Porsche Club Motorsport delivered two exciting races on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on Saturday July 30th, as all three of their race series combined to provide two superb grids of Porsches. Kevin Harrison and Pete Morris took the two outright wins with Colin Tester a double winner in class two of the Petro-Canada Lubricants Porsche Club Championship with Pirelli.
Tim Bates was another double winner as he continued his fine vein of form in the Autofarm 911 Challenge, while it was Darren Labbett and Pete Evans who shared the Autofarm Boxster Cup race wins.
Race One
On pole for the first time since 2001, Kevin Harrison got away well and led the large field into the first corner, Chris Dyer second from Pete Morris and Simon Clark. The lead four eased away from fifth placed Bill Caley, Morris getting ahead of Dyer for second on lap two only to briefly slip back to third before once more getting past.
By lap five Clark was looking for a way past Dyer, while a fastest lap from Morris had seem him close right up on leader Harrison. Two laps later Clark was into third, Dyer having spun as the pair touched and re-joining right in front of Clark, who powered past.
Once into third Clark closed on Morris, who lost ground on lap eight and finished the lap back in third with a gap to the lead pair. Behind, Dyer was with Caley and claimed fourth, as in the final laps Harrison led them through back markers and held off the closing Clark to take a well-deserved win.
“There was pressure all the way, but it was good fun though!” said Harrison. “We caught a clutch of Boxster’s right at the end, but they were all really good and let us through, I had to be defensive in the last couple of laps but held on.”
In class two of the Porsche Club Championship Colin Tester had Paul Simpson right with him early on, but was able to ease away from his class rivals. Simpson ran second until lap five when a moment saw him lose places, Angus Archer moving into second with Oliver Chatham now third.
They finished in that order, Tester taking his third win of the season, Archer second ahead of Chatham, Simpson recovering to fourth in class.
“I got a good start and was side-by-side with Paul Simpson,” said Tester, “but a car had a spin in front of us and that helped me to pull away, but always good to take a win.”
The 911 Challenge and Boxster Cup fields had their own grid and it was the 911 of Tim Bates on pole, and he got away well and was quickly amongst the tail of the Porsche Club Championship field, class rival James Neal’s 964 taking advantage of the traffic to dive past and claim the 911 Challenge lead. Neal drove well to hold off Bates over the next few laps, but spun exiting a corner to allow Bates past.
Bates went onto to continue his 2022 winning streak, Neal holding onto second while Nathan Luckey, who had pitted his 964 RS N/GT early on, recovered to take the final podium slot at the end of the 25 minutes.
“I got a good start and beat James off the start, but when I caught the class two cars James went round the outside. He was driving really well but I kept him under pressure, and I got by when he made a mistake,”
The Boxster Cup lead battle was as intense as ever, with Pete Evans leading at the end of the opening lap before tumbling to the rear of the lead group two laps later as Darren King came though ahead of Darren Labbett and Shiraz Khan. That the tone for rest of the race with places changing lap by lap, King losing the lead to Labbett on lap seven, as Evans got back into third with Mike Thompson now part of the group.
In the final laps Labbett was able to just pull enough of a gap to hold on for his second win of the season, team-mate King holding onto second. Shiraz had dropped to fourth but got past Evans with two laps to go to take third in just his third race, Evans fourth.
“We were changing places for the lead so many times,” said Labbett. “It is so much less stressful being second and trying to get past than actually leading! I think I took the lead four times and was the one leading at the end - so over the moon with that, great to be on the Silverstone podium.
Race Two
Harrison was on pole for the second race at the end of a busy Silverstone race day, and once again got away well, Clark slotting into second from Morris and Dyer. The lead four were lapping close together and it became five cars mid-race as Caley closed in, no one getting a clear opportunity to take a place.
Clark was the first to blink as he dropped to fourth on lap six, Caley also going off on the same lap. Morris now had the leader in his sights and finally got past heading into Stowe corner at the end of the long back straight and held on for the remaining two laps to take his third win of the season, Harrison second with Dyer claiming the final podium place.
“As the race went on, I realised the tyres were staying good and I could push the whole race,” said Morris. “I was able to pick them off one by one and I was pushing Kevin hard and got a run down the straight, but I think he missed a gear and it’s just rude then not to go past.”
Tester was once again the pick of the class two runners, leading the class early on and even managing to put class one cars between himself and his rivals in the middle part of the race. This time round it was Andrew Porter leading the chase with Paul Simpson running in third.
As the race progressed Tester lost his shield of class one cars, but Porter was unable to close in and lead two finished in that order, Simpson holding onto third despite the close attentions of Archer in the final laps.
“It was a bit like race one,” said Tester, “but I had two class one cars between us for a while and that really helped. I ended up with a nice gap back to second, we slightly tweaked the car between races and it really paid off.”
Once more Bates got away well to head the 911 Challenge field, Neal giving chase before going off with two laps to go which saw David Harrison take second in the 964 RS N/GT raced by Luckey in race one.
“Always nice to win at Silverstone,” said Bates. “The car has been great today and two wins just shows its pace.”
Darren King enhanced his reputation for leading Boxster Cup races by heading that field early on, as ever with a clutch of cars right with him, Evans in second from Wayne Gregory, Labbett and Khan. As ever, places were changing lap by lap. Evans going ahead on lap four in a move which proved decisive.
He stayed clear until the end to boost his championship points tally, Khan coming on strong in the final laps to take second, as Gregory claimed third.
“A couple of cars came together and let gave me the gap I needed,” said Evans. “It was tough, I had cars coming back at me right at the end and I had to work for that but really pleased with another win.”
Results:
Race One
Petro-Canada Lubricants Porsche Club Championship with Pirelli:
1 Kevin Harrison (996 C2) 11 Laps.
2 Simon Clark (996 C2) +0.259.
3 Pete Morris (997 C2S).
4 Chris Dyer (Cayman S).
Class Two:
1 Colin Tester (Boxster S);
2 Angus Archer (Boxster S);
3 Oliver Chatham (Boxster S);
4 Paul Simpson (Boxster S).
Fastest Lap: Morris 2m20.617s (93.71mph)
Autofarm 911 Challenge:
1 Tim Bates (911) 11 Laps;
2 James Neal (964);
3 Nathan Lucky (964 RS N/GT).
Fastest Lap: Bates 2m24.579s (91.14mph).
Autofarm Boxster Cup: 1 Darren Labbett (Boxster S) 11 Laps;
2 Darren King (Boxster S);
3 Shiraz Khan (Boxster S);
4 Pete Evans (Boxster S).
Fastest Lap: Evans 2m31.560s (86.94mph)
Race Two
Petro-Canada Lubricants Porsche Club Championship with Pirelli:
1 Morris (997 C2S) 11 Laps;
2 Harrison (996 C2)
3 Dyer (Cayman S)
4 Clark (996 C2)
Class Two:
1 Tester (Boxster S)
2 Andrew Porter (Boxster S)
3 Simpson (Boxster S)
4 Archer (Boxster S)
Fastest Lap: Clark 2m21.842s (92.90mph).
Autofarm 911 Challenge:
1 Bates (11 Laps);
2 David Harrison ((64 RS N/GT).
Fastest Lap: Bates 2m27.409s (89.39mph).
Autofarm Boxster Cup:
1 Evans 11 Laps - (Boxster S)
2 Khan (Boxster S)
3 Wayne Gregory (Boxster S)
4 King (Boxster S)
Fastest Lap: Mike Thompson (Boxster S) 2m32.048s (86.66mph).
Porsche Club Motorsport are next racing at Brands Hatch, Kent, on September 17th.