On a weekend that could see 18-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) secure the 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship title, the teenager stormed to his sixth pole position of the season. A closely contested qualifying on Silverstone’s fast National circuit saw championship contender Josh Webster (Team Parker Racing) occupying the top of the timesheet for much of the session, however, a late charge from Porsche GB Junior Harper beat Webster and George Gamble (Amigos Redline Racing) to pole – just 0.025secs separating the top two. Porsche GB Junior Harper will share the front row with Webster, his other championship rival, Lewis Plato (Motorbase Performance), will start tomorrow’s race from row three of the grid in P5.
The 30-minute qualifying session was fast-paced throughout, almost all 23 drivers electing to run three stints on new slick dry weather tyres in order to make the most of their track time in changeable weather conditions – when the flag fell the top 19 cars were covered by less than one second. Alongside championship battles in all three categories, the session featured further intrigue with the return of reigning Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Tio Ellinas (Redline Racing) and fellow Pro category returnee Ross Wylie (IN2 Racing) – the Scotsman last raced with the championship in 2017. 2018 champion Ellinas will start tomorrow’s race from P6, Wylie from P11.
Pro-Am category championship leader Karl Leonard (Team Parker Racing) displayed outstanding pace to end the session P3 overall – his best time just 0.089secs away from pole. Sam Brabham (Team Connect It) put in an equally noteworthy performance to take P9 overall – second in category, Rob Boston (Rob Boston Racing) marked his return to the championship by qualifying P3 in category. Am category championship leader Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) claimed a category pole position and will start round thirteen ahead of Rookie Adam Knight (JTR) and Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing). Championship newcomers Aaron Mason (Team Connect It) – Pro-Am, Lucky Khera (Team Parker Racing) – Am, and Lee Frost (Team Parker Racing) – Am, successfully completed their first Porsche Carrera Cup GB qualifying session.
Following the 2019 Carrera Cup GB race format, Porsche GB Junior Harper has already earned two championship points with his pole position, and the top qualifiers in their respective categories – Leonard and Sherwood – also receive two points each. The grid for tomorrow’s second race will be decided immediately following race one. The overall winner will draw a number between four and six at random, deciding whether the first four, five or six competitors will have their grid positions reversed. The remaining drivers will form the grid for race two according to their finishing positions in race one, any driver who records a DNF in race one will start race two behind the last finisher in their category.
Round thirteen will take place at 11:00 tomorrow, Sunday 29 September, round fourteen will take place at 16:25. Both races feature a standing start and are scheduled to last for a duration of 28 laps. If Porsche GB Junior Harper finishes race one in P7 or higher he is guaranteed the championship, a victory will maintain the 18-year-old’s unbroken record of winning each weekend’s opening race in 2019.
Source. Porsche
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