Double Podium at Snetterton
by Rory Butcher
Porsche Carrera Cup GB - Snetterton - Rounds 11/12
Finally, we have put a full meeting together. Celtic Speed and I teamed up brilliantly to secure a large haul of Porsche Carrera Cup GB points, two podiums and a confidence-building set of sessions that had us all leaving Snetterton with smiles on our faces.
To quote Sebastian Vettel: “Yeeeeeessss. That is what I am talking about.”
We have felt that performance has been there all season but, for one reason or another, it simply has not happened. The summer break and rebuilding the car after being taken out at Croft gave us the chance of a new start and we took it with both hands.
It was an interesting start to the weekend. Friday’s free practice was in monsoon rain and thunderstorms. We decided to do a few laps just to check that everything was right with the car then we sat and watched the lightning as the circuit filled up with water. We knew the forecast for the rest of the weekend was better, so there was no point in risking the car.
We used the wet practice session to shakedown the rebuilt car.
It was a really close qualification session on Saturday. Michael Meadows put together an absolute blinder of a lap to stick himself on pole position, but second, third and fourth were covered by about quarter of a tenth of a second. I felt we did a solid job securing third place for race one and fourth place for race two. We had made a slight change of direction on the set-up and I felt the car was better.
The start to race one was interesting. I was right behind Meadows and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him start to roll while the starting lights were still red. I naturally looked at his car to see what was happening and by the time I looked back, the lights had gone off. Michael was later given a drive through penalty for jumping the start.
I thought it was a good race, although in hindsight I could have fought a bit harder with Dean Stoneman when he passed me in to the Agostini hairpin on lap four. The car was set up to come good in the final part of the race, so I was struggling for a little bit of pace in the early laps. He was putting me under huge pressure so when he lunged under braking I gave him racing room and he went past. Daniel Lloyd then piled on the pressure, but my car came good around lap nine and I started pull a gap on him and close in on Stoneman. I arrived on the tail of Stoneman on the last lap but just ran out of time to make a move. But it was still a podium and I didn’t want to risk losing solid points.
Stoneman and Lloyd had strong pace early on in race one.
Moments before Stone man made his move into the hairpin.
I didn’t get the best of starts in race two, but managed to get round the outside of turn one and aimed to go late on the brakes for turn two. But Daniel Lloyd and Stoneman had a small collision, Lloyd spun and almost collected me. I managed to avoid that and got right on Meadows’ tail who was in second place.
We changed the strategy so that we had fast pace at the start, but may loose some performance at the end. We were really quick in the early laps and hassled Meadows at every opportunity and Stoneman was once again glued to my tail. I set up a number of passing manoeuvres but Michael closed the door on every overtaking chance I had. As the race went on Meadows pulled a slight gap as he hunted Jonas Gelzinas for the lead, but my car seemed to stay strong lap after lap and I slowly reeled Michael back in. With only two laps remaining I gave everything but couldn't find a way past, crossing the finish line just 0.3 sec behind second place.
Pressuring Meadows until the final moments of race two.
Great reward for the teams efforts.
I felt good in the car and felt competitive all weekend. I just grew in confidence. It was not just the fact that we got a load of points and two podiums, it was the way in which we did it. I had good race pace and didn’t take any unnecessary risks.
Now the focus is on my home round at Knockhill on the 24th and 25th August. I am really looking forward to it and I hope to see you all there!
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
LBSi
McDonald Engineers
Mind And Body Studio
Production Glassfibre
Scotcars
Short Term Finance
William Waugh Ltd
William Johnston and Company
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