Michael
Meadows and Daniel Lloyd shared the victories in rounds five and six
of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Thruxton on April 29, as dreadful
weather conditions made it one of the toughest race days in the
10-year history of the Carrera Cup. The victory for Carrera Cup
Scholarship winner Daniel Lloyd in round six followed a terrific race
between the identical 450 hp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars, the
drivers battling it out with a combination of slick racing tyres and
a wet track.
Round
five
Meadows
drove a superb race as heavy rain and wind made for a truly
challenging opening race, the fact that every car finished unscathed
was testament to the skill of the drivers. That remarkable
achievement was repeated later in the day to the enormous credit of
every driver on the Carrera Cup grid. Ahmad Al Harthy claimed the
first of two Pro-Am1 wins, while Tania Mann bagged maximum points in
Pro-Am2 after her first experience of racing in the rain.
With
the track awash, the race started behind the Safety Car to allow
drivers to explore the conditions. After three laps, the pace car
peeled off into the pit lane and the race started in earnest. Richard
Plant (Sheffield) got the jump on Meadows (Banbury) and was actually
ahead before they reached the start line, but Meadows bided his time
and edged by as they raced through the Complex on lap eight.
Once
ahead, Meadows quickly built his lead and was able to ease back over
the closing stages as the rain continued. “I didn’t get a great
start, but once I got ahead it was a lot easier,” he said, after
extending his overall Championship lead. “But the conditions were
terrible.”
Plant
soon came under attack from Ben Barker (Cambridge) and a trip across
the kerbs removed the front splitter from nose of Plant’s car. That
left Plant powerless to defend and Barker clinched second, before the
chasing Rory Butcher (Kirkcaldy) also closed in and took third from
Plant. “There was zero visibility when running behind another car,”
said Barker after a strong drive. “Once I got past Richard it was a
lot easier.”
Butcher
revelled in the rain to claim a deserved overall podium from starting
sixth on the grid. “That was worse than Knockhill,” the Scotsman
said of the conditions after a first class performance. Plant battled
home fourth, which was scant reward for his early race pace. Like
Plant, Daniel Lloyd (Huddersfield) had to contend with no front
splitter which affected the car’s handling in the fast corners, but
he still claimed fifth at the flag.
Al
Harthy (Oman) always set the pace in Pro-Am1 and took sixth overall
as well as a resounding category victory. He spent many laps tracking
Chris Dymond (Brackley) and finally worked ahead on the final lap. “I
think I was faster than him, but I just couldn’t see anything,”
said Al Harthy.
Further
back, Oly Mortimer (Edinburgh) battled hard to take second in Pro-Am1
after a lengthy challenge from Victor Jimenez (Spain). “It wasn’t
the amount of grip that was the problem, it was the standing water,”
said Mortimer. Jimenez lost his splitter later in the race, but the
chasing Derek Pierce (West Kilbride) suffered the same problem and
was not able to challenge the Spanish driver for the final Pro-Am1
podium place.
“That
was my first race in the rain: I couldn’t see a thing,” said Mann
(Shenfield) after she coped remarkably well in the conditions to stay
in touch with the Pro-Am1 cars and claim another Pro-Am2 maximum
score.
Round
five results:
Pro
category: 1 Michael Meadows; 2 Ben Barker; 3 Rory Butcher
Pro-Am1
category: 1 Ahmad Al Harthy; 2 Oly Mortimer; 3 Victor Jimenez
Pro-Am2
category: 1 Tania Mann
Round
six
Lloyd
scored a stunning debut Carrera Cup GB victory in a thrilling round
six. In a race of ever changing fortunes, run with tread-less ‘slick’
tyres on a very slippery track, Lloyd battled ahead of long-time
leader Butcher as Glynn Geddie charged through to grab second place.
In
a race where the entire field started on slicks in the damp, and then
had to cope with more rain mid-race, there was superb action
throughout the field as drivers battled successfully to stay on
track. In Pro-Am1, Al Harthy completed a perfect weekend with another
victory, while Mann again scored maximum Pro-Am2 points after her
first taste of racing in such conditions.
Butcher
is renowned for his pace in tricky conditions and he burst into the
lead at the first corner, while Lloyd turned in a stunning opening
lap to go from eighth on the grid to second place. Meadows slotted
into third, while Geddie (Aberdeen) charged through from 11th on the
grid to hold sixth place behind Jonas Gelzinis (Lithuania).
Despite
losing the splitter from the front of his car on lap five, Lloyd
maintained a dogged chase of Butcher and his prayers for more rain
were answered mid-race. That mitigated the loss of the splitter
somewhat and allowed him to stay close to Butcher as Meadows held a
watching brief in third and Geddie hunted them all down.
Conditions
mid-race were incredibly tough as the rain returned, but the driving
standards were superb as Butcher fended off Lloyd. But Geddie was the
big threat now, having demoted Meadows, and by lap 18 the leading
trio were almost nose-to-tail. Out of Church corner a lap later,
Butcher and Lloyd were side-by-side and they raced level up to the
Chicane with Geddie close behind. Lloyd tried for the outside, but
Butcher’s car snapped into a spin and Lloyd had to straight-line
the Chicane to avoid contact.
Now
it was Lloyd leading under pressure from Geddie and the Carrera Cup
Scholarship driver held on for a debut win by just half a second.
“Rory did a great job leading,” said Lloyd. “When he spun I had
nowhere to go: it’s just fantastic to get my first win.” After
his best drive of the season to date, Geddie commented; “We needed
that result.”
Butcher
had given his all in supremely tough conditions and completed the
podium as Meadows ran home fourth. “That was about Championship
preservation,” said the pragmatic Meadows, who had wisely opted to
make sure of another strong finish rather than take big chances.
Barker and Gelzinis completed the top six.
Al
Harthy again won Pro-Am1 from seventh overall, having raced clear of
a long tussle between Mortimer and Jimenez. “That’s been the
toughest weekend I’ve had in the Carrera Cup,” said Al Harthy.
“The conditions were incredible, and we’ve had two really strong
results.”
Round
six results:
Pro
category: 1 Daniel Lloyd; 2 Glynn Geddie; 3 Rory Butcher
Pro-Am1
category: 1 Ahmad Al Harthy; 2 Oly Mortimer; 3 Victor Jimenez
Pro-Am2
category: 1 Tania Mann
The
next round of the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship takes
place at Oulton Park, Cheshire, on June 9/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment