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Championship duel set to intensify at Cheshire’s challenging Oulton ParkPorsche Carrera Cup GB: Oulton Park, rounds five and six preview

The fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK will be speeding back to the TOCA package for rounds five and six after two rounds supporting the World Endurance Championship. The 24 car grid will take to the swoops and curves of Cheshire’s demanding Oulton Park for the next chapter in what is proving to be another exciting and hotly contested season.

The story of the season so far has been the unfolding duel for supremacy between defending champion Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) and Dino Zamparelli (GT Marques). Cammish’s tally of three wins from four races belies the close-fought nature of their contest, perhaps better illustrated by Zamparelli’s haul of three fastest laps which puts him comfortably ahead in the hunt for a Chopard Superfast Automatic. Neither driver has been away from the podium in eight races, and both are heading into the weekend focused on getting an advantage over the other after the previous two rounds at Silverstone.

Cammish: ”For the second race at Silverstone we took the setup of the car in a direction that compromised our race, but which should benefit us for the rest of the season.”

Zamparelli: “We really needed Silverstone, it was a long race on a big circuit and we were right there at the end, pushing hard all the way. The car is really good and we’ll use our time to work on making sure we can be more consistent with our ultimate pace.”

If the duo’s run of one-two finishes continues at Oulton Park, it will equal the all-time Carrera Cup GB record of six in a row. Looking to prevent this is a host of new drivers and seasoned campaigners that have already shown serious pace. Keen to lead the charge at his local circuit will be Tom Oliphant (Team Redline) who, together with team mate Lewis Plato, has produced some thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing with reigning Rookie Champion Tom Sharp (IDL Racing) and long-standing front-runner Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing).

Leading the Rookie category for drivers aged 17 to 24 and new to the championship is 2016/17 Porsche Scholar Charlie Eastwood (Redline Racing). Gaining valuable experience every lap, Eastwood is establishing himself as a consistent top three prospect, with strong showings in the first four rounds despite conditions that were challenging even for the most experienced of runners.

Hot on the heels of the Pro category are the Pro-Am1 contenders, who arrive at Oulton Park with just four points separating the top three. Currently holding the advantage is John McCullagh (Redline Racing), the reigning Pro-Am2 champion validated in his last-minute decision to step up a category for 2016 with two wins to date.

However, mixed fortunes have been the order of the season so far in Pro-Am1. Newcomers Sean Hudspeth (Parr Motorsport) and Euan McKay (IN2 Racing) have shown strong pace to take a win apiece but, like the more experienced McCullagh, have found that the exceptionally close racing makes consistent results even harder to achieve.

Pro-Am2 looks poised for another classic race weekend as a scant three-point margin separates the top three with four rounds gone. Impressing in his first season, Mark Radcliffe (Intersport Racing) is one to watch after winning twice to earn a two-point cushion at the head of the category. The more experienced Tautvydas Barstys (Juta Racing) and Iain Dockerill (Asset Advantage Racing) are hot on his heels after taking one win each and will be looking to put their knowledge to good use around Oulton Park’s seven turns.

The Island circuit is a favourite with drivers, the undulations providing a driving challenge reminiscent of the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. This flowing nature makes overtaking more of a challenge than on most circuits, which will place the emphasis on qualifying – the past six races at Oulton Park have all been won from pole position. The question will be whether Cammish can continue his perfect run of 2016 pole positions, or whether Zamparelli will be able to harness his one-lap speed to lead the grid away for rounds five and six.

Follow the battle for the championship at @CarreraCupGB on Twitter and @carreracupgb on Instagram.

Points standings
1.	Dan Cammish	Redline Racing	81
2.	Dino Zamparelli	GT Marques	77
3.	Charlie Eastwood	Redline Racing	56
Pro-Am1
1.	John McCullagh	Redline Racing	31
2.	Sean Hudspeth	Parr Motorsport	29
3.	Euan McKay	IN2 Racing	27
Pro-Am2
1.	Mark Radcliffe	Intersport Racing	33
2.	Tautvydas Barstys	Juta Racing	31
3.	Iain Dockerill	Asset Advantage Racing	30

Ends

For more information, please contact the Porsche press office team:

Kate Gregory	Press Office Assistant
Email	kate.gregory@porsche.co.uk
Tel	0118 916 5050
Rob Durrant	Motorsport Press Officer
E-mail	rob.durrant@porsche.co.uk
Tel	0118 925 2855
Mobile	07342 084 853
Rob Punshon	Senior Press Officer
E-mail	rob.punshon@porsche.co.uk
Tel	0118 925 2733
Mobile	07881 008950
Nick Perry	Product Affairs Manager
Email	nick.perry@porsche.co.uk
Tel	0118 925 2721
Mobile	07775 860 291
Angus Fitton	Head of PR
Email	angus.fitton@porsche.co.uk
Tel	0118 925 2720
Mobile	07824 623 874
Press website	https://presse.porsche.de and porsche-press.co.uk
Press email	press@porsche.co.uk
Press Twitter	@PorscheGB @CarreraCupGB
Porsche News	newsroom.porsche.com

Editors’ Note:

Porsche can claim more than 30,000 race victories in almost every motor sports series worldwide, and while many of these successes have been achieved with immensely powerful specialist race cars like the evocative 917 and 956, the iconic 911 sports coupe is the bedrock on which the peerless racing reputation of the Stuttgart marque has been built.

The 911 demonstrates perfectly the Porsche philosophy of not only building sports cars in order to win races, but also to gain development know-how that can be incorporated into the evolution of its road cars. Successive generations of the rear-engined 911 have been honed on the race circuit since its debut in 1963, with customers benefitting from continuous improvements in key dynamic areas such as engine performance, braking and aerodynamics.

Porsche is the world's largest manufacturer of racing cars; the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car competes in the Mobil1 Supercup, the world’s fastest international one-make Championship, which supports Formula One Grands Prix. The 911 GT3 Cup also entertains spectators around the world racing in the many domestic Carrera Cup Championships in Germany, Asia, France, Italy, Japan, Scandinavia and Great Britain. The all-new GT3 R is the first step for drivers moving up to GT racing, while the 911 RSR is the standard-bearer for the Porsche Works teams in international blue riband events like Daytona and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

With a record number of overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans history. In 2014, Porsche returned to Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the factory-run 919 Hybrid sports prototype race car in the top LMP1 category, and scored its first outright victory in its debut WEC season in the final race in Brazil.

The 919 Hybrid LMP1 proves the ‘downsizing’ concept in featuring a unique two-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, supplemented by two energy recovery systems, which combined develop almost 900 hp.

Porsche scored its 17th and latest success in Le Mans last June when Britain’s Nick Tandy, New Zealand driver Earl Bamber and German F1 star Nico Hulkenberg took the chequered flag in their 919 Hybrid LMP1 after 24 hours of flat out racing. Chasing this trio across the line was the second 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley (New Zealand), Mark Webber (Australia) and Timo Bernhard (Germany) to deliver a 1-2 result for the Stuttgart team. This trio ultimately clinched the 2015 Drivers’ World Endurance Championship, and the WEC Manufacturers’ Championship, for Porsche.

27/5/2016