Lirim Zendeli (Ombra Racing) finished P15 in the third round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at the Red Bull Ring in Austria at the end of another typical hard-fought race which saw numerous skirmishes throughout the 18 laps lead to full body contact between Lirim’s Porsche 911 GT3 and his various rivals.

Despite the result, it was a positive and determined performance by the German-Albanian driver, whose position at the chequered flag would have been better had it not included a 5” penalty for exceeding track limits.

Lirim started from P8 on the grid after qualifying, but gained a position at turn 1 and was then P3 at the end of the opening lap after Marvin Klein (Schumacher CLRT) and Harry King (BWT Lechner Racing) came to blows.

He remained in that position for another lap before ceding three places to his rivals on lap 4, after which he had to drive a defensive race, in which he was bruised and battered on all sides by Mathys Jaubert (Martinet) and Alessandro Ghiretti (Schumacher CLRT) as he tried to hold on to eighth. Unfortunately the MIM-contracted driver was forced onto the grass by Jaubert on lap 6 for which he received a penalty and after that he slipped out of the top 10 to eventually finish in fifteenth with an ill-handling car.

“What a rollercoaster race that was, maximum emotion!” declared Lirim. “I got a good start and was P3 in the opening laps but then slipped back after some contacts and damage to my car. It was really unfortunate and obviously I wasn’t happy after the race. This might have been the toughest race in my life! Nevertheless, we’re getting closer to the top and that’s where we focus on. A big thanks to Ombra for providing a fast car throughout the weekend!”

Lirim will not have long to wait before the next Mobil 1 Supercup encounter as he heads to the UK for next weekend’s fourth round of the season at Silverstone.