Reigning Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Tim Bridgman has teamed up once again with Team Parker Racing for the 2010 season, this time for an assault on the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, the series that supports F1 calendar.
Team Parker will be teaming up with Schnabl Engineering to run two Porsche 911GT3 Cup cars, fielding Bridgman and recent Porsche Driver Development programme participant Niall Breen.
“I’m over the moon to be going out to Bahrain,” said Bridgman. “It was very important for me to secure a Supercup deal this season; it’s where I needed to be after winning the Carrera Cup GB. I feel it’s where I deserve to be, but we only gave it the green light last week so it's been a hectic time. But if it had run on another 24-hours, it would not have happened.”
Team boss Stuart Parker explained how the deal came about. “I always promised Tim that if I could ever help him with anything in Supercup, then I would,” said Parker. “We talked about trying to do it together, but with Supercup you need a two-car entry and that makes it very difficult. About a week ago, we thought that all hope was gone. But then, by chance, I had an approach from Sven Schnabl of Schnabl Engineering. He said: ‘Stuart, I believe you have one car. I have one car. Let’s do it together.’ I’ve known Sven since we did Supercup in 2007 and I’ve been out working in Carrera Cup Asia with him for the last two years. It will be a Schnabl Engineering/Team Parker Racing entry.”
It’s been a whirlwind time for the team, since securing the deal Bridgman was jetted out to Hockenheim on Thursday for a shakedown in the new car before it was shipped off to Bahrain on Friday. “It’s been a mountain to climb, but we’re getting there,” said Parker. “I have to say thank you to everyone at Porsche Supercup and Marion Barnaby at Porsche Cars GB for the effort that they have put in to make this possible.”
“I’m very happy to stay with Team Parker Racing,” said Bridgman. “Stuart has worked ever so hard to make this happen and we’re going to be out there doing a good job. It’s a new car, so we’re starting from the same place as everyone else. When I shook the car down, it felt fantastic to drive. It’s another evolution of the GT3 Cup car and it is a real drivers’ car. It is very sensitive, which is just what you want as a driver.”
Team Parker are no strangers to the Mobil 1 Supercup grid having run a full season in the series in 2007.
