Leeds
ace Tordoff drove faultlessly from pole to win round seven
Michael
Meadows consolidated his Championship lead with victory in round
eight
Victor
Jimenez and Oly Mortimer take debut Pro-Am1 wins
Will
Goff scores double triumph in Pro-Am2
In
a day of action-packed racing in front of a capacity crowd, Sam
Tordoff and Michael Meadows were the big winners in rounds seven and
eight of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship at Oulton Park in
Cheshire on Sunday. The colourful grid of identical 450 hp flat-six
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars made an impressive sight under sunny
skies after wet practice and qualifying sessions.
Round
seven
Sam
Tordoff was the star of the race in round seven of the Carrera Cup GB
as the young Yorkshireman drove a faultless race under constant
pressure to take his first win in the Championship. Tordoff (Leeds)
won from pole while Meadows (Banbury) and Jonas Gelzinis (Lithuania)
battled hard for second-place as they raced nose-to-tail around the
picturesque parkland circuit. Victor Jimenez (Spain) raced to the
head of Pro-Am1, while Will Goff (Dereham) took a commanding win in
Pro-Am2.
Tordoff
set the seal on his victory with a great start, but it was only in
the final five laps that he could even start to relax as Meadows and
Gelzinis were a constant threat. But Tordoff never put a wheel wrong
and controlled the race superbly as Meadows had to balance attacking
for the lead with defending against a persistent attack from
Gelzinis.
“That
was fantastic,” said Tordoff after a breakthrough victory. “I got
a great start and Michael never really got close enough to mount a
serious challenge. I had that bit of a cushion, but it was pressure
all the way.”
In
turn, Meadows had to contend with the challenge of Gelzinis and, in
the closing stages, they were side-by-side several times as the
Lithuanian driver attacked. Eventually, Meadows was able to secure
second place, but Gelzinis was less than half a second behind at the
flag.
“We
were all quick in different places,” said Meadows. “Unless I got
past Sam in the first two laps I was never going to overtake him. Off
the racing line, the track was very dirty.”
Behind
the leading trio, Porsche Carrera Cup Scholar Daniel Lloyd
(Huddersfield) ran a close fourth initially, but dropped back a
little and was being caught over the closing laps by Rory Butcher
(Kirkcaldy) after Butcher charged ahead of Ben Barker (Cambridge).
Derek
Pierce (West Kilbride) made the early running in Pro-Am1, but a
sideways moment at the Island Hairpin dropped him behind Jimenez. “My
own fault,” said Pierce. “I missed the blip on the down change
into second and Victor was beside me.” Once through, Jimenez eased
away as Pierce had to defend second place from Ahmad Al Harthy
(Oman). With a storming opening salvo, Al Harthy got onto Pierce’s
bumper, but that was how they stayed as Pierce never allowed his
rival any opportunity.
In
Pro-Am2, Tautvydas Barstys (Lithuania) led away from pole but an
early spin at Cascades cost him time and put Goff clear at the head
of the category. “Everything was fine,” said Goff. “But the gym
programme starts on Monday,” he added with a smile after 18 tough
laps of Oulton Park.
Round
seven results:
Pro
category: 1 Sam Tordoff; 2 Michael Meadows; 3 Jonas Gelzinis
Pro-Am1
category: 1 Victor Jimenez; 2 Derek Pierce; 3 Ahmad Al Harthy
Pro-Am2
category: 1 Will Goff; 2 Tautvydas Barstys
Round
eight
Meadows
made it five wins from eight races when, in an incident-packed round
eight, he fended off the challenge of Gelzinis as round seven winner
Tordoff battled back to third place.
With
two separate incidents of coolant being dropped on the track, the
conditions were very challenging and fortunes changed lap by lap. In
Pro-Am1, Oly Mortimer (Edinburgh) held off a big late attack from Al
Harthy to win, while Goff completed a double Pro-Am2 victory as
category rival Barstys slid off at Druids corner.
Meadows
converted his pole position start into a first lap lead from Lloyd
and Gelzinis, but Tordoff was squeezed wide on the exit of the first
corner and dropped to fifth place behind Glynn Geddie (Aberdeen).
However, part way round the opening lap, Michael Leonard (Dublin)
damaged a front radiator and dropped coolant.
On
the second lap, the leaders hit the coolant at Knickerbrook chicane
and Lloyd had a big moment. Geddie suffered even more and bounced
across the gravel, losing many places in the process. That drama
allowed Meadows and Gelzinis to go clear at the front of the race, as
Tordoff battled into third from the recovering Lloyd and Butcher.
Up
front, Meadows controlled the race but more coolant was dropped six
laps later when Geddie damaged a radiator. Meadows had a big moment
across the grass at Knickerbrook as a result and a lap later Gelzinis
did the same thing, so that the gap between them remained static.
Steadily, Meadows then extended his lead from Gelzinis, while Tordoff
closed the gap in third before Gelzinis responded to hold the place.
“That’s
been a tough weekend,” said Meadows, who consequently extended his
Championship lead to 34 points. “The coolant caused havoc, but it
worked in my favour. On one lap I ended up bouncing across the grass,
but luckily Jonas did the same thing.”
Tordoff,
meanwhile, was named ‘Driver of the Weekend’ and reckoned the
race had been tougher than the earlier encounter. “We were all
driving on different lines to try and avoid the coolant,” he said.
Butcher worked ahead of Lloyd to complete a strong weekend with
fourth place.
Despite
feeling decidedly unwell, Mortimer drove a superb race to win Pro-Am1
and fended off Pro racer Barker for many laps. Once Barker found a
way ahead, Mortimer came under increasing pressure from Al Harthy,
who had started at the back of the grid as a penalty for taking new
tyres for the race. Al Harthy stormed up the order and closed in on
Mortimer, before mounting a persistent attack over the closing
stages.
“I
got a clear track on the first lap,” said Mortimer after clinching
his victory. “That’s the hardest race I’ve ever had.” Al
Harthy, meanwhile, had raced from 17th to ninth in a race full of
drama. “I had to push hard and I had to take the coolant as an
advantage,” he said. “I’m really happy with that.” Pierce had
been running with Al Harthy until losing ground on the coolant, but
still took the final podium place in Pro-Am1.
In
Pro-Am2, Goff raced home unopposed once Barstys slid into the tyre
wall, but it was still a testing race. “It was very slippery,”
said Goff. “It had just cleared and then more went down.”
Round
eight results:
Pro
category: 1 Michael Meadows; 2 Jonas Gelzinis; 3 Sam Tordoff
Pro-Am1
category: 1 Oly Mortimer; 2 Ahmad Al Harthy; 3 Derek Pierce
Pro-Am2
category: 1 Will Goff
The
next rounds of the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship takes
place at Croft, in North Yorkshire, on June 23/24.
