Michael Meadows and Dean Stoneman claimed one win apiece in an exciting penultimate weekend of the 2013 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Silverstone during the last weekend in September.
Meadows started both races from pole having dominated qualifying but as the lights went out for round 17 of the series it was his fellow front row starter Dan Lloyd who made the best getaway to lead the pack into Copse corner.
However, Meadows refused to allow Lloyd to break clear and shadowed him in the early stages. Then on lap seven, he made the decisive move, sweeping around the outside of Lloyd at Brooklands to take the lead, which he would not relinquish for the rest of the race.
Of the victory he said: “That feels good: it’s a really good result. The pace at the start wasn’t that great but the car was fantastic just when I needed it. I’m really happy with another win and good championship points.”
Behind the lead two, battle raged between Butcher and Stoneman for third place as the two exchanged positions numerous times and even made contact on a couple of occasions. Eventually Butcher made a move stick and pulled clear.
He then set off in pursuit of Lloyd who by this point had begun to struggle with tyre wear.
As Meadows cruised to his eighth win of the season, all eyes were on the duel for second as Butcher launched a last lap attack on Lloyd at Luffield. The pair ran side by side across the line with Lloyd just holding on by 0.021 seconds.
Lloyd said: “Michael (Meadows) had the edge, but I did what I could. He got a run on me out of Becketts and down to Brooklands. On the last lap, Rory (Butcher) got up the inside into Luffield and it was so hard to hold him off on the race to the line.”
Butcher said: “I made a stupid mistake on lap one and lost a place to Dean. He did a good job of defending and I should have got back past Dean sooner. Then I almost got Dan on the line but he did a good job of holding me off.”
Stoneman was fourth ahead of Gelzinis who lost ground in the title fight by only managing to finish in fifth position.
Dan De Zille was victorious in Pro-Am1, ahead of Victor Jiminez while Carrera Cup debutant Steven Brewster completed the category podium.
While in Pro-Am2 Pete Smallwood won despite a spin.
In the GT3 Cup Challenge series, newly crowned champion Justin Sherwood claimed a dominant victory from Peter Kyle-Henney and Kelvin Fletcher.
Round 18 belonged to Stoneman as he produced a dominant display to win for the fourth time this season.
Meadows was once again beaten off the line and into Copse from pole by the man he shared the front row of the grid with. This time it was Stoneman who had claimed that honour based on his second fastest time in qualifying.
Once in the lead Stoneman controlled the pace of the race but was kept honest throughout by championship leader Meadows. At the flag, just 1.4 seconds separated the pair.
Stoneman said: “I’m pleased to come here and do a good job. I’ve cracked the start in these cars and I knew Michael wasn’t going to take any risks. The car was good and I had strong pace all the way through.”
Second place was good enough to see Meadows extend his championship lead to 17 points. He said: “Dean’s had good starts this season and I knew if he got me off the line it would be difficult. I didn’t want to pressure him too much and back us up into the pack. Dean’s not my concern in terms of the championship.”
Jonas Gelzinis was third to keep his title hopes alive, ahead of Rory Butcher as less than 2.5 seconds separated first to fourth at the flag.
Dan Lloyd was a distant fifth with James Birch rounding out the top six.
Victor Jiminez clinched the Pro-Am1 category title with victory, capitalising on the failure of his main rival Dan De Zille to make the start after a driveshaft failure on the parade lap.
In Pro-Am2 there was another win for Parr Motorsport’s Pete Smallwood.
While in the GT3 Cup Challenge Fletcher took his first win of the season from Guy Riall and Mark Cowne.
For the full classification, see here.
