Monday 21st July 2003

Porsche Supercup

Stippler takes the win whilst former Tuscan racer Andy Britnell takes seventh at Silverstone

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Frank Stippler beat Mike Rockenfeller to victory in a thrilling round of the Porsche Michelin Supercup at the British Grand Prix meeting at Silverstone yesterday. In front of a massive F1 crowd, Richard Westbrook raced hard to take ninth and finish best of the British racers, with Barry Horne taking 14th and David Pinkney claiming 17th after starting from the pit road.

Race

The action was fast and furious from the start, but Pinkney’s drama started on the parade lap when a drive belt came off. He limped back to the pits with the water temperature rising dangerously high, but was able to start the race from the pit road after some quick work by his pit crew.

Up front, Horne was immediately on the attack but soon realised that overnight changes to the car had not brought the handling improvements he had been seeking. "We decided to make a big change and it didn’t work. The first lap was good, then I was struggling," he explained.

Meanwhile, Westbrook was a man on a mission and battled hard to move into the top 10 by the tenth lap. Once ahead of Sebastien Bleekemolen and into ninth, Westbrook was left with insufficient time to close in on the cars ahead of him. "Towards the end of the race I could see the cars ahead of me. I wish I’d got by the Dutch guy a bit sooner, but I’ve got to be pleased with that result. It proves we can live with them."

Horne pressed on to claim 14th, but knew that a top 10 finish had been within reach. "I was struggling to hang on," said Barry after battling with understeer throughout the race.

Pinkney, however, drove a blinder to climb through to 17th having started well after the other 30 cars in the race. "I enjoyed the race and I was chuffed to be catching Ellen Lohr. I was catching them, but I was so far back at the start," he added.

Former TVR Tuscan racer Andy Britnell had been running with Pinkney, but was tipped into a spin by another driver. "I did a full 360 spin at Abbey, put it into second gear and carried on," said Andy after working back to 20th place.

Gary Britnell and Cocker both failed to finish. Gary had been dicing with his brother when a steering breakage forced him to retire. "I went into Maggots and it wouldn’t turn in," he explained. Cocker, meanwhile, was running inside the top 20 in the early laps when a brush with another car tipped him into a spin at Copse. "It was just the slightest of taps," he reported, after damaging his suspension against the barriers and being forced to retire.

Results (12 laps)

1 Frank Stippler (D) 23m47.415s

2 Mike Rockenfeller (D) 23m48.032s

3 Stefan Ortelli (MON) 23m48.369s

9 Richard Westbrook (GB) 24m02.223s

14 Barry Horne (GB) 24m13.285s

17 David Pinkney (GB) 24m34.227s

20 Andy Britnell (GB) 25m04.812s

DNF Gary Britnell (GB) 4 laps

DNF Jonathon Cocker (GB) 3 laps

(Picture is Richard Westbrook of Team BCR)

[Tupolev]

i'm sure the supercup was very interesting but ....

were any of you guys the bloke in the 911 that lost the tyre on the M1 on they way to silverstone? -given the speed i'm impressed you made it to the hard shoulder in one piece.

cheers
tupolev