PRI - 718 RST Round 5: Prinzenpark Braunschweig

A race remade on the opening lap

The final round brought eight Porsche 718 RS 60 Spyders to PRI - 718 RST Round 5: Prinzenpark Braunschweig, with the Championship still balanced finely between FMG and Valentin Knechtel. Yet the man who would command the race result began from the very back of the grid. Masse made a remarkable first lap, rising five places to third before the field had properly settled into its order.

That opening was the foundation of his afternoon. It placed the Frenchman among the leaders at once, rather than leaving him to seek opportunities through the small but busy field, and it announced a pace which would remain evident throughout the race. Masse later set fastest lap in 1:57.821, with Knechtel only 0.016 seconds slower, a small measure of how closely matched two of the principal runners had been.

Knechtel and FMG trade places

For Knechtel, the race was as much a defence of his title hopes as a contest for the day's honours. FMG began the day three points ahead in the table, but he and Knechtel were immediately engaged in a close early struggle. From lap two through lap 10 they repeatedly ran within two seconds of one another, their relative positions changing twice in the opening exchanges.

FMG moved ahead before the end of lap six, only for Knechtel to reclaim the advantage two laps later. The contest was not merely positional: Knechtel's 1:57.837 fastest lap showed that he could match the leading pace to the hundredth of a second. But the British driver's race later became complicated. He was classified seventh after completing 20 laps, while Knechtel carried on to take third place.

The result was a curious contrast. Knechtel had kept his Championship cause alive on the road with a podium, but the title calculation had already become less forgiving. Under the season's dropped-result rule, FMG's score from this final round was the result set aside, preserving the points that had made him the leader before the start.

Cerny's lead gives way

Ahead of that Championship drama, Cerny had shaped the race as Masse's principal rival. The Czech driver led into the final stages and appeared set to turn the tables on the man who had risen so sharply from eighth place. Masse, however, had remained in the argument all afternoon and was ready when the order changed.

Cerny began lap 29 in front. An incident was recorded for him at Stadtpark during that lap, and by its end Masse had moved into the lead. Nothing more was required of the winner than a composed final two laps. Masse completed all 31 laps to take his first victory of the Championship, Cerny reaching the flag second, 4.401 seconds behind. Knechtel completed the podium in third.

It was a race won not by an early escape but by a sustained recovery, firm pace and the ability to seize the late opening when it came. Masse's progress from eighth to first was the clearest movement in a race whose order remained unsettled almost to its conclusion.

Three points decide the crown

The last round also settled the Championship with an economy that matched the season's close arithmetic. FMG became Champion on 148 points, only three clear of Knechtel on 145. Cerny, whose Braunschweig challenge had ended only just short of victory, took third in the final table with 140 points.

Masse's win carried him from fifth to fourth in the standings, a fitting final improvement for a driver who had made the decisive race his own. But the greater prize rested with FMG, whose earlier work survived a difficult final afternoon and whose narrow advantage proved sufficient when the discarded scores had been applied.