James Sutton drove a faultless race to win round seven of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Croft (Saturday 2 June). While Steven Kane and Tim Harvey battled for second place, Sutton swept clear from the start to score his first race victory in the championship. Meanwhile, Nigel Rice again topped the pro-am category.
Sutton (Red Line Racing) got an excellent start to convert pole position into the lead at the first corner. Harvey wanted to slot in behind his teammate into the corner from third on the grid, but was beaten to Clervaux by Kane (Motorbase Performance). “I’ve made good starts all season and when I really needed it today, I didn’t do it,” said Harvey.
While Sutton got his head down and rattled off a series of fast laps to gradually extend his lead to more than a second, Kane was busy fending off the challenge of Harvey. For most of the race, there was very little between the two cars as Harvey looked for an opportunity. “There was nowhere I could get past without Steven making a mistake,” said Harvey. But he maintained a relentless pressure, nonetheless. “It was a struggle to keep Tim behind,” admitted Kane, who had to concentrate on holding second place rather than chasing Sutton.
Meanwhile, Sutton drove superbly to score an emphatic victory. “That’s just the way I wanted to win it, and for once it all went to plan. It did help me out that Steven was under pressure from Tim,” said Sutton.
Behind the top three, Sam Hancock (Motorbase Performance) had to fight back ahead of Michael Caine (Team Parker Racing) to reclaim fourth, and mid-race Hancock was nearly able to tag on to the Kane/Harvey battle, but the gap never quite came down enough for it to become a three-way contest. Caine was a lonely fifth, while Rice won the pro -am category as Andy Britnell (Motorbase Performance) chased.
“I got a mega start; it went like a bullet,” said Britnell, who was nearly up alongside Rice on the rush to the first corner. However, as Rice moved to the right to avoid another car, Britnell had to back off. “I had to come out of it. I think if I could have got Nigel then, I could have stayed there.” As it was, Rice built an advantage in the opening laps and was able to stay clear for his sixth pro-am win in seven races. “That was pretty straightforward,” said Rice.
Pete Osborne (Team O) made a mighty start to set him on the way to third in pro-am and his progress was aided when Charles Bateman (Team Parker Racing) spun at the chicane on the second lap. He later worked back to fourth in pro-am, finishing ahead of Peter Morris (Porsche Motorsport) and Colin Willmott (Willmott Racing).
