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Race one
Damien Faulkner and Richard Westbrook each scored wins during rounds seven and eight of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Thruxton over the weekend (3/4 June) as two action-packed races thrilled a bumper BTCC crowd at the Hampshire venue.
Starting second on the grid for the opening race, Westbrook (Ipswich) got the jump on Faulkner (Co Donegal, Eire) to lead the pack into Allard bend as Tim Harvey (Witney, Oxfordshire) slotted into third.
Up front, Westbrook, driving for Cleveland-based Red Line Racing, soon started to edge away and stretched his lead to two seconds by lap eight. Meanwhile, Harvey was running a safe, if rather lonely, third and Sascha Maassen (Germany) ��� in the car entered by Porsche Cars in association with Vertu, the world���s first and only manufacturer of luxury handcrafted mobile phones - was holding off Michael Caine (Newmarket) for fourth.
Into the second half of the race, however, Westbrook���s lead started to reduce as Faulkner closed in once more. Then, on lap 14, Westbrook knew he had a problem. “I hit something really hard, I think it was debris on the track,” he later reported. “I took the risk to stay out, but two laps later the tyre went ���bang��� at Allard corner.”
While Westbrook limped back to the pits, Faulkner was left with a useful margin over Harvey and took the flag three seconds clear of his chief championship rival. “We badly needed that and my team, Team Parker with SAS, really deserves the win,” said Faulkner. “This is my first win at Thruxton, so it���s really special.”
Harvey ran a consistent race to take second, and was joined on the podium by Motorbase Performance team-mate Caine after a last lap move took him ahead of Maassen.
“I knew that team boss David Bartrum would not be best pleased if I threw the car off trying to get second,” admitted Caine. “But I decided to have a go over the last two laps and on the last lap I carried a lot more speed through Church corner and got by on the straight! It���s just the result we needed.”
Jason Templeman (Nottingham) had to work hard to get ahead of Nigel Rice (Beverley, East Yorkshire) and then Sam Edwards (Aylesbury) before taking fifth, while sixth overall was enough to secure Pro-Am victory for Edwards after a fine performance. “At the start my car was really good, but the track got very slippery later. I���m well pleased with the win,” said Edwards, who drives for Team Parker, after his first Pro-Am win.
Red Line Racing driver Rice could well have run Edwards close for Pro-Am spoils, but spun out on ninth lap when a rear tyre punctured at Village bend. He had been tucked in behind the Edwards/Templeman battle at the time.
Also out with tyre dramas after the first corner clash went Rice���s Red Line Racing team-mate, Jason Young, while Mark Cole���s impressive charge from the back of the grid took him to seventh before a rear tyre also went down at Church on his Tech 9 Motorsport-run car. “Seventh was okay and I was driving within myself,” said a disappointed Cole (Inkpen, Berkshire).
Phil Quaife (Tonbridge) ran a solid race to seventh and second in Pro-Am, while Mark Hazell (Newport) had his best race of the season to complete the Pro-Am podium, despite being involved in the first corner incident. “I stuck at it, but that was hard work. It���s good to be on the podium!”
Provisional results 21 laps:
Race two
Westbrook came through from the back of the grid in fine style to win round eight on Sunday, but it was another incident-packed race.
It was Harvey who got the best start to head Faulkner into the first corner as Westbrook set about making up ground from near the back of the grid. By the end of the first lap, Westbrook was up to eleventh, but everything was about to change.
Under braking for the sequence of corners known as the Complex on the second lap, Faulkner clipped the back of Harvey���s car and both spun. As Harvey tried to continue, a chain reaction accident was triggered that eliminated Harvey and his team mates Caine and Quaife as well as Templeman and Edwards. Meanwhile, Faulkner and Mike Richards (Knutsford) both limped to the pits to retire as a result of damage sustained. Faulkner was later fined and awarded three penalty points on his racing licence.
The safety car was soon out while the damaged cars were removed and it was Maassen who led the pack around from Andy Purdie (Maidstone), Richard Williams (Bromley-by-Bow) and Westbrook, who had picked his way through the incident to move up to fourth.
Williams quickly moved ahead of Purdie, who was leading the Pro-Am category for the first time, but it was Westbrook who was soon through to second and chasing after Maassen. By lap 12, Westbrook had caught the German racer and their battle over the next three laps was a highlight of the race as they fought wheel to wheel. Into Campbell corner on lap 14, Maassen went fractionally too deep on the brakes and Westbrook seized his chance to dive ahead.
Once ahead, Westbrook was able to edge clear although Maassen never stopped chasing, as Williams claimed a fine third, never too far adrift of the leading pair. “I had a really good fight with Sascha and he���s very clever,” said Westbrook. “I was hoping for a podium from 15th on the grid, but I never thought I���d win!”
Maassen, too, had enjoyed the battle. “It was a great fight. Richard is the best driver in these cars at the moment, so to come here for the first time and race with him was very good.” Behind Williams, Purdie lost a place to Cole but still won the Pro-Am category for the first time. Cole had also battled his way up from near the back of the grid and had earned his podium visit. “I���m pleased enough; we���re getting there,” said Cole.
Despite a spin after contact with Cole, Purdie was an impressive Pro-Am winner after a fine drive, which included fending off Jason Young (Oakham, Leics) after his spin. “That���s just amazing,” said an elated Purdie. “It���s a great result and I���m very, very happy. But the race seemed to go on so long that I thought they���d lost the chequered flag!”
Young took second in the Pro-Am category, while Rice fended off David Ashburn (London) to take the final podium slot. Meanwhile, Maxi Jazz (London) earned the ���Driver of the Weekend��� award for his consistent pace and a top 10 finish at one of the most daunting tracks on the schedule. “What can I say? I���ve never been on the podium before,” said an elated Maxi.
Provisional results 21 laps:
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