The Porsche Carrera Cup GB of 2016 is beginning to look more and more enticing with every passing session. Dino Zamparelli (GT Marques) and Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) shared the spoils at an occasionally soggy Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit today.
However, a far truer picture must be gathered from the afternoon session’s times, up to fifteen seconds faster than a morning event disrupted by inclement weather.
So, what have we learnt from Friday?
Cammish is the man to beat
Dan Cammish is fired up after losing the opening round of the 2016 season to Dino Zamparelli and a track limits time penalty. Second fastest in the morning’s running, he was fastest by over two-tenths in the dry afternoon running and was fiercely competitive in a one-off Porsche Mobil1 Supercup outing last July. IF he is going to dominate 2016, his season starts here.
Eastwood and Gelzinis Look Good
Charlie Eastwood (Redline Racing) was second fastest and held over half a second over his nearest competitor on Friday afternoon. This tells us that A: Eastwood is set for considerable success this weekend and B: Redline Racing have got the set-up bang on. Jonas Gelzinis was third for Juta Racing but his race rustiness was what cost him a fair chance of success at Brands Hatch two weeks ago. That re-acclimatisation complete, he will be out for podiums this weekend.
McKay’s Rule in Pro-Am1
Dan McKay led Euan McKay in the valid afternoon running within the Pro-Am1 classification and In2Racing, like Redline in the Pro category, seem to have their cars tailored to the unique Silverstone Grand Prix layout. Behind it is Sean Hudspeth (Parr Motorsport) who was a mere half a second off the lead McKay and the Singaporean is starting to emerge as an unlikely class favourite.
Pro-Am2 still wide open
By contrast, the Pro-Am2 class is far harder to piece together, Tautvydas Barstys has been quick for Juta and topped the afternoon times today. However, In2Racing served up a huge surprise in Salih Yoluc who was second fastest Pro-Am2, a second slower than Barstys but over a second quicker than Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport), a class regular.
Ready for the weekend?
So attention turns to the qualifying (Saturday – 10:10am) and race (one: Saturday – 12:55pm and two: Sunday – 09:10am) action this weekend. The unique challenges presented by such a long layout and such a pressurised weekend on the World Endurance Championship platform, could make round two crucial in the destiny of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB’s three titles in 2016. So far, it is momentum to Dan Cammish, Dan McKay and Tautvydas Barstys. Time to keep the championship ball rolling…
