Euan Hankey was the absolute hero of the day in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at the Nurburgring Nordschleife today (Thursday 23 June) during testing ahead of round nine of the championship. With a mighty performance on the toughest race track in the world, Hankey (Parker with Juta) belied his inexperience of the German venue to not only top the Carrera Cup GB field but also post eighth fastest time overall within the 100-strong field for the Porsche Carrera World Cup. Even though he has only raced at the Nordschleife once before, Hankey was the only driver from outside the Porsche Supercup and Carrera Cup Germany runners to feature in the top 10 times. He ended the session ahead of established Porsche and Nurburgring aces like Patrick Huisman, Nick Tandy and Jeroen Bleekemolen.The Porsche Carrera World Cup is the biggest single-make Porsche race ever held, with 100 cars from Europe including 21 cars from the Carrera Cup GB and GT3 Cup Challenge. It was a fabulous sight as James Sutton headed 100 911 GT3 Cup cars out of the Formula 1 paddock onto the Grand Prix circuit at the start of testing. The race on Saturday morning will run over six laps of the daunting 14-mile Nordschleife circuit.“This is the most incredible place in motor sport,” said Hankey. “I’m so enjoying it that I can’t really put it into words. I’ve only raced here once and it is so overwhelming the first time you drive around it.”Next among the Carrera Cup GB crews were Sutton and Michael Meadows (SAS/Redline). “It was hard work and a little bit sloppy,” reported Sutton of his session. “I bent the steering arm at the Carousel early in the session and so there is a lot of time to come in qualifying.” Meadows suffered a similar fate to his team mate with a bent steering arm from the second lap. “I love it; it’s a great track,” said Meadows.In Pro-Am1, Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) headed the times from Derek Pierce (Team Parker Racing) and Rory Butcher (Celtic Speed). Pro-A1 contender Ahmad Al Harthy (Oman Air/Redline) was bowled over by the whole experience. “It’s the hardest circuit I’ve ever driven on and really challenging in a Cup car,” he said. “It really is something special and like nothing we’ve ever done before.”In Pro-Am2, George Brewster (Celtic Speed) and Keith Webster (Redline Racing) were the Pro-Am2 pacesetters. “That was the experience of my life,” said Webster, who had previously done many laps of the Nordschleife on motorbikes. “It is awesome; what a place to drive,” he said.Qualifying will be start at 15.25 on Friday afternoon, with the race at 11.20 on Sunday during the build up to the annual 24-hour race.