Tim Harvey started his 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season perfectly in the first race after dominating from start to finish, holding off Michael Caine to take the win.
With a wet practice and qualifying, the race was the first time the 25-car field had chance to run in the dry.
As the lights changed, Harvey got the drop on young charger Tom Bradshaw as the field headed in to the first corner, “I pushed early then eased back to conserve the tyres” said Harvey.
Unfortunately for Bradshaw he would be pushed back to fourth over the next few laps after Euan Hankey pushed forward followed closely by Michael Caine.
Caine would continue his momentum, overtaking Hankey in a bold move around the outside of the chicane on lap five. Now in second place Caine continued to chase leader Tim Harvey, narrowing the gap to less than a second, unfortunately for the Newmarket based driver that is how the race would finish.
“I knew Michael would have to push his tyres to catch me,” said Harvey, who finished the race with eight-tenths to spare “It was important to finish that one.” he admitted.
Carrera Cup GB Scholar Euan Hankey rounded off his debut race with an impressive third, “I’m absolutely ecstatic,” said Hankey. “I didn’t know what to expect and it was so challenging.” Hankey admitted that Caine’s pace too much for him “I didn’t fight Michael Caine as I knew he was faster than me.”
Tom Bradshaw had a tough race defending his fourth place as Charles Bateman, Stephen Jelley and Glynn Geddie. “After three laps I had the front splitter stuck under the car so it was a tough race, but good fun,” said Bateman.
Ahmad Al-Harthy impressed many on his Pro-Am 1 debut, using his Formula Renault BARC track knowledge to his advantage as Ollie Jackson dropped down the field after a first corner collision left him with handling problems. Jonas Gelzinis showed promise in his first race before spinning off, allowing Tony Gilham through to challenge Al-Harthy for first place. With three laps to go Gilham made his move as he shot past the Oman racer under braking into the chicane.
Al-Harthy was happy with his result “I’m very proud to be on the podium in my first Porsche race. “It was a tough challenge.” he said. Gilham was also happy with his race despite lack of dry track time “I loved it, We’d not done any dry laps here and the car faded towards the end.”
Further down the field the Pro-Am 2 racers battled just as hard, Hazell and Parish running wheel to wheel for many laps before Hazell took the win, “It’s hard work when you’re 50,” joked Hazell. “I was just waiting for the chequered flag.” Parish was happy with the result. “That was really hard, but it was brilliant. The best fun I’ve had in a racing car.”
