Double delight for quick Kevin at Spa!
Following a fortnight’s hiatus, the Apex Racing Academy’s fledgling Porsche Cup championship reconvened at Spa Francorchamps for the fifth round of the series. So far, the championship has been commanded by Norwegian, Nick Madsen. British star, Lewis Ward, appeared to be the only man who could stop Madsen’s march to the title. However, a pre-race technical failure, put Ward out of the reckoning. Match point for Madsen.
Kev Copeland has emulated Madsen’s domination of the PRO class in the AM championship. Leading his Pro Academy SimSport teammate – Joseph Saul – by nearly one hundred points, Copeland prepares for coronation.
Round 1
Kevin Nielsen and Casper Lund continued the Danish stronghold on the championship by locking out the front row of the grid in qualifying. Championship leader, Madsen, languished in sixth place. Brilliant Brazilian, Daniel Manzano, paced the AM class field in tenth overall.
Assembled on the downhill grid opposite Spa’s endurance pits, the field rattled their wailing flat-six engines off the rev limiter, eager for the lights to bedim. Nielsen and Lund wasted no time from the start and scampered to an early lead. In imperious form, the Danish duo flew in formation all the way to the chequered flag. Italian ace, Michael Schlax resisted a charging Nick Madsen to claim the final spot on the podium.
Converting his AM class pole to victory, was Daniel Manzano, in seventh overall. AM championship leader, Kev Copeland, was third in class and thirteenth overall.
Round 2
Following a brief intermission, the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup field gathered for the feature race. In true Apex Racing League fashion, a top-ten inversion of the grid sprinkled some extra spice to proceedings. Nielsen and Lund wouldn’t enjoy a repeat of their race one cakewalk.
Starting on pole position for the feature race, was the dashing Dutchman, Max Wolf. However, a botched launch saw Wolf drop to ninth on the opening lap. In contrast, Angelo De Cillis catapulted his Porsche into the lead heading up Eau Rouge. Swift Swiss star, Ivo Laubscher and Luxembourger, Phillipe Lauer followed in hot pursuit.
In a bizarre twist of events, championship leader Nick Madsen, failed to take the start.
At one third distance, race one podium finisher Michael Schlax made his way to the front. Close behind, Laubscher hung on in second place. However, Schlax wouldn’t enjoy the lead for long. Charging through from tenth on the grid, Kevin Nielsen made his presence known to Schlax. Swarming all over the Italian, a move was in the post but where would the Dane deliver? A cunning move at the bus stop chicane gave Nielsen the lead with eleven minutes to go.
Schlax maintained the pressure but Nielsen couldn’t be stopped. A repeat victory capped off a dream day for the Danish star. Not to be out done by Nielsen, Daniel Manzano completed a double victory of his by claiming another AM class triumph.
Post Race
Following the race, several of the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup stars gave their thoughts to Sam Fitzpatrick and Dane Baird in the Apex Racing TV commentary box:
Michael Schlax: “I started to train with the car two weeks ago. It’s so fun to drive and Spa is a beautiful track. It was a good night.”
Ivo Laubscher: “It was a difficult, I had a lot of damage in race one but I had fun.”
Kev Copeland: “It was definitely an evening of survival. I had Oscar come up behind me in race one and he was very aggressive. After a little while I thought, I’m not going to fight that any longer. I’ve got bigger fish to fry!”
On the twenty-fifth of November, the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup Championship concludes at Interlagos in Brazil. Tune in to Apex Racing TV at 8pm GMT to catch all the action from the season finale.
Images by @Groove_Media (Link to 4k images)