Hancock signs deal for Porsche Carrera Cup GB & posts 3rd fastest time in official test

British racing driver Sam Hancock is delighted to announce that he will drive for multiple race-winning outfit, Motorbase Performance, in the full 2007 Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the UK's premier single-manufacturer sports car competition.

27-year old Hancock’s car will be backed by Technojobs, the technical recruitment website for jobs in the IT, electronics, engineering and telecoms industries, and is hoped to be a front runner from the start after a promising run in the series’ official pre-season test held yesterday at Snetterton.

Hancock posted third fastest time in the test, with ’06 title runner-up, Tim Harvey, and Porsche Supercup champion, Richard Westbrook, placing first and second respectively (although Westbrook, conducting development work for Porsche, is not due to compete in the championship).

The move into the Carrera Cup marks a return for Hancock to ‘sprint’ style racing, having focused more recently on endurance racing both in the Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24 Hours over the past three seasons.

Hancock, a former Le Mans Series Champion in 2004 (LMP2), raced a factory-entered Courage Mugen in the premier LMP1 category at Le Mans last year as well claiming several LMP2-class podiums in the Le Mans Series for the Binnie Motorsports outfit.

Despite a busy Carrera Cup schedule, the London-based driver will be retained by Binnie as test driver in 2007 and is also in talks with several teams about appearances at other non-clashing sportscar events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Porsche Carrera Cup features a field of identical 997-model GT3 Cup-spec cars each with 400bhp and six-speed sequential gearboxes. The season consists of a whopping twenty-race schedule (two races per weekend) running alongside the BTCC at the UK’s foremost motor racing circuits.

Motorbase Performance are a frontline Carrera Cup team and independent BTCC team and have twice claimed runner-up spot in the Carrera Cup, most recently in 2006 with Tim Harvey.

Sam Hancock: “If you had asked me at the end of last season what I thought I’d be racing in 2007, I’m not sure I’d have predicted the Carrera Cup. But when the opportunity first came up with Motorbase, I didn’t hesitate. There’s a real hunger in this team to win that’s utterly infectious and afterall, how often do you get to have a real crack at a title, with a proven front-running outfit, in a series backed by such an important sports car manufacturer? It was simply too good to miss and I’m very up for the challenge. I’ve got a great feeling about this year and I’d like to pass on my enormous thanks to both the team and sponsor Technojobs  for the opportunity.”

Motorbase boss, David Bartrum: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have got Sam on board. We love this championship and, having finished runner-up one too many times in the past, we’re desperate to win it. We don’t for a second underestimate the challenge as the competition, this year especially