Sébastien Ogier (F) returns to the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup for a brief cameo. The defending champion and current leader in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) will contest the third race of the season this coming weekend, as the series forms part of the Formula One weekend in Spielberg. This is Ogier’s second appearance in the Supercup. The 30-year-old made his debut at the prestigious street race in Monaco in 2013. Like now, it was the “Project 1” team that looked after him and his car. His previous outing ended in an impressive 13th place overall. Ogier also made a guest start in an Audi R8 LMS ultra in the ADAC GT Masters at the end of May – and finished eighth. The Frenchman is now set for his third competitive appearance on a racetrack.
“The Porsche Supercup is a fascinating racing series, and I really enjoyed my first outing last year in Monaco,” said Sébastien Ogier. “As such, I am really pleased to be racing for tolimit’s ‘Project1’ team. From what I have heard, Spielberg is an iconic racetrack with a very special character. Like a rollercoaster, you head uphill for the first 70 metres after the start, then the rest is all downhill. I imagine that will be awesome in a competitive race in the most powerful one-make cup car in the world.”
Sébastien Ogier and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia (F) currently lead the Drivers’ and Co-Drivers’ Championship in the World Rally Championship – 33 points clear of their team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN). Volkswagen also leads the Manufacturers’ Championship with the Polo R WRC. Sébastien Ogier will return to his everyday rally job immediately after his outing in the Supercup – the seventh round of the WRC season will take place in Poland from 26 to 29 June.
The Porsche Supercup has been a regular fixture on Formula One weekends since 1993. It is the international version of the Porsche one-make cups and features on the programme at all eight European Grands Prix, as well as in Austin (USA). The new Cup version of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, which is based on the 991 model, has been used since 2013 and features standard technology for all the teams.