Only 0.049 second separated the top three drivers in qualifying for rounds 10 and 11 of the 2017 Carrera Cup GB at Knockhill Circuit, Scotland on Saturday. Charlie Eastwood, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Friday, qualified in pole position for race two and in P2 for race one, narrowly missing out on the double by a mere 0.011 second.
Charlie made the perfect start to round 10 on Sunday morning; he took the lead only to be hit from behind going in to turn one which pushed him off track and cost him two racing positions. Charlie maintained P3 for remainder of the arduous 32 laps race and top spot in the Championship standings going in to the afternoon.
Round 11 was an even harder fought contest with the trio of title protagonists locked in a battle that would ultimately see the pole-sitting Belfast man secure another lights to flag victory during the live ITV4 broadcast.
Despite a post-race Stewards enquiry which resulted in Charlie receiving a 10-place grid penalty for round 12 and three Championship points deducted, he continues to lead the 2017 Carrera Cup GB Drivers’ Championship on 180 points.
Charlie Eastwood comments:
"Knockhill was a good weekend for us. We got off to quite a good start through practice which wasn't in ideal weather conditions and in qualifying we got a second grid position for race one by 0.01 second, but pole for the second race by 0.009 second, so really close margins throughout the weekend.
"Going in to race one, we got a good start off the line and went to pass Dan Cammish in to turn one, but then unfortunately got quite a nudge from behind which sent us straight on and we dropped back to third where we stayed until the end. In the second race, again we got off to a good start and over the first 10 laps we got a gap over the rest of the field, but then the rear tyres started to go off a bit and that's when we all started to bunch up and I had to start defending a lot.
"An unfortunate situation happened in the coming together between myself and Dan - we went through several Stewards and appeals, but at the end of the day we went through my on-board and everyone could see that I came out of the corner turning right and kept turning right towards defending. Then as soon as I looked in my mirror and saw Dan I started to turn left and tried to avoid contact, hoping he would slightly back out and we would slot on down in to the last corner. Unfortunately it didn't turn out this way, but these incidents happen in racing and we need to look forward to Silverstone where we have a 10-place grid penalty for the first race and three Championship points deducted as well from the incident, so it'll be a hard race but hopefully we can keep our nose clean and pick up some good points."
Results: #28 Charlie Eastwood, Redline Racing
Qualifying - Round 10
P2 - fastest lap 49.966 seconds (91.30 MPH)
Qualifying - Round 11
Pole - second fastest lap 50.070 seconds (91.09 MPH)
Round 10 - Result
P3 - 32 laps, best lap time 50.449 seconds
Round 11 - Result
Win - 31 laps, best lap time 50.255 seconds
