18-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) overcame challenging slippery conditions to take a commanding pole position at Croft. The current championship leader topped Saturday’s qualifying session with a lap time more than 1.2secs faster than his closest rivals – Lewis Plato (Motorbase Performance) in P2 and George Gamble (Amigos Redline Racing) in P3. The trio, who also currently occupy the top three places in the driver’s championship standings, will start the first of tomorrow’s two races ahead of former Porsche GB Scholar and 2014 Carrera Cup GB champion Josh Webster (Team Parker Racing).
Rain began to fall as the 30-minute qualifying session got underway, the precipitation saw all 14 drivers taking to the track to bank lap times in case the weather further deteriorated. Harper, Plato, Gamble, and Webster were constant features at the top of the timesheet, all four traded quick times despite worsening weather conditions. With just five minutes of the session remaining, Harper improved his time once more, moving it beyond the reach of his rivals to claim the fifth pole position of his Porsche Carrera Cup GB career. Gamble in P2 and Plato in P3 ended the day separated by a slim margin of 0.065secs.
Rookie Jack McCarthy (Redline Racing) headed the Pro-Am category runners, the newcomer will start Round Five from the third row of the grid alongside category rival Jamie Orton (JTR). Am category competitors Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing), Peter Kyle-Henney (In2 Racing) and Rookie John Ferguson (Redline Racing) were closely matched throughout the changeable session – at the end of the day, all three were covered by just 0.319secs.
Following the 2019 Carrera Cup GB race format, Harper has already earned two championship points with his pole position, as the top qualifiers in their respective categories – McCarthy 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 Five will take place tomorrow, Sunday 16 June, at 12:45 with live coverage available online at http://www.porsche.com/uk/motorsportandevents/porschecarreracupgreatbritain/stream/ – while Round Six will take place at 16:25. Both races feature a standing start and are scheduled to last for a duration of 15 laps.
Source. Porsche
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