Spike Goddard had a weekend to remember as he recorded his best-ever Porsche Carrera Cup result at the Norisring in Nuremberg, Germany.
Qualifying wasn’t the best session for the Australian as he finished seventeenth place in wet conditions, added to this was a three-position penalty following an incident at the last race out at the Lausitzring.
Starting from 20th place it was alway going to be hard for Goddard for the first race but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. With weather conditions much better the 22-year-old has soon gained three position on the opening lap. There was a brief moment of drama when he ‘kissed’ the ‘Wall of Fame’, thankfully he would escape with only a few scratches on his rear wing and wheel.
As he powered on he had soon moved in to thirteenth place as the chequered flag dropped, aided by Rolf Ineichen and Christopher Zöchling receiving drive-through-penalties. A disqualification for Matteo Carioli would mean that Goddard would be officially classed as twelfth place – his best finish to date.
Despite his pace, a poor start in the second race would see Goddard struggle as he looked to make back positions and limit the damage done at the beginning of the race. A nose-to-tail fight with Pepe Massot would provide a highlight of the race that would see the Australian finish in an eventual seventeenth place.
“All in all it was a very good weekend”, said Spike. “It is always easy to damage the car around the Norisring, because it is a tight street circuit with long fast straights and heavy braking into two hair pin corners and everyone is really racing on the limit. To finish in position 12 here is a great result and it just shows that I am more and more confident with the car and with what I am doing. I am very excited to race again next weekend at Silverstone, a track that I really like and is effectively my home track.”
Goddard’s next outing is at the British Grand Prix supporting Mobil 1 Supercup race this coming weekend.
