IVRA ClubSport Series

Mayer rallies at Spa after double penalty for Fischer

by Fischer Motorsport PR

January 10, 2021 11:57 PM CET 665 Views

The No. 84 Porsche team looks back with mixed feelings to Saturday’s Round 4 of the IVRA ClubSport Series at Spa. Thanks to two rare penalties against Benjamin Fischer in the first third of the race, the team fell behind after a strong start. But thanks to a strong performance by Manuel Mayer the team rebounds to take tenth place and by that its first top-ten finish since the season opener.

Starting from P14 on the grid, Benjamin Fischer battled his way into the top ten by lap six, even though the opening laps were marred by chaos and a first safety car period.

On lap 13 Fischer then defended his position against the hard charging No. 8 Porsche of NAB Racing. From the Kemmel straight all the way to Stavelot, the two cars battled side by side, bevor making contact, sending the NAB Racing machine into the gravel.

Race control deemed the incident as fault by Fischer and thus the 36-year old had to surrender two positions shortly after, to avoid a stop-and-go penalty.

Being asked about the incident after the race, Fischer showed his displeasure with the decision:

“I have absolutely zero understanding for this decision. The No. 8 car and I had a tough, hard but fair battle for position. He left the door open at Stavelot, I was on his inside and then he just pulled to the inside, like I wasn’t there. I had nowhere to go. I think this penalty is really unfair.”

After the Leipzig, Germany native had to surrender the two positions, he dropped all the way back to P16 and completely lost the rhythm in the race. On lap 33, shortly after the race saw another restart following a full course caution, Fischer was involved in another incident at Stavelot, this time the No. 62 Porsche of Geodesic Racing’s Raf van den Linden. The latter one got spun into the gravel.

This time race control issued an even harsher penalty against Fischer, in the form of a drive-through penalty that sent Fischer back by half a lap.

“I left the 62 three car widths of space, but I guess it wasn’t enough. I did move a little to the right and then he suddenly turned. The race stewards counted that as a penalty. I don’t understand that at all. I just know our race was pretty much over after that.”, a furious Fischer explained.

Because there were no further full course caution periods over the remainder of the race, the team was forced to complete its driver swap pit stop under green flag conditions. Teammate Manuel Mayer now took over the steering wheel of the No. 84 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup and returned to the track on P17 – facing a virtually hopeless situation.

Final Lap: Mayer is fending off a hard charge by Miguel Vigo en route to the No. 84 Porsche's first top ten since October

But Mayer laid down fast lap after fast lap, including the team’s fastest lap of the day on lap 70 at 2:24.199. Thanks to some teams making late pit stops for fuel, Mayer eventually moved closer and closer to the top ten.

In the final ten minutes of the race, Mayer creeped withins triking distance to the top ten, when the P10 car spin in the bus stop chicane. Mayer took the opportunity and moved into tenth position, as the No. 84 Porsche was running in the top ten for the first time since lap 33.

During the final two laps of the race, the Teisendorf, Germany native had to fend off a hard charge by Miguel Vigo in the No. 62 Porsche of Geodesic Racing. The American moved alongside Mayer at the end of the Kemmel straight on the final lap, thanks to fresher tires.

But with an overly optimistic move, Vigo made contact with the driver’s side door of Mayer’s car and lost control, allowing Mayer to bring home the top ten finish for Fischer Motorsport.

“Man oh man. I’m exhausted. What a finish that was. The tires were totally worn out there at the end. I was at the limit the entire time. The track was so hot at the end; that did not help either. It was hard work.”, a visibly happy and satisfied Manuel Mayer said after the race.

Thanks to the first top-ten finish since the season opener at Road America in October, the No. 84 Porsche now sits in 16th position in the official championship point standings, 238 points out of the lead.

Fischer Motorsport team owner Benjamin Fischer already mentioned before the race, that the championship battle was all but over for the No. 84 Porsche team and instead the focus had shifted to closing out the season with good results.

The fifth and second-to-last race of the IVRA ClubSport Series season takes place February 7th at Suzuka, Japan.

Unofficial Race Results - CUP Class