Harvey wins Carrera Cup round six at Brands
Tim Harvey put himself back at the top of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch today (Sunday 2 May) with an emphatic victory in round six of the championship. Ollie Jackson (Addison Lee Motorbase) was the class of the pro-am1 category while Paul Mace (GT Marques) took his first pro-am2 victory of the season.Although still wet, the track was not as soaking as it had been for round five earlier in the day and Harvey (Red Line Racing) won the sprint to the first corner as a fast-starting Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing) beat Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) away. That was a critical moment in the race, as Geddie’s strong early pace took him right on to Harvey’s pace and left Caine sitting in third.For the first six laps, Geddie mounted a constant challenge on Harvey, but then as Caine got up to speed he was able to make it three-car train for the lead. With Caine starting to attack Geddie, Harvey was able to edge clear. On lap nine, Caine finally dislodged Geddie, but Harvey was now around three seconds clear.“I just couldn’t get the heat in the rear tyres at the start,” said Caine. “Glynn was mega at the start and it was never going to be easy to get past him.” Meanwhile, Harvey was able to maintain his margin to secure his fifth win from six races. “Glynn is always a challenger in the early laps of a wet race, but I was gradually able to concentrate on my own race,” said Harvey, who leaves Brands with the same 12-point lead over Caine.One of the drives of the race came from Tom Bradshaw (JHR), who battled through to fourth and then reeled in Geddie before diving ahead with a bold move into Paddock Hill Bend. “I loved that; it was brilliant,” said Bradshaw of his race. “So much hard work has gone into that,” he said after being confirmed as the ‘driver of the weekend’. Meanwhile, the JHR team was presented with the ‘team of the weekend’ award.Geddie battled home fourth as his tyres struggled over the later stages and Charles Bateman (Motorbase Performance) was close enough to challenge until he ran wide at Surtees on the last lap. Bateman still took a good fifth with Euan Hankey (Team Parker Racing) in sixth. Jackson soon found himself running in a solitary seventh place and was a clear winner of the pro-am1 category. “I just kept some in reserve and tried not to kill the tyres,” said Jackson, as Tony Gilham (Collins ReDesign Racing) fought back to second in pro-am1 after a spin at Surtees. Gilham had to battle ahead of Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) and Ahmad Al Harthy (Red Line Racing) in the closing stages.With Steve Parish (Addison Lee Motorbase) sidelined at the start, Mace was a dominant winner in pro-am2, after diving ahead of early leader Mark Hazell (JHR) in a daring move at Surtees. “Mark made it difficult and I had two wheels on the grass,” said Mace of the move. Once ahead, Mace went well clear as a stirring drive from George Richardson (Motorbase Performance) clinched second despite constant pressure from Glenn McMenamin (Red Line Racing).