Paul Rees had his best race to date in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB when the championship contenders raced at Le Mans (14 June) alongside the Carrera Cup France on the morning of the world-famous 24-hour race.Rees (In2 Racing) showed fine pace all weekend and qualified third among the GB racers with 12th fastest time overall in the 62-car field. Then, in the race he was knocked into a spin early on the first lap but tigered back from 35th place to finish 14th in the 45-minute race. In the course of a stirring recovery drive, he set the sixth fastest race lap overall.In the highest profile race in the 12-year and 226-race history of the Carrera Cup GB, drivers took to the awesome 8-mile track for a 45-minute race during the final build up to the start of the 24-hour marathon. The event had even greater significance as Porsche returned to compete at the top level of sports car racing. “On the first lap I went down to what felt like dead last,” said Rees. “I was side-by-side into the first chicane and I had zero room and got knocked straight round. I was giving him a lot of room because I wanted to get through the first corner and then get racing. I went down to about 35th place and then I fought so hard and really did drive my heart out.“I was conscious of where I was the whole time and finished P4 in the GB racers. I can’t be upset with that, but I think I had the pace to be second to Ben Barker. It was a fantastic weekend: an absolutely brilliant place to be. Every time I went out on track I had a smile on my face and I was sad when it was all over.”Rees says his Le Mans pace has now set the tone for the balance of the year. “I’ll take heart from this for the rest of the season. Thruxton was the beginning of it, but the results didn’t really reflect it. So now we have to turn this pace into results.”