Ireland’s Damien Faulkner to pilot GT3 Porsche at home track
Ireland’s 2005 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Champion Damien Faulkner will partner Trackspeed’s David Ashburn in the teams GT3 Porsche 997 for rounds 6 & 7 of the 2006 Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Mondello Park on June 24th and 25th.
Faulkner, who currently leads the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship with 2 wins and 5 further podiums from 8 starts, is looking forward to returning to his home circuit at Mondello Park near Dublin, where in April at the British Touring Car meeting he won the opening race of Carrera Cup double header ahead of championship rival Tim Harvey.
“Very excited about racing at Mondello in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship with Trackspeed,” said Damien Faulkner. “Mondello has always been good to me, it's where I learnt my trade in motorsport so to speak. It's a very technical circuit and one that I consider that I'm relatively good at. I'm just really looking forward to going back there.”
“The Trackspeed Porsche 997 is going to be pretty familiar territory for me,” Faulkner continued. “The only major difference I can gather is the Avon tyres compared to the rubber I usually race on, which is going to present me with a challenge in setting up the car and finding a balance that we're all happy with, but that's all part and parcel of the job. I'm really looking forward to working with David (Ashburn) and the Trackspeed team, who I'm extremely grateful to for giving me this opportunity. David is a fellow competitor in the Carrera Cup and I get on really well with him. I'm really relishing the challenge.”
With Faulkner’s familiarity with Ireland’s premier race circuit and his speed at the wheel of a Porsche Carrera Cup car, Trackspeed are confident of some good points from the two 60-minute races to move them up the table in the GT3 team championship where they currently lie 2 points behind Barwell Motorsport and 8 points adrift of leaders Lotus Sport Cadena.
Trackspeed team manager Piers Masarati said: “Damien’s record speaks for itself and we are extremely pleased to have a driver of his abilities racing for us at Mondello. Confidence is high within the team and we are looking to score some useful championship points that will close the gap in GT3 and move us ahead of our rivals in GTC.”
The event at Mondello Park near Dublin on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th June features rounds 6 & 7 (rounds 4 & 5 for GT2) of the 2006 Avon Tyres British GT Championship and rounds 7 & 8 of the 2006 Lloyds TSB International British F3 International Series. The first 60-minute British GT race takes place on Saturday at 17:05, with the second race on Sunday at 14:30.
