The opening round of the Porsche Carrera Cup France took place last weekend in Barcelona, forming part of the prestigious European Le Mans Series (ELMS) race weekend. Among the fiercely competitive grid was Alex Reimann, representing EST1 Racing in their distinctive black-and-orange livery.
Unfortunately, Reimann’s track time across the two races was severely limited – not due to one, but two separate engine failures. The second of these issues occurred before the car even made it to the starting grid.
In Saturday’s first race, Reimann lined up ninth on the grid, right in the thick of the midfield pack. A strong start saw him climb to seventh position on the opening lap with two confident overtakes. However, midway through the race, the engine began to falter, forcing the Estonian to retire prematurely.
Normally, Sunday’s second race would have offered a chance for redemption. But misfortune struck again – the newly installed engine failed to start, meaning Reimann was unable to take part in the race at all.
“Alex’s engine had been changed prior to the event as part of the routine maintenance schedule,” explained EST1 team principal Raimo Kulli. “Regrettably, it only lasted an hour and a half, leading to our retirement. Porsche Motorsport provided us with a replacement engine that evening, and the boys worked overnight to install it.”
“Since engines must not be fired up overnight, we waited until morning. That’s when we discovered, together with Porsche technicians, that the new engine also wouldn’t start. At that point, there was simply no time to react – we had no choice but to miss the second race as well. This weekend gave us little driving time, but plenty of repairs and sleepless hours. The boys did an outstanding job as always, which is the EST1 Racing standard,” Kulli added with pride.
“Alex drove brilliantly in the first race until the issue arose. His progress continues on a positive trajectory, just as we’d hoped – and that bodes well for the season ahead,” said Kulli, remaining upbeat. “After all, this is motorsport – setbacks like these are, unfortunately, part of the game.”
Reimann’s driver coach and former single-seater racer, Sten Pentus, also took a philosophical view:
“It’s through setbacks that we truly build ourselves. It wasn’t the weekend we wanted, but perhaps it was the one we needed.”
Reimann himself remains resolute and focused:
“There was nothing more we could have done. Now, all our attention shifts to the next race – we’ll come back stronger and sharper.”
