With Silverstone Win

Ian White took his seventh win of the 2006 Porsche Club Championship in the PMC Trophy race at Silverstone - and with his title rivals faltering has moved closer to claiming the overall prize. White was chased hard by Mark McAleer until he suffered mechanical failure, and then by Kevin Harrison in the 30-minute race - and now has a 19-point lead over Richard Lambert with McAleer a further 11-points back.

 Marcus Carniel took the Class Two win, ahead of Lambert who was another of White's title challengers to suffer mechanical dramas. Alex Eacock won Class Three ahead of Chris Berry.

Qualifying

The 30-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon 52-cars take to the track, the Porsche Club and Open fields being combined for this race on the wide expanses of Silverstone's Grand Prix circuit.  White was the quickest of the Club runners, with Ian Oliver second and James Neal third, the circuit favouring the 911-style cars in qualifying as McAleer and Harrison lined up fifth and sixth in their 968s.

Ben Demetriou claimed his first class pole to head the Class Two runners ahead of Marcus Carniel and Lambert. Eacock headed Class Three just ahead of Chris Berry.

RaceThe Porsche Club field were released 20-seconds after the Open field, and it was White who moved into the lead, with Harrison and McAleer coming through to be second and third at the end of lap one.

The continued to lap in close formation, McAleer looking for a way past, until on lap seven when the Yorkshire racer pulled off at the end of the Hanger Straight.

"I just lost all drive," explained McAleer. "I was really enjoying the race until then, and I just hope we can sort it out before the race next weekend. It's obviously a massive blow to my championship hopes."

Harrison continued to harry White over the remaining laps, but could only briefly find a way past at Stowe corner only for White to regain the lead with a better exit. Neal and Oliver took third and fourth.

"It was the perfect result for me," said White "I pushed hard in qualifying and it was a tough race at a quick pace. I just have to keep doing the best I can do and I'd love to wrap up the title before the final race."

"The race was a bit like our battle at Brands," said Harrison. "I know Ian is fighting for the title and I didn't want to take him out, but I got ahead at Stowe only for him to hold the inside and get me back out of the corner - it was a good race."

In Class Two, Lambert had led for the early laps, but Carniel had gone past on lap eight and held on to take the points for the class win. With White taking maximum points Lambert needed to match his tally, but an unusual car problem meant he had to settle for second.

"The gear lever came off!" explained Lambert. "I managed to get it back on, but from then could only use third and fourth gears and couldn't catch Marcus. I now have to try to score as many points as I can and rely on others having problems."

"I missed a gear at the start - and starts are normally my strong point," said Carniel. "I went past Richard when he was slow through a corner and after that just tried not to make a mistake. It was a fantastic race - I really enjoyed it."

Eacock and Berry kept up their usual close battle for Class Three honours, the former holding on to take the win. "It seemed like we were swapping places every corner," said Eacock. "He was very quick and finally I was able to use the traffic and open a gap."

PMC Midlands Trophy race - 30 Minutes (14 Laps):

1 Ian White (911 Carrera) 32m24.673s (82.86mph) 2 Kevin Harrison (968 CS) +0.533s; 3 James Neal (964 Carrera 2); 4 Ian Oliver (911 Carrera); 5 Marcus Carniel (911 SC); 6 Richard Lambert (3.0 Carrera); 7 Ben Demetriou (911 SC); 9 Gordon Matthew (968 CS); 10 Mike Clapham (968 CS).  Class Winners: White; Carniel; Alex Eacock (944). Fastest Lap: Harrison 2m15.039s (85.14mph).

Next round: Oulton Park, Cheshire, September 16th