GROVES THRILLED WITH SPA SUPERCUP ROUND

MEDIA RELEASE/Grove Racing – Photo: supplied

Stephen and Brenton Grove finished the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup round at Spa-Francorchamps on a good note, with the father and son thrilled to race together.

The Australian duo became only the second-ever father and son to compete at the same round of Porsche’s pinnacle of one-make racing at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, supporting the Belgian Grand Prix.

Brenton, who made his Porsche Supercup debut with MRS GT Racing, improved significantly throughout the weekend before claiming a top 20 finish in Sunday’s 11-lap race.

Meanwhile, Stephen added to his strong season in Porsche Supercup with another top-five result in the Pro-Am class.

Both drivers hit the track for the first time of the weekend on Friday for Free Practice where they turned a number of laps and dialed in the cars.

Qualifying followed on Saturday, with Brenton bettering his practice time by almost three seconds to qualify 11th in the rookie class, 23rd outright.

Stephen drove his way to a fourth-place result in Pro-Am, which equated to 30th outright,

Ominous clouds hovered over Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday in the build-up to the race after a morning rain shower, however, the wet weather stayed away for the rest of the day.

Brenton had an excellent start, moving up four positions to 19th outright, but was passed back by another competitor.

The 21-year-old showed consistent pace right up until the chequered flag, crossing the line 9th in the rookie class and 20th outright.

Stephen was thrilled to be able to drive the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit again, bringing his car home in fourth in Pro-Am and gaining a spot in the overall classification to take 29th outright.

He maintains third in the Pro-Am series standings on 90 points.

Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup heads to Italy this coming weekend for Round 8 at Monza, where Stephen will continue his full-season campaign with Team Australia, from September 6-8.

STEPHEN GROVE:

“Pretty hectic race, hectic start. My start wasn’t great; through Turn 1 I got shuffled towards the rear and had to work very hard from that point forward. I had a bit of understeer in the car which we’ve sort of been chasing all weekend, so you had to slow-up mid-corner. Other than that, it was a pretty solid race, nothing fantastic, but it’s a pretty tough track and Spa-Francorchamps is a tough place to be fast and consistent. We ended up fourth in Pro-Am, so we’ve got to work a bit harder at Monza. It was great to have Brenton join us in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup this weekend, special to do it as a father and son, so yeah, it was a good weekend.”

“Monza next weekend I’m looking forward to, it’s an awesome circuit. We tested there a few weeks ago and I found it fantastic to drive. It’s high speed, I really enjoyed it and things sort of came together for me there — I can’t wait to get there and work hard and try and get back on the Pro-Am podium.”

BRENTON GROVE:

“It was a pretty cool weekend and a great experience to come over to Europe and race in Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup at Spa; it’s one of the best tracks in the world and certainly the best track I’ve driven on. It was good to have a go and see what it’s like over here and trying to progress every session. We ended up in the top 20 which was one of the goals, but track knowledge is everything over here so hopefully, we can do a few more races and see if we can catch up to some of the guys upfront.”

SUBSCRIBE TO VELOCITY MAGAZINE 

For all our news keep your eyes peeled on the Velocity Magazine website and social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for our daily updates and to get the latest edition of our glossy magazine subscribe here from just $55 for 12 months subscription.

GET OUR LATEST ISSUE NUMBER 33 HERE