Sam Hancock took a double-victory and was named ‘driver of the day’ in rounds 7 and 8 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Thruxton to move him back into the championship race and create history for his Jota Sport team.

The wins were the Kent-based squads’ first in the UK’s most prestigious one-make series in only their fourth ever Carrera Cup meeting and left Hancock fourth in the championship standings and within striking distance of the leaders.

Race 1

Starting second on the grid after his best qualifying of the year, Hancock made a strong start behind pole sitter Michael Caine. He was passed by Tim Bridgman on the opening tour to run third but was second by the end of the lap when Caine had an off at the chicane and span down the field. A move down the inside of Bridgman at Church on lap three saw him to take the lead, from where Hancock drove faultlessly for the remainder of the race, winning by 2.6 seconds. He breathed a huge sigh of relief at the chequered flag however, as his tyre punctured on the warm down lap.

Race 2

From third, Hancock dived past Tim Harvey into turn 1 and then battled to defend second position from the Red Line Racing veteran during the opening stage of the race. Into the chicane on lap eight Harvey tapped Hancock’s Jota Sport machine from behind, breaking his own radiator, spilling water on the track and cruising into retirement. Sam quickly began to close the gap to leader Caine, and when the Team Parker Racing man went off on Harvey’s radiator fluid a couple of laps later and lost his front splitter, Hancock was right on his tail and dived past with a move through Goodwood. For the final ten laps Sam managed his lead to second place Bridgman to take a second satisfying win.

Sam Hancock: “What a great weekend! I have to say a massive thank you to the team. Without their hard work over the past few months this result wouldn’t have been possible and to have given me a car good enough to win both races in just their fourth ever Carrera Cup event is a magnificent achievement. This championship is much harder than anyone truly realises and it’s of huge credit to every single one of the boys. This is for them.”