Another race, another winner… the 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season is showing that it isn’t as clear cut as it seemed heading in to the new season with Lewis Plato picking up his maiden victory in the second race at Donington Park.
With Tio Ellinas securing victory in the first race of the weekend, the Cypriot pulled the number 5 at random on the podium, meaning Plato would start from pole position for the 33 lap extravaganza.
Off of the grid Plato held the early advantage, leading the field in to Redgate, JTR team mate Dan Harper made a move on Tom Wrigley, securing second place, while Dino Zamparelli slotted in to fourth ahead of Ellinas in fifth.
On the second lap Harper would slip back down the order with damage to his car, first Wrigley overtook in to second place, then Zamparelli in to third.
As the field came through Coppice, George Gamble and Jamie Orton collided, both losing places, but rejoining the race.
By lap five Harper was falling down the standings, Pro Am class leader Rory Collingbourne took advantage of this heading in to the chicane. Lap nine would see further misery for the Porsche Junior as he collided with Seb Perez, both spinning, but once again, both rejoining the track to continue their race.
Credit: Porsche
A battle was breaking out for the Pro Am lead with Collingbourne and Dan Vaughan fighting for position, swapping places along the way, this was until they collided in the final corner, with Collingbourne’s race ending in the gravel trap; a safety car period was called while the stricken Porsche was recovered.
As a result of the incident, Vaughan would receive a six-place penalty for the next round while rookies Gamble and Esmee Hawkey were both excluded from the results after overtaking the Safety car.
With thirteen laps to go, the safety car came in and the racing resumed, Peter Kyle-Henney and Peter Mangion battled for the Am class victory, swapping positions throughout, but Mangion managing to get the upper hand by the end of the race to take the class win.
Gary Eastwood fought hard in the closing stages and finally made it passed Shamus Jennings for the final podium place in the Am class.
Following the safety car period the leaders were bunched up, Plato, Wrigley, Zamparelli and Ellinas all looked like they could challenge for victory, the only thing holding them back was a temporary yellow flag at Coppice to recover the Porsche of Fraser Robertson who had beached in the gravel trap.
As the chequered flag neared, the gap was just 1.2 seconds for the top four places, Plato would hold strong and lead home the following three cars, taking his maiden victory in Carrera Cup GB.
Pro Am was claimed by Orton who finished ahead of Seb Perez and Justin Sherwood. Team of the weekend went to the JTR team.
