Fife race ace Barry Horne proved he was a match for the best in the world at Silverstone at the weekend (11/7/04) after staying with the leading pack until the final lap of the race when a 140mph crash snatched away his top ten finish.
The Dunfermline driver - who had been handed only one of two available VIP spots for the British round of the Supercup - certainly did a fine job of putting himself in the shop window for next season when he plans to launch a full assault on the championship.
As the main event before 11 races in the Formula 1 season, the Porsche Michelin Supecup basks in a fantastic atmosphere and having experienced the thrill 100,000 screaming fans at Silverstone, Barry's appetite has been further whetted.
Having sampled the field he is more determined than ever to find the £300,000 in sponsorship he needs for a full season of racing in 2005. What that will bring Barry's not making any predictions and he is certainly not underestimating the task at hand having gone through a weekend of racing highs and lows.
Driving a factory engineered Porsche 911 GT3, qualifying saw the Fifer produce some stunning lap times that would have had him as high as 5th on the starting grid. Ultimately he was to start from 16th on race day but it was not a position that contained him for long and by the end of the first lap he was up to 9th and doing an expert job of surviving race day bumps and shunts.
Easily the quickest British driver on the track, Barry got the chance to enjoy a cat and mouse game with four times Supercup Champion Patrick Huisman from the Netherlands. Crunch time for the Fifer's race came in the last lap when he was running tenth but going quicker than Chris Mamerow in 9th, only for the German driver to crash at 140mph leaving Barry powerless to avoid the aftermath.
Barry said: "The whole experience was incredible and really underlines that the only way to learn is to just get stuck in. Patrick Huisman is a great driver and being close to him on the track I was able to study his every move. Lap after lap he kept the door closed and made sure there was no space for me to get through.
"During the race I felt good and with the pace we were maintaining I knew we had a chance of gaining a decent placing. Once you're into the field's top ten you know you are among the big guns - the wiles of these guys is something else but that's when concentration and practice come into their own. After doing so well everyone in the team was disappointed to be felled in the final lap but that's racing. What we did prove is that we have nothing to fear at Spa and Monza.
As part of his bid to enter to the 2005 championship Barry will be competing in the final two Supercup races of the season at Spa (Belgium) in August, and Monza (Italy) in September. His pit crew will be Team Parker, the team with which he won the British Porsche Carrera Cup in 2003.
