The opening weekend of the 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season got underway at Brands Hatch with Lewis Plato (Motorbase Performance) topping both morning and afternoon practice sessions. In Friday’s combined times Plato was followed by 18-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) who finished the day just 0.106s behind his former teammate in P2. Recording the third fastest time of the day was 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Rookie champion George Gamble (Amigos Redline Racing) – Plato, Harper and Gamble were covered by just 0.130s.
In the Pro-Am category a close battle developed which saw Esmee Hawkey (GT Marques) finish the day ahead of her category rivals. Rookie Jack McCarthy (Redline Racing) acquitted himself well to his new environment finishing the day a mere 0.002s behind Hawkey, returnee Karl Leonard (Team Parker Racing) set the third quickest time in the category – just 0.020s slower than McCarthy in the combined times. The Am category battle was equally close. Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) came out on top with Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing) in second, and 2018 Am category champion Peter Mangion (Team Parker Racing) in third. Only 0.310s covered the top three Am category runners.
In a perfect split of times between the championship’s three categories, only 0.570s covered the entire Pro category field, while just 0.554s separated the Pro-Am category. In addition the mixture of returning drivers and exciting newcomers in the Am category made it equally difficult to choose a clear pace setter. Tomorrow’s qualifying session looks set to be an extremely close affair in all three categories.
Session 1 – 11:30 to 12:15
Track temperature: 13.7 degrees
In dry conditions the first drivers onto the track in each category were 18-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) – Pro, Karl Leonard (Team Parker Racing) – Pro-Am, and Peter Mangion (Team Parker Racing) – Am.
Leonard set the early pace as just a handful of cars took to the track during the first 10 minutes of the session
Harper was the first Pro driver to take to the track, setting a representative time to sit behind Leonard on the timesheet
With 30 minutes of the session remaining Lewis Plato (Motorbase Performance) moved to P3 behind Harper, before immediately lapping quickest of all with a 46.865
Of the Pro-Am runners Leonard was quickest, followed by Jamie Orton (JTR) and Rookie Jack McCarthy (Redline Racing)
In Am Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) was fastest in category, with Mangion second and Rookie Adam Knight (Valluga Racing) in third
Dan Vaughan (Motorbase Performance) moved into P2 as his teammate Plato gradually improved his time
Seb Perez (Amigos Redline Racing) moved into P3, his time being 0.334s off Plato’s best
Rookie Tom Roche (Rob Boston Racing) improved from P14 overall to P8
With 20 minutes to go Perez and teammate George Gamble (Amigos Redline Racing) both improved their times to go P2 (Perez) and P4 (Gamble)
With 12 minutes of the session remaining the red flag came out momentarily while Rookie John Ferguson (IN2 Racing) recovered from an off
The session was restarted with nine minutes remaining on the clock – less than one second covered the top 10 runners
In the dying moments of the session Esmee Hawkey (GT Marques) improved to P4 overall
Pro: Plato, Vaughan (+0.211), Perez (+0.299)
Pro-Am: Hawkey, Leonard (+0.137), McCarthy (+0.267)
Am: Sherwood, Mangion (+0.397), Kyle-Henney (+0.511)
Session 2 – 16:10 to 16:55
Track temperature: 13.7 degrees
The afternoon session saw Rookie Tom Roche (Rob Boston Racing) as the first Pro driver out on track, Karl Leonard (Team Parker Racing) Pro-Am, and Rookie Adam Knight (Am)
The early pacesetter was Dan Vaughan (Motorbase Performance), though his time was quickly bettered by teammate Lewis Plato (Motorbase Performance)
Of the Pro-Am runners Esmee Hawkey (GT Marques) soon led Leonard and Rookie Jack McCarthy (Redline Racing)
In Am Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) led Rookie John Ferguson (IN2 Racing) from Knight
With less than 30 minutes of the session remaining Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) set the fastest time of 46.489
With 25 minutes left on the clock George Gamble (Amigos Redline Racing), Jamie Orton (JTR), Seb Perez (Amigos Redline Racing) and McCarthy all improved their times
In Am Peter Mangion (Team Parker Racing) led from Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing) and Sherwood – all three separated by 0.083s
Plato moved to the top of the timesheet with less than 15 minutes of the session remaining, improving to set a time of 46.307
In the final few minutes of the session Hawkey improved to lead the Pro-Am category ahead of newcomer McCarthy and returnee Leonard – the three separated by just 0.022s
Pro: Plato, Harper (+0.106), Gamble (+0.294)
Pro-Am: Hawkey, McCarthy (+0.002), Leonard (+0.022)
Am: Sherwood, Kyle-Henney (+0.234), Mangion (+0.310)
Qualifying for round one will take place tomorrow between 13:35 and 14:05, with drivers fighting for the two points awarded in 2019 for the fastest time posted in each category over the course of the session. Follow the battle on Twitter via @CarreraCupGB.
Source. Porsche
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