As the Porsche Carrera Cup GB entered its penultimate weekend, Lewis Plato (JTR) edged ahead in the morning and afternoon Practice sessions at Silverstone. Friday’s combined times saw the top four Pro category runners covered by just 0.086s, Plato lapped 0.046s quicker than championship leader Dino Zamparelli (Redline Racing) in P2. Zamparelli’s chief title rival Tio Ellinas (Slidesports Engineering) recorded the fifth quickest time of the day, lapping the fast Silverstone National circuit only 0.079s slower than Zamparelli.
Equally small margins separated the top Pro-Am category runners with Dan Vaughan (Motorbase Performance) ending the day fastest, 0.140s separated Vaughan from Jamie Orton (JTR) – P2 in category – and Seb Perez (GT Marques) in P3. Am category protagonists Peter Mangion (Team Parker Racing) and Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing) were closely matched once again, ending the day 0.008 apart in the final classification – a returning David Shaw (G-Cat Racing) was never far behind the battling pair.
The championship welcomes two newcomers for Silverstone, Tom Jackson (GT Marques) is a former British F4 front-runner, Sam Brabham (Redline Racing) returns to competition for the first time in four years following the rich Brabham family racing history. Both drivers improved gradually throughout Friday’s sessions as they got to grips with competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship.
Session 1 – 09:00 to 09:40
Track temperature: 12.0 degrees
- On a dry track the early pacesetters in each category were Pro; George Gamble (Amigos Team Parker); Pro-Am: Dan Vaughan (Motorbase Performance); Am: Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing)
- 17-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) was the first to set a lap time in under 56secs with a 55.992
- Early into the session Seb Perez (Amigos Team Parker) set the Pro-Am category pace from Esmee Hawkey (GT Marques) and Vaughan
- Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing) led the Am category runners from title rival Peter Mangion (Team Parker Racing), with returnee David Shaw (G-Cat Racing) third in category
- Harper incrementally improved on his time at the top of the table by approximately half a tenth at a time as the lap times fell for all drivers
- Tom Wrigley (JTR) moved into P2, 0.254 behind Harper’s fastest lap time making the Pro category top three; Harper, Wrigley, Gamble
- Iain Dockerill (Asset Advantage Racing) moved into third position in the Am category
- Lewis Plato (JTR) recorded the quickest time of the session, a 55.741 just 0.073secs quicker than Harper’s lap time
- With less than 20 minutes of the session remaining, Dino Zamparelli (Redline Racing) moved into P2, lapping only 0.007secs slower than Plato in P1
- With 15 minutes of the session left the top 10 drivers were covered by only 0.901secs
- Newcomers Tom Jackson (GT Marques) and Sam Brabham (Redline Racing) continued to improve their times throughout the session – Jackson ending up in P15 overall, Brabham P18
- Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) and Shaw are the only drivers improving towards the end of the session with Shaw moving into P1 in Am
- In the last five minutes of FP1, Kyle-Henney lapped 0.145secs quicker than Shaw, making the Am order; Kyle-Henney, Shaw, Mangion
- Pro: Plato, Zamparelli (+0.007), Harper (+0.045)
- Pro-Am: Perez, Vaughan (+0.062), Orton (+0.192)
- Am: Kyle-Henney, Shaw (+0.168), Mangion (+0.258)
Session 2 – 13:20 to 14:10
- First out in the afternoon’s dry session were; Pro: Tom Jackson (GT Marques); Pro-Am: Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing); Am: Peter Mangion (Team Parker Racing)
- 17-year-old Porsche GB 2018 / 2019 Junior Dan Harper (JTR) was the first to set a representative time under 56secs of 55:893, he is chased by Lewis Plato (JTR) and Tom Wrigley (JTR)
- Esmee Hawkey (GT Marques), Jamie Orton (JTR) and Seb Perez (Team Parker Racing) headed the Pro-Am runners
- Of the Am runners Mangion led Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing) and Shamus Jennings (G-Cat Racing)
- Dino Zamparelli (Redline Racing) and Plato traded times at the top of the timesheet with Zamparelli trailing by just 0.009s
- Will Bratt (IN2 Racing) steadily improved on his return to the championship posting the seventh fastest time overall
- With 20 minutes of the session remaining, Zamparelli moved to P2 – 0.172s covered the top three drivers; Harper, Zamparelli, Plato
- Kyle-Henney improved to move within 0.008s of Mangion in the Am battle
- Harper improved his time at the top of the table, Wrigley moved into second spot but Plato soon moved clear in P1 lapping in 55.646s
- In the final five minutes of the session Zamparelli began mounting a challenge for the quickest time of the day, getting to within 0.046s of Plato in P1
- Pro: Plato, Zamparelli (+0.176), Harper (+0.081)
- Pro-Am: Vaughan, Orton (+0.109), Perez (+0.140)
- Am: Mangion, Kyle-Henney (+0.105), Shaw (+0.352)
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