Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) spent the first twenty two laps of round thirteen of the 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup GB in complete control at Silverstone. Having forced his championship leading team-mate Charlie Eastwood into an error at Becketts on the opening lap, after the Irish driver had made a better start and stolen the lead from the pole sitter, Cammish was unstoppable at the head of the order. Until a fire lit up the rear of his Type 991 GT3 Cup and all but ended his aspirations of a historic third title.
Through to pick up the pieces of Cammish’s atrocious luck came Dino Zamparelli, who headed a JTR one, two, four at the chequered flag. Zamparelli’s second success of the day was hard earned, having spent the early running behind his stablemate Tio Ellinas and Eastwood.
Stern defensive work by Eastwood allowed him to maintain his grip on second, until mid-distance. A daring move by Ellinas into Copse allowed him ahead of Eastwood, but pushed both wide, and an opportunistic Zamparelli need not be asked twice to sweep into second.
Subsequent to Cammish’s bonfire exit, the top three order was unchanged. Lewis Plato gave JTR further reason for cheer claiming an impressive fourth position. Tom Oliphant headed a Redline trio, with Euan McKay emerging from a fierce fight for sixth ahead of sibling Dan. Tom Wrigley (In2Racing), Ross Wylie (Slidesports) and Jamie Orton (In2Racing) completed both the top ten and the Pro classification.
Alex Martin once again bested Karl Leonard in the Team Parker Racing benefit that was Pro-Am1, however this time Martin’s success came not from overtaking prowess but instead from Leonard’s over exuberant use of track limits that was punished with a fifteen second penalty. John McCullagh (Redline) kept Graeme Mundy (Parker) at bay as former points leader Justin Sherwood (Parker) lost his championship advantage with a puncture.
It was super eight for Peter Kyle-Henney (In2Racing) in Pro-Am2, as Shamus Jennings narrowly maintained the points advantage with second for G-Cat Racing. David Fairbrother (Slidesports) completed the class podium, with Ian Dockerill (Asset Advantage Racing) and Rupert Martin (Parker) the final class classified finishers. Matt Telling’s awful weekend for Welch Motorsport came to a maligned close with his car coming to a halt on the green flag lap.
To Finals Day at Brands Hatch, and all three class crowns are very much up for grabs. On dropped scores but four points separate Eastwood and Zamparelli, the largest margin between first and second in each of the individual classes. Only three points split Martin and Sherwood in Pro-Am1, with Jennings and Kyle-Henney split by the same margin in Pro-Am2. Two races, three champions to crown as part one of the Type 991 era draws to a spectacular close.
Full results from all of the TOCA action this weekend at Silverstone can be found here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/173703
