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New records and fierce competition in prospect for 2016 season finalePorsche Carrera Cup GB: Brands Hatch GP, rounds fifteen and sixteen preview

The fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, returns to the historic Brands Hatch circuit for the final chapter of 2016, the same venue that opened the season back in March.

Last time out at Silverstone, reigning champion Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) became only the third driver in 14 years to secure back-to-back championships. Even by his high standards, 2016 has proven to be an outstanding season. Never short of motivation to win, at Brands Hatch Cammish has the opportunity to cement his position in Porsche Carrera Cup GB history by taking the highest number of wins in a season. The 2016 champion needs just one more victory to break the record he jointly holds with two-times champion Tim Harvey of 11 wins.

The stand-out performances of Cammish and his Redline Racing team have pushed the other drivers hard, with rounds 13 and 14 providing some of the closest racing of 2016.

One driver wanting to deny Cammish the record is Porsche GB 2016/2017 Scholar Charlie Eastwood (Redline Racing). A flat-spotted tyre in qualifying for rounds 13 and 14 could not prevent Eastwood charging to the podium from 11th on the grid. The 21-year-old laid claim to the 2016 Rookie championship with two fighting drives, and his late season form suggests he could be most likely to challenge for the top step.

Defending from the flying Eastwood for second in the championship, and the only driver other than Cammish to win a race in 2016, is Dino Zamparelli (GT Marques). Five fastest laps and three race wins have given the Bristol-based driver a 14 point advantage, and a podium finish in round 14 signalled a return to the early season form that saw him challenging for the championship lead.

Impressive recent performances from Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing) and Tom Oliphant (Team Redline), both second-place finishers this season, along with Lewis Plato (Team Redline) and Alessandro Latif (GT Marques) will make it tight at the top.

The Pro-Am1 contenders arrive with Euan McKay (IN2 Racing) crowned 2016 champion after taking eight wins in his maiden season. However, brother Dan McKay (IN2 Racing) is on a charge after winning the last two races, while Sean Hudspeth (Parr Motorsport) has moved into second place and will want to repeat the win he took last time out at Brands Hatch.

Another Brands Hatch Pro-Am1 winner on a charge will be John McCullagh (Redline Racing). The reigning Pro-Am2 champion will be challenging Hudspeth to reclaim his second place in the title race on a circuit that proved pivotal to his 2015 campaign.

The Pro-Am2 championship remains to be decided and a scant seven-point margin separates leader Tautvydas Barstys (Juta Racing) from Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport). With 24 points on offer, the impressive Mark Radcliffe (Intersport Racing) could also lay claim to the title, although his challenge, along with that of Kyle-Henney, was dented after the pair clashed while disputing the lead in round 14. Shamus Jennings (G-Cat Racing) will undoubtedly be a factor in the championship decider after climbing to the top step of the podium at Silverstone.

On a fast circuit with average speeds of over 100 mph, the competition looks set to be fierce. Cammish will be focused on making his own bit of Porsche Carrera Cup GB history, while the ever-reducing margin to those behind means any number of drivers could take their first win of 2016.

Rounds fifteen and sixteen will take place on Sunday 2 October at 10.35 and 16.17 respectively, with live coverage of round sixteen on ITV4 and highlights of round fifteen shown during the race day broadcast. Follow the battles at @CarreraCupGB on Twitter and @carreracupgb on Instagram.

Points standings

1. Dan Cammish Redline Racing 282
2. Dino Zamparelli GT Marques 223
3. Charlie Eastwood Redline Racing 209

Pro-Am1

1. Euan McKay IN2 Racing 140
2. Sean Hudspeth Parr Motorsport 97
3. John McCullagh Redline Racing 97

Pro-Am2

1. Tautvydas Barstys Juta Racing 121
2. Peter Kyle-Henney Parr Motorsport 114
3. Mark Radcliffe Intersport Racing 103

Ends

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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.

In 2015, Mark Webber (AUS), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Timo Bernhard (D) clinched the Drivers’ World Endurance Championship, and the WEC Manufacturers’ Championship, for Porsche. The Stuttgart company also triumphed at Le Mans, with the 919 Hybrid of Britain’s Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber (NZ) and Formula 1 driver Nico Hulkenburg (D) scoring an emotional triumph, and leading the sister car of Webber/Hartley/Bernhard across the line for a 1-2 finish.

Porsche scored its 18th and most recent success at the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours in June when Romain Dumas (F), Marc Lieb (D) and Neel Jani (CH) took the chequered flag in their 919 Hybrid LMP1 after 24 hours of flat-out racing vs rivals Toyota.

23/9/2016