If you like close racing you’ll have loved round five of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, where a gap of only 14-hundredths of a second separated the first three finishers. You don’t get closer racing than that!
Round 5 saw the pole sitter Tim Bridgman drop out on the warm up lap with a driveshaft problem, leaving Michael Caine in front at the first corner and victorious at the last. Until the last lap Caine was followed by Sutton, just ahead of Harvey. It was not until the last lap at the final chicane that Sutton’s constant attack was thwarted, when Caine defended his lead with a gently persuasive nudge. With both cars now offline and Caine forced to skip the final chicane, their cars had lost momentum. An eagle eyed Tim Harvey quickly pounced and attempted to drive around the two fighters toward the finishing line, and very nearly took the race win, just getting edged out by Caine. Sutton took the demotion to third place very well.
The Pro Am 1 class had another trio chasing for the top podium spot. Robert Lawson was able to turn an early overtake into victory as he beat the almost conjoined Tony Gilham and Derek Pierce into second and third respectively. In Pro-Am 2, close racing between Paul Hogarth and Bob Lyons ran for lap-after-lap. It was Hogarth fending off Lyons, with a small cushion of a lead only eventually developing towards the end of the race, as Lyons struggled with grip issues.
The rain began to pour just five minutes before the start of round six, and frantic pit work promptly ensued to change all cars to wet weather tyres, in the hope that the rain wouldn’t stop too soon and catch them all out.
A cautious first corner saw Bridgman hold on to his lead, but the wet track and resulting spray had the field running blind and struggling to keep on line behind him during the opening laps. But as the mist cleared, the attacks began. Sutton’s masterful braking put considerable pressure on Bridgman, as every corner his mirrors filled up with the ever looming presence of the Red Line car. Finally on lap 14 Sutton dived ahead with a tremendous move at the Old Hairpin, as Bridgman struggled for grip.
The wet conditions displayed some fantastic skill from all levels of the field, notably Pro Am 1 driver and winner Glyn Geddie who pushed hard to take a class victory and fifth place overall on the slick track. He left race one winner Lawson and runner up Leonard scrabbling for second and third behind. In the second race Hogarth wrapped up a great weekend with another Pro-Am 2 victory, this time getting well-clear of Bob Lyons. Glenn McMenamin ran an impressive debut battling with Hogarth and Lyon, though unfortunately ending without a result for the weekend after gearbox problems in race one, and a spin into the gravel at Coppice during race two.
Despite the normally dangerous mixture of Porsche 911s and wet weather, much of the soggy second race was without major drama and saw all but one of the 19 runners cross the finishing line.
Next Race: Oulton Park – 31st May 2009
1 |
Pro |
Michael Caine |
Motorbase Performance |
2 |
Pro |
Tim Harvey |
Red Line Racing |
3 |
Pro |
James Sutton |
Red Line Racing |
4 |
Pro |
Tom Bradshaw |
Team Parker Racing |
5 |
A1 |
Robert Lawson |
JHR |
6 |
A1 |
Tony Gilham |
Red Line Racing |
7 |
A1 |
Derek Pierce |
JHR |
8 |
A1 |
Oliver Jackson |
Motorbase Performance |
9 |
Pro |
Aaron Steele |
Porsche Cars GB |
10 |
A1 |
Karl Leonard |
RSS Performance |
11 |
Pro |
Aaron Scott |
JMH |
12 |
A2 |
Paul Hogarth |
In2Racing |
13 |
A2 |
Bob Lyons |
Celtic Speed |
14 |
A1 |
Tommy Dreelan |
Celtic Speed |
15 |
A2 |
Robin Clark |
Parr Motorsport |
1 |
Pro |
James Sutton |
Red Line Racing |
2 |
Pro |
Tim Bridgman |
Team Parker |
3 |
Pro |
Tim Harvey |
Red Line Racing |
4 |
Pro |
Tom Bradshaw |
Team Parker Racing |
5 |
A1 |
Glynn Geddie |
Team Parker Racing |
6 |
Pro |
Michael Caine |
Motorbase Performance |
7 |
A1 |
Robert Lawson |
JHR |
8 |
A1 |
Michael Leonard |
Team Parker Racing |
9 |
A1 |
Tony Gilham |
Red Line Racing |
10 |
Pro |
Aaron Steele |
Porsche Cars GB |
11 |
A1 |
Karl Leonard |
RSS Performance |
12 |
Pro |
Aaron Scott |
JMH |
13 |
A1 |
Derek Pierce |
JHR |
14 |
A1 |
Oliver Jackson |
Motorbase Performance |
15 |
A2 |
Paul Hogarth |
In2Racing |
16 |
A2 |
Bob Lyons |
Celtic Speed |
17 |
A1 |
Tommy Dreelan |
Celtic Speed |
18 |
A2 |
Robin Clark |
Parr Motorsport |