Carrera Cup testing at Brands

Tim Harvey and Tim Bridgman topped the times at the end of testing at Brands Hatch today (Friday 3 April 2009) ahead of the opening rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. It could barely have been closer as Harvey's best time in the first session was one-thousandth of a second better than Bridgman's best in the later of the two test sessions.

With equally close battles in prospect in both the pro-am1 and pro-am2 categories and a fine 18-car field, the stage is set for two great races to get the 2009 season off to a superb start.

In the first session, Harvey (Red Line Racing) ran new tyres to set a best of 47.120s and started his title defence in the best possible way. However, in the second session at the end of the afternoon, Bridgman (Team Parker Racing) dipped to 47.121s in the closing minutes of the session. "We worked through a steady programme with the car," said Bridgman. "It should definitely be in the 46s tomorrow in qualifying."

Only a tenth of a second slower than Harvey and Bridgman was Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance), who felt that the track was slower in the second, and warmer, session. "We made some changes to the car after the first session and did the same time on new tyres this afternoon," said Caine.

With 15 of the 18-car field covered by less than a second the times were incredibly close and it was Jake Rosenzweig (Team Parker Racing) in a fine fourth place overall, in the first of two Carrera Cup weekends before he starts his Euro Formula 3 campaign.

Fifth fastest after an excellent day was Dean Smith (Red Line Racing), after concluding a very late deal to join the series. He immediately showed strong pace and went three-tenths of a second faster in the later session. "We've just got to find a little bit more; my realistic aim is for a podium this weekend," said Smith.

Sixth and seventh fastest, split by just five-thousandths of a second were Carrera Cup Scholarship drivers Lewis Hopkins (Red Line Racing) and Tom Bradshaw (Team Parker Racing). "I've come on a long way today; it's clicking into place," said Hopkins as former champion Richard Westbrook worked with both Scholarship drivers.

Two-hundredths of a second covered the top three pro-am1 drivers as Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing), Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing) and Robert Lawson (JHR) proved incredibly closely matched. "It was better this afternoon," said Geddie. "But I didn't get the best out of my new tyres."

Karl Leonard (RSS Performance) headed the pro-am2 times after a good improvement in the afternoon. "That was much better than the first session," reported Leonard, who was chased by 17-year old George Richardson (Motorbase Performance) in the pro-am2 ranks. By the end of a very good day, Richardson was only two-tenths adrift of Leonard.