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Porsche Carrera Cup GB title contest heads for Rockingham
With the title battle now incredibly finely balanced between three drivers, the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB heads to the Rockingham Motor Speedway (17/18 September) for rounds 14 and 15 of the 19-race season.
A fabulous field of 450bhp 911 GT3 Cup cars will line up at the Corby track and while Stephen Jelley, Michael Meadows and James Sutton battle for the overall title, the contests in Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 will be every bit as competitive.
In what is proving to be an absorbing contest, the momentum swung towards Meadows in Scotland as he took a win and a second place in his SAS/Redline car. Conversely, after a blistering weekend at Snetterton in August it was Jelley (Parker with Juta) who led the points before the trip to Knockhill, only to slip back after a modest weekend north of the border.
Now, Meadows has a nine-point lead over Jelley, but Sutton, in the other SAS/Redline car, is right in the mix and is just three points behind Jelley. With a total of 42 points on offer this weekend, it really is wide open. Then, chasing the top three is Euan Hankey (Parker with Juta) who also took a win and a second in Scotland. A couple of non-finishes earlier in the season mean that Hankey is the outsider just now, but that could all change very quickly.
Of course, this is not just about the top four drivers as the field is packed with quality racers all pitching for a place on the podium. Young lions Richard Plant and Sam Tordoff (Team Parker Racing) and Ben Hetherington (Oman Air/Redline) are all chasing hard and when Hetherington took fourth at Knockhill behind Meadows, Hankey and Sutton it meant three graduates of the Carrera Cup Scholarship were in the top four.
Away from the overall contest, separate battles are raging in the Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 categories. In Pro-Am1, Lithuanian racer Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) has a clear points' lead but can expect another tough fight from drivers like Rory Butcher (Celtic Speed), Ahmad Al Harthy (Oman Air/Redline) and Derek Pierce (Dextra/JD Pierce by Parker). Both Butcher and Pierce took wins at their home track of Knockhill and now want to win again at Rockingham, while George Richardson (Motorbase Performance) also had a strong weekend in Scotland.
In Pro-Am2, George Brewster (Celtic Speed) scored a fine double win on home ground at Knockhill to move ahead in the title race, but with three weekends' scores to drop in the final Pro-Am2 standings, drivers like Keith Webster (Redline Racing), Richard Denny (Parr Motorsport) and Steve Parish (Motorbase Performance) are all still very much in the hunt.
After qualifying at 13.50 on Saturday, round 14 will start at 10.00 on Sunday, with round 15 at 13.10. Round 15 will be broadcast live on ITV4 during the extensive BTCC programme, which starts at 11.00 on Sunday and it is hoped that round 14 will also be broadcast during the afternoon.
With the title battle now incredibly finely balanced between three drivers, the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB heads to the Rockingham Motor Speedway (17/18 September) for rounds 14 and 15 of the 19-race season.
A fabulous field of 450bhp 911 GT3 Cup cars will line up at the Corby track and while Stephen Jelley, Michael Meadows and James Sutton battle for the overall title, the contests in Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 will be every bit as competitive.
In what is proving to be an absorbing contest, the momentum swung towards Meadows in Scotland as he took a win and a second place in his SAS/Redline car. Conversely, after a blistering weekend at Snetterton in August it was Jelley (Parker with Juta) who led the points before the trip to Knockhill, only to slip back after a modest weekend north of the border.
Now, Meadows has a nine-point lead over Jelley, but Sutton, in the other SAS/Redline car, is right in the mix and is just three points behind Jelley. With a total of 42 points on offer this weekend, it really is wide open. Then, chasing the top three is Euan Hankey (Parker with Juta) who also took a win and a second in Scotland. A couple of non-finishes earlier in the season mean that Hankey is the outsider just now, but that could all change very quickly.
Of course, this is not just about the top four drivers as the field is packed with quality racers all pitching for a place on the podium. Young lions Richard Plant and Sam Tordoff (Team Parker Racing) and Ben Hetherington (Oman Air/Redline) are all chasing hard and when Hetherington took fourth at Knockhill behind Meadows, Hankey and Sutton it meant three graduates of the Carrera Cup Scholarship were in the top four.
Away from the overall contest, separate battles are raging in the Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 categories. In Pro-Am1, Lithuanian racer Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) has a clear points' lead but can expect another tough fight from drivers like Rory Butcher (Celtic Speed), Ahmad Al Harthy (Oman Air/Redline) and Derek Pierce (Dextra/JD Pierce by Parker). Both Butcher and Pierce took wins at their home track of Knockhill and now want to win again at Rockingham, while George Richardson (Motorbase Performance) also had a strong weekend in Scotland.
In Pro-Am2, George Brewster (Celtic Speed) scored a fine double win on home ground at Knockhill to move ahead in the title race, but with three weekends' scores to drop in the final Pro-Am2 standings, drivers like Keith Webster (Redline Racing), Richard Denny (Parr Motorsport) and Steve Parish (Motorbase Performance) are all still very much in the hunt.
After qualifying at 13.50 on Saturday, round 14 will start at 10.00 on Sunday, with round 15 at 13.10. Round 15 will be broadcast live on ITV4 during the extensive BTCC programme, which starts at 11.00 on Sunday and it is hoped that round 14 will also be broadcast during the afternoon.