Dean Stoneman made it two wins from two races this weekend at Brands Hatch as he took victory in the second round of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB on Sunday.
It was defending champion Michael Meadows who started from pole position but a poor getaway left him fourth by the time the pack exited Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. Stoneman who had started on the front row swept into the lead, while behind Rory Butcher pulled a lovely overtaking manoeuvre on Jonas Gelzinis at Druids to move into second. Dan Lloyd held fifth in the early stages and ran closely behind Meadows as the front five pulled away from the rest of the field.
On lap seven, there was drama in the leading train of cars as Butcher who had pressurised Stoneman in the early stages, made a small mistake exiting Paddock Hill Bend allowing Gelzinis to get a run on him. Butcher went defensive which slowed Gelzinis slightly and Meadows dived to the outside to mean that they were three abreast as they approached Druids. Butcher then ran Meadows out of road on the exit of the corner and as the Samsung Smart Motorsport driver was forced on to the grass he lost control and spun back across the track and into the barriers. He rejoined the circuit and limped back to the pits for repairs, losing a lap on the leaders in the process; he would end up finishing a rather lowly ninth.
Another result of the contact between Butcher and Meadows was that it allowed Gelzinis to move up to second place. He then quickly caught Stoneman and began to exert some pressure on the race leader. Despite looking the faster of the two drivers for much of the race Gelzinis was unable to find a way through as Stoneman defended expertly and the Lithuanian was forced to settle for second. As they crossed the line they were separated by just six tenths of a second.
“I got a good start and I was in control all the time. I just concentrated on bringing the car home,” said Stoneman.
“I drove a measured race and I was thinking about the championship,” said Gelzinis.
Behind the front two, Butcher and Lloyd battled hard and unlike the first race managed to avoid making contact. It was Lloyd who came out on top, impressively overtaking Butcher around the outside at Graham Hill Bend with ten laps remaining.
“It’s really difficult to pass round here, so to start P5 and finish on the podium is great,” said Lloyd.
Butcher followed Lloyd home to match his result from the first race, fourth. Richard Kent was fifth ahead of Dan De Zille in sixth.
Pro-Am1 was once again won by Victor Jiminez who was seventh overall after enjoying a race long scrap with De Zille. Kyle Barnes was eighth and second in the category, his first podium of the weekend. Meadows, as aforementioned, recovered to ninth with George Brewster tenth and third in Pro-Am1.
Meanwhile Pro-Am2 runner Peter Smallwood was forced to retire from the race with gearbox problems.
For the full race classification see here.
The championship continues in three weeks’ time on the weekend of the 20th/21st of April at Donington Park.
