Monday meeting, and Mark Chilton upheld Porsche honour with a superb win in the ten-lap race. Enjoyed by all, the race saw the Porsche runners dominate the podium, John Taylor claiming third overall and second of the Open runners home.
Qualifying
Taylor was the leading Porsche runner in qualifying, third overall in his 996 GT3, and one slot on the grid ahead of Chilton’s 993 GT2. Porsche Club Championship regular Scott Kavanagh was third of the German-mounted runners, outpacing Open runner Mike Johnson.
Race
A storming start from Chilton saw him second at the end of lap one, and he took the lead on lap three with a brave dive down the inside into the very quick final corner. From then on the power of his GT2 told as he eased away from the field.
“My tyres don’t usually work for the first few laps,” said Chilton, “but the car felt great from start. I didn’t want to push too hard and go off, but I found as I wound the boost down the car got easier to drive and the lap times came down too.
“I was looking at the leader and he was going on the defensive, but I don’t think he was expecting me to go past when I did. At the start he was coming out the chicane better than me, but as the race went on I was better there, and had more power than him.”
Taylor ran fifth for much of the race in a group of cars, but gained places in the final laps to be second Porsche home and third overall in the 22-car field.
“It was a hectic race,” said Taylor, “the tyres took a couple of laps to get hot, but the rolling start was a good one, everyone using their mirrors. An exciting race.”
Johnson was third Porsche home, having found a way past Kavanagh into Folly on lap two, and then mixing it with the slick-shod Ferraris in his Class Three 911 SC.
“Those guys were on slicks,” said Johnson, “so I just went flat-out to try to see where I ended up in the mix, I had a great dice with Scott in the 993 at the start. There was a point where the Ferraris could brake better, and I didn’t want to get tangled up but I also wanted to have a go. The car went well and I enjoyed the race, an admirable experiment!”
Porsche versus Ferrari Challenge (Porsche Results), 10 laps: 1 Mark Chilton (993 GT2) 12m22.319s (89.71mph); 2 John Taylor (996 GT3) +17.664s; 3 Mike Johnson (911 SC); 4 Scott Kavanagh (993 C2); 5 Peter Erceg (968 CS); 6 Adrian Clark (928 GTS); 7 David Botterill (964 C2); 8 Jeremy Cooke (911 RSR); 9 Dave Whelan (993 RSR); 10 Phil Price (911 RS). Class Winners: Chilton, Taylor, Johnson. Fastest Lap: Chilton 1m12.994s (91.24mph).
Next Rounds: Croft, North Yorkshire, September 26th and 27th.
