Full onboard of Porsche Junior Connor De Phillippi at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Life in Europe. Where on earth do I even begin? An entire new continent, culture, language, weather conditions, family, racecar and race tracks. I’d say there are just a few differences to start with.. I’ve been living here in Germany for nearly three months now and I have had nothing short of an incredible time. From driving on tracks like the Nurburgring Nordschleife and Hungaroring that I’ve always fantasized about racing on, to just simply meeting new people that have become very good friends of mine. All of these things have made my experience special and I am certainly looking forward to the rest of my stay here.
This past weekend, I had possibly one of the most fun weekends I’ve ever had in a race car at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. 168 corners and over 15.5 miles (25.3km) in length. It’s one of those tracks that EVERY driver has watched on youtube and or played on Xbox 360/Playstation. To me, it is the ultimate circuit for a car and driver. Long straightways to really let the car show its speed, but then some of the most technical and gutsy corners I’ve ever driven in my career. When I went down the long back straightway for the first time, I had one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever had while driving a racecar. It is such a special place with all of its history, and to finally fly down it at 175mph was a dream come true. My first practice session was in the rain, which was probably one of the scariest practice session I’ve ever done. With all of the pavement changes throughout the long circuit, it makes it extremely difficult due to some corners had a lot of grip and others had none! Not only remembering all 168 corners, their brake points, apex’s and everything else, but you also had to remember which ones were like ice and which ones had grip. These were all new challenges for me, but in the end I managed to survive and make no silly mistakes. The next day we went into qualifying, which was actually my first time ever driving the track in the dry. What does that mean? That means that I had 4 laps to find the limit of 168 corners…Oh and if you make one single mistake you will be in the wall since the circuit is lined with guardrail. It was a tough session and I really had to build up my confidence in a rather fast manner because I had no time to take everything slow. On my fast lap, I unfortunately came across two yellows flag sections that I was cautious in which in the end cost me about four positions. For the race, that meant I would be starting P15. For the start of the race, I had a really good start and by the end of lap 1 I was up to 10th position. I continued to put pressure on the driver in P9, but then I had a pretty big moment in the middle of my third lap. From this point on, I went into ‘bring it home’ mode since we had a little bit of oversteer, and this track is not one to mess with when things aren’t quite right.. On the final lap I managed to move up to P9 with one driver going off track and having an issue with his car, so overall it was a great race!
Looking back on the weekend, I met my goals I had set for myself and that was all I could ask for. Now I am training and getting prepared for our next round at the RedBull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. This weekend I really want to push further towards the front of the grid and aim for a Top-6. I think we can do it!
A huge thank you to Porsche Motorsport for giving me this opportunity in the Junior Program, as well as my primary sponsor Roboscan Internet Security. And last but not least, all of my fans, supporters and especially my family for everything they have done for me to get me to this point. I’m a very lucky individual to have so many great supporters.
Speak to you all after RedBull Ring!
CDP
2013 Porsche 991 RSR
Sebring International Raceway
Credit: Credit: Nick Busato/lendurance.co.uk