Euan Hankey Leading The Porsche Field At Rockingham
Euan Hankey dominated proceedings in Round Fourteen of the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Rockingham, the Parker with Juta driver taking an emphatic lights to flag win ahead of championship leader Michael Meadows.
Hankey proved he would be a force to be reckoned with in qualifying, where he stormed to pole position for both races. Behind him on the grid for race one was championship contenders Meadows, James Sutton and Stephen Jelley.
A peach of a start saw Hankey lead through the opening lap and it proved that he was never to be beaten. Behind, Meadows slotted into second, with Jelley briefly passing SAS/Redline's Sutton, though the latter worked his way back past around the outside at Deene Hairpin.
Hankey proved untouchable and pulled a three second gap with ease, controlling the race and coming home for his fourth win of the season. SAS/Redline racer Meadows ran in a comfortable second to maintain his championship lead, while there was fighting behind for third. Sutton started coming under pressure from Team Parker Racing's Richard Plant, the rookie passing Jelley early on and working on chasing down Sutton, but he managed to hold on for his eleventh podium of the season.
Plant took an impressive fourth, with Jelley fifth ahead of the impressive Kieran Vernon, taking a seasons best sixth place for Nationwide/Motorbase. Behind, Pro-Am1 winner Jonas Gelzinis came seventh, but not without controversy, after being tapped wide on the final lap by Benji Hetherington, losing the place to the Scholarship winner, before the stewards awarded Hetherington a small time penalty to reverse the positions.
There was drama for the remaining Pro-Am1 podium places too, with Derek Pierce overcoming first lap contact with Ahmad Al Harthy to take second from Rory Butcher, who was forced to pit with a puncture. Pierce held the place until the final lap when contact between himself and team-mate Alex Martin sent them both spinning. George Richardson benefitted to take second, despite the Motorbase Performance driver suffering from a slow puncture, with Pierce recovering for third.
In Pro-Am 2, Yucel Ozbek drove a faultless race for Redline Racing to win the class for the first time. After George Brewster was delayed after being tapped off on the first lap, Steve Parish held off Keith Webster to take second, with Redline Racing's Webster holding third.
