It was honours even between Mark Cole and Kelvin Burt in the Michelin Porsche
Cup races at Knockhill over the weekend (August 10/11). Each driver took a win,
with Burt reversing the order to clinch the feature race that ran in soaking
conditions on Sunday afternoon in front of 11,500 hardy fans.
Mark
deserved the win, he drove very quickly
," said Burt of his rival's
victory in Saturday's sprint race. Cole extended his championship points lead
with an exemplary weekend. To compound the celebrations at Team BCR,
championship newcomer David Cuff raced to a podium finish in Sunday's rain.
Mark Cole claimed pole position for the sprint race of the Michelin Porsche
Cup at Knockhill on Saturday (August 10).
At the tight and twisty Scottish track, Cole lapped at a scorching pace to
head the times by three tenths of a second. With little more than a second
covering the top nine times, Cole’s advantage was particularly impressive.
"The car felt very good and I thought that was a good enough lap,"
said Cole. "I was pretty determined," he added. "That’s
the perfect situation for me, and I’ve only done four hard laps on the tyres."
Kelvin Burt claimed the second slot on the grid from Adrian Slater, with
title contenders Phil Hindley and Mark Sumpter close behind. Having set the pace
in testing on Friday, Burt sat out the closing minutes of the session in the
pits with the car entered by Porsche Cars Great Britain.
"To be honest, I didn’t drive that well and the car was a bit leery
through the chicane. I was trying not to do too many laps," said Burt.
"The time is there and I should have done it," he admitted.
Slater was content to be third, preferring that grid slot to the outside of
the front row. "I think it’ll be a good race," predicted
Slater. Evidence of how hard Hindley was trying in fourth was demonstrated by
the fact that his 2001 car was only tenth fastest through the speed traps.
In trouble, however, was Andrew Shelley who slid backwards into the tyre wall
at Clark Corner after a spin on some oil. Although Andrew was unhurt, the back
of the car was damaged and the Red Line Racing team was left with a lot of work
to get the car ready for the sprint race.
Shelley
had set eighth fastest time before his accident, just behind Nigel Rice and
championship newcomer David Cuff. Close behind Shelley in ninth was the other
series newcomer, local ace Barry Horne. The Caterham ace was making his
championship debut with Parr Motorsport as a warm up to a planned full campaign
in 2003.
Cole extended his championship lead by battling ahead of early leader Kelvin
Burt to score a very important win. "My car was handling better than
Kelvin’s," reckoned Cole after out-braking his rival into Duffus Dip.
Having sat behind Burt for the first 10 laps, Cole saw his chance when Burt
was slow out of the Hairpin and pulled alongside on the run to Duffus Dip.
"We were fair to each other," said Cole. "Kelvin had
oversteer at the hairpin." However, late in the race Cole had a scare
when his exhaust broke and he finished the race hoping that it would not fall
off.
Burt struggled with damaged steering and only just fended off Adrian Slater
in the closing stages of the race. "I damaged something in the steering
over the chicane kerbs. It became very unstable," reckoned Burt.
Into Duffus Dip for the last time, Slater got close to grabbing second but
Burt was just able to defend. "I’d hung on for 17 laps and it could
have taken us both off," said Slater after ducking out of the move and
settling for third.
Behind Slater, Phil Hindley took fourth from Mark Sumpter and Nigel Rice in a
fairly static but fairly uneventful contest. Barry Horne battled ahead of David
Cuff to take seventh and finish the best of the newcomers.
Kelvin Burt splashed to victory in the very wet feature race on Sunday.
As steady rain soaked the track, Burt just held off the ever-present Mark
Cole to reverse the finishing order from Saturday’s sprint race. "I
made one mistake and he was right on top of me again," said Burt after
the 23-lap race.
"Mark drove very well," said Burt of his rival, as their
battle took them well clear of the rest of the field. "The visibility
was very difficult and it was hard enough just staying on the track,"
said Cole, after a weekend that has put him closer to claiming the championship
title.
Racing
returnee David Cuff finished a fine third, staying clear of Adrian Slater and
Mark Sumpter. Out at the first corner in a spin went Phil Hindley, after contact
with Slater. He as later to be followed by local ace Barry Horne who spun at the
hairpin and was unable to rejoin, with the car stuck on the wet grass. Nigel
Rice dropped to sixth place in conditions he dislikes, having held third in the
early laps.
Slater drove a strong race to forge ahead of Sumpter, then pass Rice into
Clark Corner. However, by the time Slater got through to fourth, Cuff was too
far clear to be caught. "I’ve never driven the car in the rain before,"
said Cuff. "The weather was kind to me, I don’t think I’d have
finished there in the dry."
Jason Young took advantage when Andrew Shelley and Nigel Vaulkhard spun at
the hairpin to take seventh, with Shelley recovering to finish eighth ahead of
Nick James, who also spun at the hairpin.
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