James Sutton made it three wins in a row in round 17 of the 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Rockingham today (Saturday 19 September 2009). Sutton held off his Red Line Racing team mate Tim Harvey to win as Harvey edged his title lead out to 10 points with three races remaining.

Robert Lawson swept back to the head of the pro-am1 standings with a category victory, while Steve Parish took pro-am2 victory on his debut race in the championship.

Sutton got the jump on Harvey off the grid as Tim Bridgman (Team Parker Racing) and Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) slotted into third and fourth. This quartet quickly went clear of the pack and ran nose-to-tail for much of the race. With the cars so evenly matched, the places did not change, but the result was always in doubt as Harvey shadowed Sutton and Caine challenged Bridgman.

"It was very hard work," admitted Sutton. "At one stage I thought I'd got the jump on Tim, but he came back at me." Harvey, however, had championship points uppermost in his mind. "I wasn't going to do anything silly," said Harvey. "We just needed to get our heads down and stay away." Over the second half of the race Caine was constantly looking for a chance to pass Bridgman, but that was how it stayed to the flag, although they ran side by side into Brook on one lap. "It was just an average race and I didn't get a great start," said Bridgman.

Fifth overall and a commanding pro-am1 victory went to Robert Lawson (JHR), who kept ahead of the class battling to score an important victory. "It was a case of watching the mirrors and monitoring the gap," said Lawson. His result became even more important when his key title rivals Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing) and Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing) both failed to finish. Initially, Gilham ran second from Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance) and Geddie. Then, under braking for Deene on lap seven, Geddie dived inside Jackson and unfortunately ran into the side of Gilham, who was out straightaway. Geddie tried to struggle on after a pit stop, but was later given the black and orange flag due to suspension damage. That ensured second place in pro-am1 for Jackson after a strong race to sixth overall. "That was hard work, but it couldn't have gone better," said Jackson.

Third in pro-am1 finally went to championship newcomer Alex Martin (GT Marques), despite a couple of first lap moments. He then thought he had a drive through penalty when he struggled to see the numbers being shown on the start gantry, so visited the pits as a precaution. He quickly rejoined and took third when Tommy Dreelan (Celtic Speed) picked up a puncture late in the race.

The pro-am2 result was heavily affected by the same drive through issue as early leader Glenn McMenamin (Parr Motorsport) also dived into the pits in error. With Paul Hogarth (IN2Racing) out after swiping the wall Turn 1, Steve Parish (Motorbase Performance) scored a famous win, first time out. "I was just trying to take it easy," said Parish. "I just wanted to stay out of trouble and it paid off." A frustrated McMenamin rejoined and charged back through to second, passing Paul Mace (GT Marques) in the closing stages as Mace struggled without a front splitter. However, Mace was later excluded from the results over a flag infringement.