hoch zwei

With Mawson settling behind Van Lagen, the Dutchman was now on the attack, trying to find a way passed Harper, the eighteen-year-old wasn’t ready to yield his position to his more experienced competitor, putting in some solid defence work.

As van Lagen looked for a way to get around Harper, Mawson was once again closing in, and as spits of rain started falling the pair collided, Mawson’s car clipping the wheel of van Lagen, the Team Australia Porsche became briefly airborne, before coming back on to the track with a bang, thankfully without too much damage; A lap later Mawson would succeed in making his pass work, securing his best finish of the year in ninth place.

At the start of the final lap, Güven led Andlauer by 1.4 seconds, over the course of the next 3.194 miles the BWT Lechner Racing driver did his best, unfortunately despite his valiant efforts he could only reduce the gap to half of a second, being left to settle for second place, after a brilliant charge from sixth on the grid.

There was drama in the final corners for Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer as he attempted to pass Dylan Periera, the young Frenchman forced to abort the pass, forced to the inside of the corner, resulting in the car getting airborne over the curbs; Thankfully he would only lose two places as he recovered to the chequered flag.

Credit: Porsche AG / hoch zwei

In the Pro-Am category it was another masterclass from Roar Lindland who took his fourth dominant victory of the year, Stephen Grove took second place while Philipp Sager and Clement Mateu battled for the final podium place, Sager getting the better of Mateu in the final laps.

VIP Guest driver Sir Chris Hoy had a solid enjoyable race and despite losing ground in the closing stages, climbed as high as twenty-third, having some good battles with the cars around him.

The rookie class was well represented in the race with Güven taking the overall victory, guest driver Dan Harper picked up second place, while the ever-present Mawson finished third in class.

2019 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup – Round 4 – Final results

[table id=3993 /]

*Tio Ellinas given 3 second post-race penalty for gaining an advantage off-track.

Supercup heads to Germany for round five

The teams now have a one-week break before the series heads to Germany to the Hockenheimring with Julien Andlauer in the lead of the championship by three points over team-mate Ammermüller. Güven’s victory puts him in third place, fourteen points behind the German.

In Pro-Am Lindland leads Sager by twelve points, while Grove is a further eight points behind. Güven is the runaway leader in the Rookie classification with fifty-six points to Mawson’s twenty-one.

Search for Porsche Motorsport Community on Facebook

Follow Porsche Motorsport Community on: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram