The 2013 season opener at Brands Hatch certainly provided a real rollercoaster ride! It was typical Porsche Carrera Cup action with a little SNOW thrown in.
by Rory Burcher
The 2013 season opener at Brands Hatch certainly provided a real rollercoaster ride! It was typical Porsche Carrera Cup action with a little SNOW thrown in.
While I was after podiums in the first round of the season, I have to be happy to head back to Scotland with solid points from two fourth-place finishes.
But the results do not even get close to telling the story. The Celtic Speed boys had done a terrific job with the car, we had real pace from the second we rolled it off the truck. We topped the time sheets in the first session on Friday, then finished fourth quickest in second free practice just a fraction off being fastest again.
In qualifying I put together some quick, solid laps and managed third and fourth for the races narrowly missing out on pole position. It was so tight – the top five cars were covered by a tenth of a second.
As we rolled on to the line for the first race, it started to snow. As if the freezing temperatures and slick tyres weren’t challenging enough, this made the track very greasy. I managed to ease the car of the line without wheel spinning and got a good start. I passed Meadows at turn one and was in second place on the first lap. I was dicing with Daniel Lloyd for a few laps - going side by side swapping positions in to each turn. I was ahead of him going into Paddock Hill Bend on lap four when he made a mistake and clipped my rear right wheel. We both went spinning and he ended up in the gravel.
Thankfully I managed to swiftly re-join the circuit and drove back to the pits to replace the punctured tyre. After a speedy pit stop from the team we just managed to exit the pit lane before the safety car came round and this ensured I was able to catch up with the back of the field before the race was restarted. I thoroughly enjoyed battling my way through the field from last through to a solid fourth overall!
I was really confident for race two. As the red lights went out I shot off the line and got past Michael Meadows and Jonas Gelzinis on the first two corners. I was hunting down Dean Stoneman and in the heat of the chase I locked up my front right wheel going into Paddock Hill under braking and I ran slightly offline. Before I knew it Gelzinis and Meadows were suddenly all over me. Jonas got past in to Druids and I bumped with Meadows on the exit of the turn. I regrouped and proceeded to chase down Gelzinas for second when the front right locked up once again in to Paddock Hill Bend and Lloyd squeezed past. My braking issues worsened throughout the race so I had to settle for a fourth place.
All in all, we were fast all weekend and had two solid finishes. That was the positive. The negative was a six grid penalty at the next event for the incident with Michael Meadows and six championship points taken off me. I will have to take the punishment on the chin although I can't help but feel very disappointed that there were other incidents in race 1 that were at least the same as mine, if not worse, but the officials didn’t take any action.
We have proved we can come from the back and get a result. I will just have to do that again. The heads are still held high in the team and we are determined to bounce back strongly at Donington Park in three weeks time!
Once again, I’d like to say a big thank you to Celtic Speeds Team Principal Tommy Dreelan and the following companies for their continued and loyal support;
- Advantec Aberdeen Ltd
- Agrii
- Angel Wax
- Caledonia Print
- Dalkeith Transport
- Harley Hepburn Accountants
- 21 Hospitality Group
- Houseman Drylining
- Intrafusion Website Design and Development
- John Young Signs
- J Gilmour Painter and Decorators Kirkcaldy
- Knockhill Racing Circuit
- McDonald Engineers
- Mind And Body Studio
- Production Glassfibre
- Scotcars
- Short Term Finance
- William Waugh Ltd
- William Johnston and Company
© Celtic Speed 2026
