In a weekend full of intense battles, Marco Giltrap had to fight hard for every inch on track during the third and fourth rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe Championship in Estoril.
Giltrap endured what he described as a “disappointing” qualifying session, securing seventh on the grid, 0.670 seconds adrift of pole-sitter Milan Marczak for the two 30-minute plus one-lap sprint races. Starting from the outside of the grid for the opening tight right-hander, he was left with plenty of work to do to fight his way forward and protect his championship lead.
Immediately at the launch of the first race, Giltrap looked racy early on and had moved up into sixth after the first lap. He would start to put pressure on fifth-place Alex Reimann early, and after nearly a whole lap of side-by-side action, would eventually get past him into the first corner and start to hunt down fourth with 24 minutes to go.
In a calculated drive, Giltrap slowly started to reel in third and fourth place and contested for the podium with five minutes to go. Giltrap replicated his move on Reimann into the first corner, but this time on Nick Ho and dived down the inside, but struggled to pull the car up, allowing Ho to get back past, which also allowed sixth and seventh place into contention.
With Ho applying defensive moves as the clock ticked down, it allowed third place to pull away from the battle pack, leaving Giltrap to fight for fourth place. A last-lap crisscross move on Ho allowed him to get a good drive and the inside line, which proved decisive, allowing Giltrap to take fourth place and hold it until the finish line.
Although the second race wouldn’t be as action-packed as the first, Giltrap and his team knew a podium was possible and would be looking to move forward early to catch the leaders. His quest for silverware was undoubtedly made easier by a phenomenal start, launching himself up to fourth after the first corner of the race.
The race then shifted into management mode, with the Kiwi pulling clear of Ho in fifth while setting his sights on the podium. With around ten minutes remaining, the gap to third began to shrink as Giltrap made steady inroads on Hoffner ahead. Further encouragement came when Hoffner was issued a track limits warning by race control.
Giltrap once again timed his move to perfection on the final lap, diving to the inside at Turn 1 before driving away. Hoffner’s track limits warning was later converted into a five-second time penalty.
Speaking to the media after the race, Giltrap said, “If you asked me with about four laps to go, I wouldn’t be so sure [about a podium finish], but I saw he got a warning for track limits, and if there was ever a time to push, it was now. I tried to apply some pressure and ultimately got there.”
With the championship certainly heating up, the closely contested season will resume in Valencia on February 21 (NZST).
Header Image: Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe
