James Sutton won an action packed round 15 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch today (Saturday 18 August), as battles raged all down the field. Jon Barnes scored his best result to date with second, despite fierce pressure from Tim Harvey, while Andy Britnell narrowly won the pro-am category as Nigel Rice challenged. As rain threatened, Sutton (Red Line Racing) got a great start from pole to lead the pack into Paddock Hill Bend as Barnes (Team Parker Racing) went side by side with Steven Kane (Motorbase Performance). They ran neck and neck all the way to Druids, where Barnes edged ahead as Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing) and Sam Hancock (Motorbase Performance) soon made up a five-car lead pack. A few yards back, Oliver Turvey (Porsche Motorsport) grabbed sixth from Michael Caine (Team Parker Racing). “I got a good start and tucked in behind James. I was right with him until the first shower started, and I was a little bit nervous about driving the car in the damp on slicks for the first time, which let James get away,” said Barnes. Little by little, Sutton was able to extend his lead as Barnes came under pressure from Kane. But Hancock was also on a charge and dived past Harvey into Paddock to grab fourth. Six laps later, Hancock made the same move on Kane, but the cars touched wheels and, with a rear tyre pulled off the rim, Hancock spun into the gravel. Meanwhile, Kane was delayed and Harvey dived through to third. A long yellow flag period at Paddock followed as marshals worked to move Hancock’s car. With light rain falling, Sutton had to drive a very controlled race, but extended his lead to over two seconds for a fine victory. “These little sprinkles of rain looked like tropical rainstorms from inside the car! I just had to get my head down,” said Sutton. “Fortunately I got a bit of a gap and I could manage myself from then on.” However, things were far from settled in the battle for second and Harvey mounted a mighty challenge on Barnes over the closing laps. “Towards the end I could see that Tim was on a charge,” said Barnes. “The last six laps I just sat in the middle of the track. That’s a really good result.” Harvey, meanwhile, tried all ways to depose Barnes, but never found a gap. “There was absolutely nothing I could do. Even if I got a run out of Clearways, there were yellow flags at Paddock. I needed him to make a little mistake,” said Harvey. Kane struggled over the second half of the race, but still claimed important points in fourth, as Caine moved ahead of Turvey after a clash at Clearways and they both moved in on Kane in the closing stages. In pro-am, Charles Bateman (Team Parker Racing) was out on the opening lap after contact sent him through the gravel at Paddock, and it was Britnell who led as Pete Osborne (Team O) slotted into second from Rice (Red Line Racing). It took Rice a while to find a way around the flying Osborne and he then mounted a race-long pressure on Britnell. But the local racer drove a great race to take pro-am spoils by a fifth of a second. “That was frantic,” said Britnell. “Nigel drove a terrific race, but the team had given me a great car.”