Tim Bridgman claimed the overall championship title in the final round of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch yesterday (Sunday 4 October 2009). With victory in the 20th race of the season, Bridgman won the title by just four points from James Sutton.
Glynn Geddie finished third overall to take the pro-am1 title at the end of a great season while, with Glenn McMenamin already secure as pro-am2, Karl Leonard won pro-am2 in round 20 with a monster drive from a pit lane start.
Bridgman went into the race knowing that he had to win to be certain of the title and he got the jump at the start to head the field into Paddock Hill Bend. Initially, Bridgman edged a few yards clear of James Sutton (Red Line Racing) as Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing) battled through to third. But it all nearly went wrong for Bridgman on lap six as he braked for Sheene Curve. "I hit the brakes as usual and it snatched the rears; there must have been something on the track," said Bridgman. He ran wide onto the grass and had to defend hard into Stirlings to keep Sutton at bay.
After that moment, the top three cars ran in close formation all the way to an early finish when the cars of Derek Pierce (JHR) and Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing) touched and spun off at Hawthorns, bringing out the red flag after 14 laps. The result gave Bridgman the title by four points from Sutton, with Harvey a further four points back in third.
"To win the championship with two wins today; it's hard to describe. I'm ecstatic," said Bridgman. "It was a tough target, but I really wanted to win this. It's what you dream about."
Behind Sutton and Harvey, Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing) drove a great race to take fourth overall, win pro-am1 in the race and clinch the pro-am1 championship title. "It's been a really up and down season, but we got there," said Geddie, who ended the season clear of Robert Lawson (JHR) in pro-am1.
Lawson finished seventh, behind Tom Bradshaw (Team Parker Racing) as Bradshaw wrapped up an excellent weekend with sixth place. Bradshaw had run ahead of Geddie in the early laps, but ran wide at Sheene and lost the place. Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance) clinched the final podium place in pro-am1 to become the only driver to finish all 20 races this season.
Pro-am2 victory was just reward for a great drive from Karl Leonard (Team Parker Racing) after he started from the pit road with concerns about his gearbox. But all was well and he charged through to victory from Paul Mace (GT Marques) and Glenn McMenamin (Parr Motorsport). "I just got as far up the field as I could," said Leonard, after finishing tenth overall, right behind his brother Michael (Team Parker Racing).
