Posted

10 October 2013

Epic Racing and Solid Points Haul!

by Rory Butcher

2013 had looked like it was going to be a difficult season at the halfway point, but it is shaping up to be pretty successful as we head into the final round of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch. The wins at Rockingham meant that I had built a decent cushion over Daniel Lloyd and Dean Stoneman over third place and I went to last weekend’s round at Silverstone knowing I had to protect that lead, or even improve on it.

So third and fourth-place finishes were a fine reward for a weekend of hard work and terrific dedication from the whole Celtic Speed team.

The national circuit always provides very close racing and a tenth of a second can make a huge difference to your weekend. Practice had gone really well as we finished Friday with the third quickest time and I felt very confident with the set-up and my driving, but we all felt there was still a little bit more performance to be found and we could see it in the data.

I was confident of a good show in qualifying after a positive start to the weekend, but it never happened. It is hard to say why, I was just unable to hook that perfect lap up.I just didn't connect with the car and I had to settle for fourth and fifth on the grid for the two races. The times were so tight that I knew I had my work cut out however I was still confident in my ability to dig out a result.

I got a great start in the opening race and I tried to go round the outside of Gelzinas at Becketts corner but overshot it and that let Stoneman through dropping me down to 5th. I quickly got into a rhythm and caught Gelzinas and Stoneman in front and began what was to be a race long battle. It was real door-to-door racing as we swapped positions several times. In the late stages of the race I had secured 4th position and was pressuring Stoneman for third. I lined him up and darted to the inside line for Luffield corner, we were side by side as we apexed but I exited ahead securing third place. There were only two laps left and Lloyd was in sight. I gave absolutely everything over the next three miles setting my fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap. I tried the same move at Luffield on the final lap and we came out of the corner side by side and as we headed towards the chequered flag Lloyd just edged it on the line by two hundredths of a second. It was probably one of the best performances I have given all year and great fun at the same time!

I got another good start in race two and dived round the outside of Lloyd at Becketts corner, managing to make the move stick this time around. I slotted in behind Gelzinis and the pace was really fast. The top four were all within a tenth of each other every single lap. I pushed to the limit and tried everything I could but Gelzinas was wise to my moves from race one and I just couldn’t find a way past and had to settle for fourth. We had the quickest car in the second half of the race which is really positive moving forward to Brands Hatch in two weeks time!

We've left Silverstone with a 15-point gap over Lloyd and 19 more than Stoneman.

Suddenly, after so many hiccups earlier in the season, I see a true reward for all the team’s efforts. Racing is all about fine margins and we head to Brands Hatch now knowing we have had a strong year and determined to protect our third place.