Craig Wilkins and Pete Morris took outright wins as the Fuel Protect Porsche Club Championship with Pirelli visited the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, an appropriate win for Morris as he sponsored the trophies for the day with his PMC Midlands company. Jonathan Evans took his first Class Two win in race one and followed it up with his second later in the day, while up for grabs across the field was the annual running of the Bill Taylor Memorial Trophy, a handicap event rewarding consistency of pace over qualifying and the races, which went to Nathalie McGloin at just her second race meeting.
“I am massively surprised to win, I didn’t feel that consistent out there,” said McGloin, “this has to the best trophy I have ever seen! I will now cherish it for a year and aim to win it again next time.”
Qualifying The light rain was making the circuit slippery as qualifying started, several runners late out as they made decision on tyres for the conditions, A quick early lap from Gary Duckman saw him clear at the front for the first part of the session, but the times really tumbled in the final minutes, Wilkins going quickest and heading the times as the chequered flag appeared. The long Silverstone lap meant it took several minutes for all the cars to cross the line, Duckman dramatically going quickest right at the end to demote Wilkins, Mark McAleer, late out in the session as he changed tyres, third, with championship leader Morris fourth.
“I didn’t know I was on pole with that final lap until the crew told me as I came in the pits,” said Duckman. “We went with wet tyres from the start of the session and that proved the way to go.”
Evans dominated Class Two from the early stages of the session, his time from those early laps never bettered as he took seventh overall clear of his rivals.
Race One Conditions for race on were similar to qualifying and it was Wilkins who made the best start, holding the inside line and leading into the first corner, Duckman staying to the outside. Exiting the corner Duckman went wide, going onto the grass and losing places, McAleer second at the end of lap one ahead of Morris and Harrison.
Wilkins opened a small gap as Morris looked for a way past McAleer, the cars scrabbling for grip out of the slow corners despite in conditions too slippery for slick tyres but not damp enough for the wet tyres to be fully effective. The front four stayed in that order on the opening laps, Mike Johnson joining the train in fifth with the recovering Duckman passing Paul Winter and into sixth by the end of lap four and briefly snatching fourth from Johnson before losing out once more.
The big changes at the front happened on lap eight, Morris going inside McAleer only to slide wide on suspected fluid down on the track – possibly from Evans’ Boxster which had lost its power-steering, touching McAleer and sending both 996s down the order. Harrison went by to move into second with Johnson up to fourth, and closed on the leader in the final laps only for Wilkins to hold on for the win, Harrison second and Johnson third with Morris and Duckman next up.
“Our first win the new car,” said Wilkins. “It is working well now and that was good fun, my start wasn’t too bad and then I wanted to pull more of a gap but conditions were changing lap by lap and sometimes I was able to pull away and other times they guys behind seemed quicker than me. Fully dry or really raining would have been easier, but happy to take the win.”
“I could see Pete was going to have a go at Mark,” said Harrison, “so I thought I would just hang back and wait for the carnage! I guessed the right way to go and avoided them, and was able to close up on the leader at the end. I missed a gear on the last lap but was able to reel him in again, another couple of laps and I could have had that!”
“That was a brilliant race, and good to be right up there with them,” said Johnson. “It was very slippery out there, and I’m delighted to on the podium at the end, a big thank you to my team for all they have done in getting me here!”
In Class Two Evans led all the way, well inside the top ten overall the entire race, but had to battle with the loss of his powersteering in the final laps, to take his maiden Class Two win, Tim Speed second on the road before being excluded, handing Andy Toon the runner-up slot.
“I was trying hard, then the power-steering failed,” said Evans. “I made a good start, and when we hit problems it was either come in or carry on, but I wasn’t really expecting to hang onto first!”
Race Two The track was wet and slippery again for race two and the field got safely through the first corner but chaos reigned as they reached Becketts, fast starting Harrison spinning, Wilkins doing so in avoidance, and the order at the front being shuffled. Morris emerged ahead at the end of lap one, with Winter in second ahead of Duckman and Johnson, McAleer right at the back after being knocked off in a separate incident at the end of the Hanger Straight.
Morris eased away at the front as Duckman closed on Winter chasing second, while in Class Two Evans headed Speed and Toon, the class leader now running without any power-steering. Winter was working hard to defend from the rapid Duckman, when the Safety Car came out as Hugo Holmes went off with a suspension failure at the end of the Wellington Straight.
When racing resumed Morris made the perfect restart to open a gap again, and the battle was resumed behind as Duckman and Winter put on a spectacular dice using all the wet track seeking grip. Morris took his second win of 2015 with Winter just holding Duckman and Johnson fourth ahead of Chris Dyer.
“I went round the outside into the first corner and seemed to have some grip, then Kevin and Craig spun in front of me and I had to go off the circuit to miss them” said Morris. “Once in front I was just looking or where the grip was, and I just had to time it right when the Safety Car went in and just nailed it, I had cooled the tyres and the grip was right there, the car felt really good.”
“We had a few car issues early on today, we’ve never run it in the wet before,” said Winter. “Then there was just this great battle with Gary Duckman. What a gentlemen he is, our cars were all over the place in the conditions but he didn’t touch me once, to race that closely with someone was amazing – I would happily have come third to him that was such a brilliant race.”
“I got a better start but got wheelspin in second,” said Duckman, “and that lost me places early on. The latter half of the race I was going well and reeling them in, the Safety Car didn’t really do me any favours, but that was a great race with Paul. Pleased to be on the podium on my return!”
Evans held sway in Class Two for his second win of the day, Speed holding onto second this time ahead of Toon.
“That was hard work,” said Evans. “Tim Speed was closing in, then I started to open a gap again, but the Safety Car came out. We had a good battle but I managed to come out on top, it has been a good day!”
Fuel Protect Porsche Club Championship with Pirelli Round Three (10 Laps): 1 Craig Wilkins (996 C2); 2 Kevin Harrison (996 C2) +0.395s; 3 Mike Johnson (996 C2); 4 Pete Morris (996 C2); 5 Gary Duckman (Boxster S); 6 Chris Dyer (Cayman S); 7 Karim Moudi (996 C2); 8 Paul Winter (996 C2); 9 Jonathan Evans (Boxster S); 10 Andy Toon (968 CS).Class Winners: Wilkins; Evans. Fastest Lap: Duckman 2m37.355s (83.26mph).
Round Four (Nine Laps): 1 Morris; 2 Winter +3.178s; 3 Duckman; 4 Johnson; 5 Dyer; 6 Wilkins; 7 Moudi; 8 Evans; 9 Tim Speed (968 CS); 10 Toon. Class Winners: Morris; Evans. Fastest Lap: Morris 2m35.976s (83.99mph).
Next Races: Donington Park, East Midlands, July 11th.
