Team Parker Racing emerged from another close weekend of action in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Rockingham with a fourth place apiece for Andy Meyrick and Sam Tordoff, but the team was disappointed not to get what could have been a very real shot at victory in the wet second race due to a first-lap incident.Cheshire racer Meyrick, on only his third weekend in the Carrera Cup, was the best of Team Parker Racings runners in the ultra-close qualifying session, taking fifth on the grid for both races.The team felt it had been given a wrong steer on set-up by testing at the track on Tuesday. The Parker squad was left wrong-footed when only the first of Fridays two official Carrera Cup sessions was run in the dryits drivers had used old rubber in this session. In hindsight the set-up for qualifying on Saturday, based on impressions gained on newer rubber in Tuesday, did not work so effectively as the track had rubbered in since testing earlier in the week.Meyrick used his third-row grid slot well, getting past Rory Butcher before half-distance and moving up to challenge championship leader Michael Meadows in the closing stages, but he was forced to settle for fourth.The teams trio of young Yorkshire talentsDaniel Lloyd, Sam Tordoff and Richard Plantran seventh, eighth and ninth respectively. Plant then slipped ahead of Tordoff with a few laps remaining.Into the penultimate lap, Lloyd went defensive into the Deene hairpin in a tightly-bunched five-car group, but inadvertently tapped James Sutton ahead of him into a spin. Lloyd finished sixth, just ahead of his two team-mates, but was penalised down to ninth, behind Sutton, by officials after the race.In the wet second race, Lloyd found himself pincered between two cars on the run down to the Deene hairpin on the opening lap, and unfortunately collected Meyrick, putting both out of the race.Tordoff ran ahead of Plant, in eighth and ninth respectively, early in the race, but then went on a charge. He pulled off a great double move halfway through the race, passing Ahmad Al Harthy into the Tarzan hairpin and then launching himself inside Jonas Gelzinis at the following Brook chicane. Sutton was his next target, and Tordoff passed him into Brook.He then set off after Meadows, slashing into the gap at a second per lap, setting fastest lap and just running out of time to catch the championship leader at the flag.Plant too made strong progress. He passed Gelzinis at the fast Gracelands left-hander, then took Al Harthy into the Deene hairpin. Mirroring Tordoffs attack on Meadows ahead, he scythed into the gap to Sutton ahead, but like his team-mate he ran out of time to make a challenge and took sixth at the flag to repeat his first-race result.Tordoff has now slipped just behind double Rockingham winner Ben Barker to third in the championship table, but everything is still to play for in the final two rounds, at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.Team principal Stuart Parker said: We kind of shot ourselves in the foot by testing on the Tuesday. We set our cars up for the very green track conditions we had on Tuesday, but the track had really started to rubber up by the time qualifying came and this was a particularly tight session. Andy did a fantastic job in qualifying, and a cracking job in the first race.We were then very happy when it rained for race two. There was an extra two-hour test organised on the Friday evening. It was raining and we knew it would potentially be wet on race day, so we were the only team to do it. But the race didnt go to plan, and Dan and Andy had a coming-together that eliminated two of our potential race winners.We knew from Friday that Dan and Andy were particularly strong in the wet, so that was really gutting for us. As it was, Sam couldnt see where he was going early on because he was further back in the pack, but once he got going he was the fastest man on the circuit. He took loads of time out of Meadows, and Richard was very strong as well, and it shows why we were so confident in the wet.Its everything to play for in the championship. The Silverstone National Circuit is a very short and quick track, so that will create close racing and one tenth of a second can make a massive difference. We just need to do our homework in preparation for it.PIERCE CLAIMS A WIN IN PRO-AM1

Rockingham provided a fantastic performance from JD Pierce with Team Parker racer Derek Pierce, who took an excellent victory in the first race in the pro-am1 class.From third on the grid, the Scot made his customary sensational start to take the lead. He then soaked up the pressure, first from Victor Jimenez and thenafter the Spaniard had collided with Ahmad Al Harthyfrom Oly Mortimer.It was more valuable points for Pierce, who is embroiled in a battle for second in the pro-am1 championship with Mortimer and Jimenez.Unfortunately, there would be no further points in race two. Pierce was an innocent victim of the first-lap collision ahead. As he ran out of room into the Deene hairpin, he hit Al Harthy and was forced to retire to the pits with a damaged radiator.It leaves him third in the points, behind Mortimer and just ahead of Jimenez, going into the penultimate round at Silverstone.Team principal Stuart Parker said: Derek did an absolutely fantastic job in the first racethanks to his brilliant start he was able to get to the front of pro-am1 and control it in the face of very tough opposition. The second race was one of those thingshe was just a victim of something he had no control over.As part of the ultra-popular British Touring Car Championship package, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB enjoyed live coverage from the second race at Rockingham on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, and was streamed live at itv.com/touringcars. The next round is at the British Grand Prix venue of Silverstone on October 6/7.