at Knockhill Tim Harvey moved strongly back into contention for the title with victory in round 18 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Knockhill yesterday. While Steven Kane’s nightmare weekend continued, Harvey closed to within 10 points of new championship leader James Sutton to set up a dramatic finale at Thruxton in October. Kane’s race was over before it started when a driveshaft broke on the green flag lap. He toured into the pits, having failed to complete a racing lap in two races. “It’s terrible,” said Kane of his weekend. “The championship is over for me.” Kane’s Motorbase Performance team mate Sam Hancock started from pole, but too much wheelspin allowed Harvey (Red Line Racing) to grab the lead and this pair quickly edged clear of the pack. After 10 laps, Hancock was starting to build the pressure on Harvey when he picked up a front puncture and was forced into the pits for a wheel change. “I was really relaxed and I was biding my time. I think I had the pace to get by,” said Hancock, who rejoined to finish ninth and earn the ‘RAC driver of the weekend’ award after his debut Carrera Cup win the previous day. Now Harvey was away and clear and drove a carefully measured race to win and put himself firmly in contention for the title. “It was a perfect race, but when you’ve got a five-second lead it’s pretty straightforward. I was just worried about punctures all the way through.” Michael Caine (Team Parker Racing) led the chase of Harvey, as Jon Barnes (Team Parker Racing) and James Sutton (Red Line Racing) took third and fourth. “It kept kicking out of gear when I took big air over the kerbs at Duffus Dip,” said Caine, but he was able to keep Barnes and Sutton at bay. In taking a carefully controlled fourth, Sutton leaves Knockhill with a 10-point championship lead over Harvey. A mighty fifth place, and pro-am victory, went to Andy Britnell (Motorbase Performance) after fending off a persistent challenge from Charles Bateman (Team Parker Racing). “I got a brilliant start to get ahead of Charles and the car’s grip through the race was spot on,” said Britnell. For their work in rebuilding Kane’s car after accident in qualifying and wins for Hancock and Britnell over the weekend, Motorbase Performance earned the ‘RAC team of the weekend’ award. Nigel Rice (Red Line Racing) chased Britnell and Bateman race-long, but could not quite get on terms as he maintained the pro-am championship lead with third place in pro-am, while Jeremy Metcalfe claimed eighth overall ahead of Hancock in the Porsche Motorsport entry.