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Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain, Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Donington Park – rounds three and four reports, Race report
Eastwood does the double to take championship lead at Donington

A return to Donington Park for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB delivered a dramatic weekend of racing around the swoops and curves of the Leicestershire circuit. The 22 car field was headed in both races by Porsche GB 2016 / 2017 Scholar Charlie Eastwood (Redline Racing), who swept into the lead of the 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship in fine style with double victories.

Not giving up his championship lead easily, double champion Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) put in a spell-binding performance to come back from a compromised qualifying session that leaves him just four points behind Eastwood. Throughout the grid, superb racing and brave overtaking kept onlookers on the edges of their seats right up to the moment the final flag fell.

Race one

Blue skies greeted a race that saw thrilling racing throughout the 22 car Porsche Carrera Cup GB grid, fulfilling the promise of a dramatic qualifying session. Porsche GB 2016 / 2017 Scholar Charlie Eastwood led from lights to flag to take his second championship victory, and first of the season. Behind Eastwood, the most remarkable effort of many belonged to reigning champion Dan Cammish (Redline Racing). Despite a qualifying session that left him 10th on the grid, Cammish gave what he described as one of the best performances of his career to achieve the seemingly impossible – a podium finish.

From the moment the lights went green the race produced plenty of action and made good on the promise of qualifying. Eastwood fended off an early charge from Lewis Plato (JTR), who held position alongside the Irishman off the rolling start all the way into the Craner Curves. Plato tucked in behind and the pair succeeded in putting some welcome distance between themselves and the chasing pack, which over the opening laps was separated by less than a second.

A series of blistering laps from Eastwood saw him earn some breathing space which he managed carefully to the chequered flag, always seeming to have something in reserve to respond to the various challenges from behind. Plato slipped back into the clutches of third-placed Zamparelli, the ensuing battle allowing Tom Oliphant (Redline Racing) to close up on Zamparelli and challenge once again, before being shuffled back in the close-running pack.

Meanwhile, Cammish had been steadily working his way forward after passing two cars on the opening lap, and by half distance his next target was Euan McKay (Redline Racing), the Scottish driver up to a career-best fourth and setting fastest lap on his way.

Ahead, Zamparelli was making a break to close up on Plato and after two laps of precision racing from the pair, Zamparelli made his move. The Bristolian held a brave outside line at Redgate and squeezed into second with millimetres to spare after Plato had moved to defend the inside line on the way in. Moments later, Euan McKay fell prey to Cammish who took over fourth at the chicane, while Rookie Tom Wrigley (IN2 Racing) made the best of the resulting shuffle to claim back a fine fifth with Euan McKay sixth.

Cammish wasted no time in setting after Plato, beginning his move for third at Redgate and completing it as the pair headed side-by-side into Hollywood. Not done there, traffic allowed Cammish to close to within a second of Zamparelli, but running out of laps his incredible drive ended with a hard-earned podium. Zamparelli himself had set fastest lap of the race in his pursuit of Eastwood, but could get no closer than 1.2 seconds at the flag. Due to a technical infringement, both Zamparelli and Plato were excluded from the final results, promoting Cammish to second and a delighted Wigley to his first Porsche podium in just his third race.

In his first appearance of 2017, Peter Jennings (G-Cat Racing) came through a race-long contest with Alex Martin (Team Parker Racing) to take his first Pro-Am1 category victory. Martin claimed the fastest lap of the race, but was unable to respond to Jennings after being wrong-footed by a battle with the Pro category runners ahead. The category podium was rounded out by Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing), the local driver not disappointing on a circuit where he took a category win at the championship’s last visit in 2014.

In Pro-Am2, Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing) managed to shrug off his Brands Hatch misfortune to convert his practice and qualifying pace into a strong category win. Showing an impressive turn of speed, not just on track but also at learning the 911 GT3 Cup, was Rookie David Fairbrother (Slidesports). In just his third Porsche Carrera Cup GB race, Fairbrother picked his way through the action to claim second in category and second spot in the Pro-Am2 championship.

Returning to the category podium in the final position was Peter Parsons (The Race Car Centre). Despite only stepping onto the podium for the first time at the start of 2017, his third podium in three races puts Parsons in the lead of the category championship going into round four.

Race two

Porsche GB 2016 / 2017 Scholar Charlie Eastwood (Redline Racing), converted his third championship pole position into an unchallenged drive to the flag for maximum points across the weekend.

While Eastwood stretched away at the front, he was unaware of the race that was unfolding behind him over the shortened 23 lap distance. Lewis Plato (JTR) made a good start, but team mate Zamparelli’s was even better. Zamparelli switched back to the outside for the first corner, which allowed the similarly fast starting Tom Oliphant (Redline Racing) to pass Zamparelli before having a look at Plato for good measure.

The pack fell into order, with Tio Ellinas (JTR) hounding Zamparelli for fourth, and Oliphant looking racy behind Plato for second. After looking around the outside of Redgate, Oliphant took second with a move on the approach to the chicane on lap two. This was short lived as Plato took the place back just one corner later, but a mistake for Plato at Coppice allowed Oliphant to reverse the positions once again and settle into second.

While the gap between Oliphant and Eastwood upfront stabilised, third placed Plato found himself in clean air with the main battle focusing on Zamparelli and Ellinas for fourth. This allowed Euan McKay (Redline Racing) and Rookie Tom Wrigley (IN2 Racing) to close right up, and brought a flying Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) into play.

Cammish had relentlessly been working his way through the field and by the fourth lap had already moved from 20th to 10th, and showed no sign of letting up. By mid-distance he had taken Euan McKay for sixth into Redgate, and on the next lap made the same move on Ellinas for fifth.

As Cammish set after Zamparelli, Oliphant was slowly falling back into the clutches of Plato, a slide at the Craner Curves caught beautifully, but giving Plato renewed hope. On lap 15, Plato passed Oliphant into Redgate for the final time, holding second to the flag and closing to within just 1.2 seconds of Eastwood.

Oliphant tried to retaliate around the Craner Curves, much as Plato had managed successfully earlier in the race, but lost momentum and ended up being shuffled down to sixth. The gainers were Zamparelli, who fought off an attacking Cammish through traffic to hold third with Cammish an impressive fourth, while Ellinas took fifth.

In Pro-Am1, Alex Martin (Team Parker Racing) managed to keep himself ahead of round three winner Peter Jennings (G-Cat Racing) to take his second category win of the season, while Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) once again added to his points tally in third. Holding third in the championship, however, was Graeme Mundy (Team Parker Racing) with another solid finish to make up for his round three disappointment.

The battling Pro-Am2 category was once again headed by Peter Kyle-Henney (IN2 Racing), the 2016 category runner-up showing his potential for 2017 and being awarded ‘Driver of the Weekend’. In second place was Shamus Jennings (G-Cat Racing), who had fought off category leader Peter Parsons (The Race Car Centre) to earn his place. Parsons made contact with Iain Dockerill (Asset Advantage Racing) on the final lap to allow Rupert Martin (Team Parker Racing) through for his second category podium of 2017. Showing how competitive Pro-Am2 is, the top three drivers leave Donington tied on points.

Championship positions

Overall:
Charlie Eastwood Redline Racing 76
Dan Cammish Redline Racing 72
Tom Oliphant Redline Racing 47

Pro-Am1:
Alex Martin Team Parker Racing 38
Justin Sherwood Team Parker Racing 32
Graeme Mundy Team Parker Racing 21

Pro-Am2:
Shamus Jennings G-Cat Racing 28
David Fairbrother Slidesports 28
Rupert Martin Team Parker Racing 28



The reports of previous seasons can be found in our news archive.