As most of you know, Porsche Supercup star Sean Edwards’ life came to a tragic end last week during a coaching session at the Queensland Raceway in Australia. Sean was providing instruction, from the passenger seat, to the driver of a Porsche 996 when it careened off the track and exploded into flames killing Sean instantly and critically injuring the driver. Since then, there has been a huge outpouring of support for Sean and his family. Along with support, some have asked for changes. Changes in the way we remember fallen drivers. Changes in how drivers are paid so that coaching wouldn’t be necessary. Now, most recently, a request to change the rules of the final races of the 2013 Supercup Season.
A petition, started by Jon Miller, of the Pirelli World Challenge, on Change.org is petitioning John Kraus (head of Porsche Mobil1 Supercup) to “make the final races of the 2013 Supercup Season a non-points race”. Specifically, the petition goes on to say,
Porsche, you have the opportunity do something rare and very special. We are asking you to elect to hold the final two rounds of the 2013 Porsche SuperCup (rounds 8 and 9 on November 2/3 at the Yas Marina Circuit) as non-points scoring rounds.
We believe that the rightful champion of the 2013 season has already been crowned, however he won’t be able to attend the final race to make it a formality. Racers and fans around the world are mourning the loss of driver, Sean Edwards, who currently leads the Supercup Championship by 18 points, with 3 wins in 7 races. With a win being worth 20 points, and Sean never having finished lower than 5th, he was bound to be champion. If his nearest competitor were to win both races at the final round, Sean would only need to match his worst finish so far (5th) and the championship would still go to him. If Sean were to win the first race of the weekend, he could park his car and score no points during race 2 – and still be champion. Even his competitors can’t argue: Sean Edwards has dominated Porsche Supercup this year. He deserves the title.
We want to make sure that Sean goes down in the record books as he was in the hearts and minds of his family, friends and competitors: a Champion. Please dedicate the final two races of Porsche Supercup to Sean Edwards, implore your drivers to race in his honor and put on a fantastic show for the fans. Pay them their prize money and hire the good ones to factory drives for next year. But do not award them any points.
Please, Porsche; make Sean Edwards your 2013 SuperCup champion and celebrate in his honor at the championship party in Abu Dabhi.
Thank you,
Racing fans, Porsche fans and Sean Edwards fans everywhere
Since its posting yesterday, the petition is quickly gaining support and signatures. So far more than 2000 people have signed the petition (including some of Sean’s fellow competitors) and the numbers seem to be rising quickly. If you would like to be part of this growing movement you can show your support at change.org.
What Do You Think?
Should Porsche listen to other racers, fans and supporters and make this change? Is it realistic to think they could? After all, racing is big business and the championships means more than just a trophy to the winning team and driver.
On the other hand, racing is an extremely close and competitive sport. While anything can (and did) happen, it’s a pretty good bet that if Sean were still with us he would be crowned champion. Do his fellow competitors want the championship on these terms? What do you think is the right thing to do?
View Comments (1)
Never met Sean, never raced at his level but I don't believe any true racer would want to be gifted a win no less a championship. It's also patently unfair to the other drivers. Had he suffered a race preventing injury there would have been no championship but also no "gifting". I suspect that if asked what meant more to him the championship or the respect of his fellow drivers, he would have stated the latter.