testing at Oulton Park

James Sutton ended the day on the top of the testing time sheets at Oulton Park today (Friday 29 May 2009) ahead of rounds seven and eight of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. In pro-am1, Derek Pierce headed the times while in the pro-am2 category a mighty performance from Karl Leonard left him top of the class and fifth fastest overall.

In warm sunshine at the Cheshire track, Tim Bridgman (Team Parker Racing) set the pace in the morning session, but later on it was Sutton (Red Line Racing) who left the mark at 1m23.816s with a run on new tyres. "That's pretty good considering this is my least favourite track," said Sutton. "I got one good lap in on new tyres, but there is probably a bit more to come."

For Bridgman, Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) and Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing), it was also a case of what might have been as they packed out the next three places on the time sheets. Both Bridgman and Harvey were thwarted on new tyre runs when a red flag brought the session to a close with 10 minutes left to run.

"The plan was to do a race run and then a qualifying run," said Bridgman, who was about to start his qualifying run when the session was halted. "So that's really good," he said of his sub-1m24s best lap. Caine had elected not to run new tyres anyway, while Harvey was denied a shot at a quick lap. "We put the new tyres on and within two laps came the red flag," he said.

Just behind the quartet of 2009 race winners came Karl Leonard (RSS Performance) with a storming lap to top the pro-am2 category. "I'm delighted with that," said the Irish racer. "There's maybe a couple of tenths left in it." Sixth fastest, thanks to his best time in the morning session, was Tom Bradshaw (Team Parker Racing). "I was doing a race run in the afternoon and I caught a slower car in the middle of Druids," said Bradshaw. "I ran wide onto the marbles and spun," he added, after doing minor damage against the barriers and bringing out the red flag.

Seventh fastest overall and heading the superbly competitive pro-am1 field was Pierce (JHR) as less than a second covered the top six pro-am1 racers. "This is a learning year for me in the Carrera Cup, so I'm more than happy with that," said Pierce, who was closely followed by Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing), Robert Lawson (JHR), Glynn Geddie and Michael Leonard (Team Parker Racing) and Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance).

Leading the chase of the flying Karl Leonard in pro-am2 were Glenn McMenamin (Parr Motorsport) and Bob Lyons (Celtic Speed).

With the prospect of fine battles all the way down the field, the stage is set for some fine racing over the weekend, with round seven starting at 2.40pm on Saturday and round eight scheduled for 1.35pm on Sunday.