Michael Corridan finally made his championship debut in round seven of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Oulton Park on Saturday (22 May). Corridan, who was a novice when the season started and only took his ARDS race licence test in early December, finished both Oulton races successfully having climbed his own personal mountain.

"It's quite an achievement," he admitted after the opening race. "I had a whole range of emotions when I finished the race, and it was very, very good! It was very enjoyable and I'm pleased the first race is out of the way."

Corridan, a 39-year old company director from Suffolk, switched to Team Parker Racing for Oulton having attempted to start the year with BEAST Racing. He only got his final licence upgrading signature in time for rounds five and six at Silverstone, but was denied a race start after an off in qualifying left the car too badly damaged to race.

Prior to Silverstone, he raced a Caterham to get licence-upgrading signatures and even did a day’s marshalling at Thruxton over the Easter weekend. His planned debut at Brands in late April was wrecked when the Caterham race that should have produced his final signature was cancelled when the meeting ran late!

His first taste of Oulton was in testing on Friday. “It’s a very, very difficult circuit to learn and I’m on a big learning curve,” he admitted. “The guys at Team Parker Racing have been very accommodating,” he added.

Team boss Stuart Parker was pleased to add a fourth car to his Carrera Cup squad. “Michael knew us from his races in the Caterham, so it was a logical place for him to come. We just need to get him seat time and we aim to give him the best environment to learn,” said Parker.

Corridan, who became involved in motorsport by supporting the BTCC campaign of Rob Collard, now plans to complete the Carrera Cup season. With coaching input from Richard Westbrook and the full support of Team Parker Racing, Corridan will now work on learning more circuits and building his speed over the balance of the season.