Damien Faulkner moved a step closer to retaining his title with victory in a thrilling round 15 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Knockhill yesterday (Saturday, 2 September). While Tim Harvey and Michael Caine battled up the field to third and fourth after starting on slicks on a damp track, Faulkner had to fend off series newcomer James Pickford for victory. Meanwhile, a fine drive from Sam Edwards netted pro-am victory.With the track damp but no rain falling, Harvey (Motorbase Performance) dived into the pits from the green flag lap to switch to slicks, sacrificing his pole position in the process. Harvey’s team mate Michael Caine, who was due to start from the back of the grid, made the same tyre choice, and both cars joined the race from the pit lane.Up front, Faulkner (Team Parker with SAS) stormed into the lead from Pickford (IN2RACING), with Danny Watts (Team IRWIN with Red Line) chasing in third. The leading trio was seldom more than a couple of seconds apart until Watts ran across the grass at Duffus Dip and lost time. It also damaged his car’s radiator and Watts was soon forced to retire. “Completely my fault,” accepted Watts.Pickford could now concentrate on challenging Faulkner and the gap reduced to only a second mid-race. Meanwhile, Harvey and Caine were pushing as hard as they dared on slick tyres, but made only modest progress over the first half of the race. But by lap 20, the slick tyres were coming into their own, with Harvey up to seventh and Caine eighth as they set the fastest laps of the race.But still Faulkner led from Pickford, with Jason Templeman (Team Parker with SAS) and Richard Williams (IN2RACING) running third and fourth but being rapidly caught by Harvey and Caine. Now catching Faulkner and Pickford at several seconds a lap, Harvey dived ahead of Templeman for third on lap 30 and Caine snatched fourth on the final lap. But Harvey needed just one more lap before he could have attacked Pickford and Faulkner.“I was driving as fast as I could given the state of the tyres,” said Faulkner after his win. “I’m just delighted for the team and the sponsors.” Pickford, too, had driven a fine race. “That’s a bit of a surprise really, so I’m very happy. I’m glad we got to the end; the tyres are finished!” Harvey crossed the line only five seconds behind Faulkner after an enthralling chase. “I’d rather race from the back on the right tyres. I thoroughly enjoyed the race; every single lap was on the edge. It was a cracking fun race.” Caine, too, had run a great race. “It was the right decision from where I was on the grid,” he confirmed.Templeman and Williams battled home fifth and sixth on the their rooted tyres, while Edwards (Team Parker Racing) took control of the pro-am category from the start. “I had a really good start, but it was slippery right to the finish.” Andy Purdie (RH Motorsport with Paragon) led the chase of Edwards, with Nigel Rice (Red Line Racing) completing the pro-am podium.Provisional results – 32 laps:1 Damien Faulkner (Team Parker with SAS)          30m20.726s2 James Pickford (IN2RACING with Totalamber) 30m23.165s3 Tim Harvey (Motorbase Performance)                  30m25.392s4 Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance)          30m31.590s5 Jason Templeman (Team Parker with SAS)          30m32.750s6 Richard Williams (IN2RACING with Robert Wiseman Dairies) 30m34.658s7 Sam Edwards (Team Parker Racing)                   30m58.687s8 Andy Purdie (RH Motorsport with Paragon)          31m11.263s9 Nigel Rice (Red Line Racing)                             31 laps10 David Ashburn (Trackspeed)                     31 laps