Coming in to round five of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB 2010 Tim Harvey had an unbeaten run of four out of four race victories; in the rain of Brands Hatch this was all about to change as Michael Caine recorded his first win of the season.
After qualifying on pole position for the race Caine made a great start with Tim Harvey and the rest of the field in tow in the rainy conditions, amazingly the whole field completed the first lap incident free.
Lap two would see Tom Bradshaw charge past Charles Bateman and then around the outside of Stephen Jelley as they rounded Westfield, he would then set his sights on Glynn Geddie who was sitting in third place. The following lap Bradshaw would get good drive out of Paddock Hill bend, passing Geddie in to Druids. Geddie wasn’t about to give up though, as they headed to Surtees Geddie would push Bradshaw off the track, dropping Bradshaw down to twelfth and gifting Jelley third place. Tony Gilham would also get in to trouble at Surtees on the thrid lap with Ollie Jackson also spinning off track.
The top three positions would remain the same until the end of the race seeing Michael Caine break Tim Harvey’s perfect record along with Stephen Jelley securing his first podium of the year in his fifth race in the series. “It was one of those races where you had to be careful at the start and then get on it,” said Jelley after his podium finish
Following the race Caine would praise the team efforts in preparing his Porsche. “The car was fantastic and it was just a case of hanging on for the first five or six laps,” said Caine. “We’re pleased to get that first result.”
Harvey admitted that he couldn’t challenge Caine, “Michael was just the class of the field and I didn’t have anything for him at all, I expected several safety cars and so initially I wasn’t too concerned, but that never came.”
Glynn Geddie would be penalised for his move of Bradshaw being penalised three championship points for the incident.
Further down the field Jonas Gelzinis would drive another great race to take seventh overall and victory in the pro-am1 category ahead of Tony Gilham, who had recovered from his earlier off track excursion and Archie Hamilton. Series returnee Michael Leonard would record a twelfth place and fourth in class finish.
Ollie Jackson had a nightmare race after spinning twice at Surtees, “There was a river across the circuit at Surtees and it just picked the front of the car up. But I can’t believe I did it twice,” said Jackson who finished the race just behind Leonard.
Steve Parish battled it out with the pro-am1 drivers despite being in the pro-am2 class, driving a near perfect race to win his class by nearly fourteen seconds. “I’ve never driven in the rain like that before,” said Parish. “Fortunately, I got away and the guys behind me were mixing it. It was brilliant; I loved it! Glenn McMenamin would battle it out with Mark Hazell to take second and third respectivly.
Fastest laps of the race came from Tom Bradshaw, Ollie Jackson and Steve Parish.
