Dorrington & Riga victorious at Silverstone

Race report by PorscheSport.com

The Porsche Club Great Britain Sim Racing Championship continues to entertain fans as Matthew Dorrington & Paul Riga claim victories at Silverstone. Clinching a second and third place, Ryan Parkins leads the championship after a thrilling Silverstone Round. The calendar this year features much shorter track layouts, with rounds 3 & 4 taking part on the international layout of Silverstone.

The shorter circuits, which have already been noted to aid the newer drivers in the series to learn the tracks, certainly provide for entertaining action. It was season one champion, Ryan Parkins, who placed his virtual 911 Cup Car on the front row of the 28 strong field.

The first race was characterised by close duels between the main title aspirants. Parkins cleared the first few corners from lights out, with Matthew Dorrington, Gavin Halls and Dan Bathie in hot pursuit. There was a clean getaway for the majority of the field on lap one, with only Garry Tall losing control in the opening stages.

Gavin Hall's unfortunate luck continued at Silverstone, with an internet issue causing him to leave the race in the opening stages. A fantastic battle between Ryan Parkins and Mathew Dorrington was incredibly close, Dorrington waited until lap twelve to make a clean move on the championship leader. Dan Bathie was uber consistent following closely behind the front pair and navigating the traffic superbly to come home in the final podium spot.

Due to the reverse starting order, it was Andrew Marston, Paul Riga and Angus Archer who made the most of the clear track in front of them for the second race. It was PorscheSport driver, Luke Holroyd who was involved in the early incidents. An unfortunate error by Holroyd under braking resulted in contact with Danny Jones and moments later, Holroyd and Andrew Marston had nowhere to go as a spinning 911 blocked their path.

By lap three, Matthew Dorrington, Ryan Parkins and Dan Bathie had worked their way up to the top five and looked set to replicate their race one results. Gary Tall, newcomer to the series who boasts an impressive iRacing score, held his own near the front of the field to claim sixth position. Paul Riga’s impressive performance gave him round four victory, after holding off Matthew Dorrington in second. Ryan Parkins came home in third with another newcomer, Patrick Charlton, rounding off the top four.

Comments on the race

Matthew Dorrington: “Yes really happy, that was a cracking race (Round 3 / Race 1), sat behind Ryan Parkins and I worked out where he was weak and where I was strong. I saw I was getting a slightly better drive off the back straight, so waited for the tiniest of mistakes from Ryan which just gave me the run. In the second race (Round 4) when the white flag did not come out I thought, this is on. I’m going to be on him (Paul Riga) come the last lap, but Paul put me in a position that I couldn't do anything with so cracking job by him and a brilliant drive.

Ryan Parkins: “It was so quick at the front, Dan Bathie was very close in both races. It was good fun, we were both on the same pace but Matthew Dorrington managed to overtake me. I’m really looking forward to the championship, I do like the shorter tracks but they can be a little bit weird, I don’t think I did any lap the same.

Result

Silverstone Round Three