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Porsche GB GT3 Cup Challenge 2013

Crucial Brands Hatch date for GT3 Cup Challenge GB

Justin Sherwood could be confirmed as 2013 champion during the penultimate event in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB at Brands Hatch on Sunday 22 September.

The pair of races on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit will give Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) the chance to make it a perfect 10 wins from 10 races as he is currently unbeaten across the opening eight races of the season. The schedule concludes a week later as part of the BTCC support programme at Silverstone (28/29 September).

Running alongside the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the GT3 Cup Challenge caters for the cars used up until 2009 and is a great way for drivers to gain experience in these 420bhp GT racers. Though grids have been modest this season, the standard has been high and several new drivers are due at Brands to ensure the biggest field of the season to date.

At the head of the title race is former F3 racer Sherwood, who has enjoyed a perfect campaign so far with eight wins from eight races to build a 21-point championship lead. With the best five weekend's scores from six to count in the final reckoning, two more wins at Brands will make Sherwood unbeatable, regardless of the results at Silverstone. However, his Team Parker Racing team mate Steven Liquorish is pushing hard to stop Sherwood's winning sequence and is the only driver still in with a chance of snatching the title.

By any measure, Sherwood has had a mighty season to date and if he can maintain that winning sequence at Brands Hatch he will be a worthy champion as he has driven superbly all season. But Liquorish is a fine rival and will not stop pushing in his bid to stop Sherwood taking a clean sweep of victories.

Next up in the points' table are Kelvin Fletcher (Redline Racing) and Pete Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport). Both drivers are enjoying excellent campaigns in their debut season of Porsche racing and for Hampshire-based Kyle-Henney this is his first

Guy Riall (Almara Racing) and Rob Boughton (Parr Motorsport) have both been gathering pace and experience across the season and Boughton makes a welcome return to the grid after missing a couple of races while becoming a father. Also back in action for the first time since the season opener at Donington Park is Mark Cowne (Kruger Cowne Talent Management) and he will be a popular returnee to the championship.

New on the entry list for Brands Hatch will be Bertie Carruthers (GT Marques) and Argentinean racer Enrique Sloper (Parr Motorsport) to make up a very promising grid for two races during the course of Sunday afternoon.
 

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Sherwood claims GT3 Cup Challenge GB title at Brands Hatch

Justin Sherwood takes round 10 victory to secure title
Peter Kyle-Henney scores impressive first victory
Steven Liquorish and Guy Riall claim podium finishes

Justin Sherwood swept to the overall title in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB at Brands Hatch today (Sunday 22 September) with a third place and then a win in the second race. However, Sherwood had to race hard in both races as owvHowe
Peter Kyle-Henney and Steven Liquorish offered stern opposition during two excellent races, with Kyle-Henney taking a fine victory in the opening race.

Qualifying

Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) and Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) shared the pole positions after qualifying on Sunday morning, with Sherwood making a late push to grab pole for the opening race of the weekend. However, the impressive pace of Kyle-Henney pushed Sherwood hard. Ahead of his first race at the Kent track, Kyle-Henney was very rapid and netted his debut pole for round 10 with his second best lap of the qualifying session.

Sherwood set second best time for the later race while Steven Liquorish (Team Parker Racing) was third for both races, but frustrated with his pace after struggling with misted glasses. Fourth on both grids was a fine result for Guy Riall (Almara Racing) who turned in his best performance so far on a circuit he saw for the first time during testing on Friday.

Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) pole for round nine
'The lap before was quicker, but I came across Peter on the grass. It took some time for the tyres to come in and I knew the time was ticking away."

Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) pole for round ten
'That's not bad for a rookie: this year is just about learning. On my really flying lap I had two cars in front of me going into Clearways and the gap just disappeared. I got onto the grass and spun."

Round nine

Sherwood jumped ahead from the start, but Kyle-Henney was straight onto the leader's tail as Liquorish went after them. Bit by bit the top two eased away and Kyle-Henney belied his limited race experience to mount a relentless chase of Sherwood. Lap after lap the gap ebbed and flowed, but was never more than a second as Kyle-Henney kept the pressure on Sherwood.

Finally, on lap 27 of 31, Sherwood made the mistake that Kyle-Henney had been hoping for and spun onto the grass at Surtees. Kyle-Henney swept ahead to score his first race win as Liquorish moved through to second while Sherwood recovered to salvage third. Riall took fourth initially but lost time with a half spin at Druids and had to race hard to battle back for fifth behind Kelvin Fletcher (Redline Racing).

Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) first

'It's really great to bring it all together. I had a bit of luck at the end and I would have been happy with a podium. It was a question of pushing him as hard as I could and I'm absolutely delighted. It's a great result for the team."

Steven Liquorish (Team Parker Racing) second

'I beat Justin for the first time this season! I struggled a bit with car set-up and haven't been dialled into the car today. Try as I might, I was half a second off them."

Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) third

'Peter pushed me all the way and it was my mistake. He was quick into Surtees and I just took it a bit too much kerb there and the back end got away. The improvement Peter has made this season is unbelievable."

Round nine results:

1 Peter Kyle-Henney; 2 Steven Liquorish; 3 Justin Sherwood; 4 Kelvin Fletcher; 5 Guy Riall; 6 Rob Boughton; 7 Bertie Carruthers; 8 Mark Cowne; 9 Henrique Sloper de Araujo. Fastest lap: Kyle-Henney, 48.809s (89.09mph).

Round ten

Sherwood claimed the 2013 title in fine style with a resounding victory after jumping ahead of Kyle-Henney at the start. As Liquorish dived ahead of Kyle-Henney to take second, Sherwood was able to edge clear and make certain of the crown with a perfect performance.

Kyle-Henney mounted a determined chase of Liquorish and tried a range of challenges, but then pushed just too hard into Paddock Hill Bend and spun through the gravel. While Liquorish took a secure second, Kyle-Henney recovered to fifth behind the battling pair of Riall and Fletcher. A debut podium was just reward for Riall at the end of his best event of the season, although Fletcher never stopped pressing.

Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) first
'It's fantastic to win the championship with a race win. They were battling behind me and I was able to pull away. I could see them in my mirrors: this time Peter cracked instead of me!"

Steven Liquorish (Team Parker Racing) second
'Peter was pushing me up into Druids and into Graham Hill Bend. Paddock is a really quick corner and I could see he was carrying too much speed."

Guy Riall (Almara Racing) third
'I'm absolutely over the moon to get onto the podium. That was really hard fought and Kelvin is brilliant to race with: we were so closely matched and it was when he made a little mistake that I got back past him."

Round ten results:

1 Justin Sherwood; 2 Steven Liquorish; 3 Guy Riall; 4 Kelvin Fletcher; 5 Peter Kyle-Henney; 6 Rob Boughton; 7 Bertie Carruthers; 8 Henrique Sloper de Araujo; 9 Mark Cowne. Fastest lap: Liquorish, 49.094s (88.57mph).

Provisional points after round ten:

1 Sherwood 207; 2 Liquorish 186; 3 Kyle-Henney 139; 4 Fletcher 134; 5 Riall 128; 6 Boughton 54. Final rounds: Silverstone, 28/29 September.




 

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Sherwood celebrates GT3 Cup Challenge GB title

Although he has won nine of the 10 races run to date, Justin Sherwood says it was never easy to win the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB title, which he secured at Brands Hatch yesterday (Sunday 22 September).

Sherwood, racing for Team Parker Racing, was unbeaten in the first eight races of the season and then bounced back from a spin in the opening race at Brands Hatch to settle the title with victory in round ten.

'It was great to win the championship with another win at Brands," said the Leicestershire racer. 'It has been a fantastic season and it has been tougher than it may have looked. Steven Liquorish has always been quick and he has had the pace to beat me in some of the races. It was a shame about losing out on winning round nine at Brands, but Peter Kyle-Henney drove a great race."

Sherwood paid tribute to the squad at Team Parker Racing, which clinched the GT3 Cup Challenge team title over the weekend thanks to the results scored by Sherwood with nine wins and Liquorish with ten second places. 'It's been very good for Team Parker Racing: I think we've had nine one-two finishes from 10 races so far," said Parker.

The Brands Hatch rounds of the GT3 Cup Challenge GB delivered some excellent racing, with battles across the field. Aside from Sherwood's round ten victory and title success, Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) and Guy Riall (Almara Racing) both had cause to celebrate at the Kent track.

In his first season of racing, Kyle-Henney has made tremendous progress and was able to match Sherwood's pace at Brands as he scored a debut race win. 'It's really great to bring it all together and I'm absolutely delighted," said the Hampshire driver. 'It's a great result for the team."

Meanwhile, Riall ended the day with his first visit to the podium after a fine performance in only his first full season of racing. 'I'm absolutely over the moon to get onto the podium," said Riall as he celebrated with Sherwood and Liquorish on the podium.

 

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Carrera Cup GB and GT3 Cup Challenge share at Silverstone

Two joint races for the twin series
BTCC crowd and atmosphere for GT3 Cup racers
Live TV coverage of the second race

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge will come together at Silverstone this weekend (28/29 September) to deliver a spectacular grid of 911 GT3 Cup cars.

For the penultimate weekend of the Carrera Cup season and the final event of the 2013 GT3 Cup schedule, the twin race series will share two races on Sunday's BTCC programme. After separate qualifying sessions on Saturday afternoon both series will race twice on Sunday from a split grid, with the Carrera Cup cars starting first in the bumper field.

As well as giving the GT3 Cup contenders two races on the weekend's main race day, it will also offer them the chance of live TV coverage during the afternoon's BTCC programme on ITV4. To aid identification, the GT3 Cup Challenge cars will run with yellow screen headers and three-digit race numbers.

Competitors from the two race series will share exclusive pre-event testing at Silverstone on Friday (27 September).

Carrera Cup qualifying will start at 14.05 on Saturday (28 September), while the GT3 Cup session will start at 15.10. The weekend's first Porsche race will start at 10.20 on Sunday (29 September) with the second race at 15.15, which will be broadcast live on ITV4.
 

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Silverstone finale for GT3 Cup Challenge GB

The 2013 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB will wrap up at Silverstone (28/29 September) in front of a bumper BTCC crowd and live TV cameras.

The sixth and final double-header weekend of the season will put the GT3 Cup Challenge contenders into action alongside the Porsche Carrera Cup GB with a superb high-profile weekend on the Silverstone National circuit and another encouraging entry has been assembled.

Newly confirmed as overall champion after a stellar campaign is Justin Sherwood from Team Parker Racing, after taking nine wins and a third place in the first ten races. With all thoughts of championship points now out of his mind, the former F3 racer will try and make it 11 wins from 12 starts. 'It would be nice to get two more wins at Silverstone and it's a great chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the BTCC meeting," said Sherwood.

However, there are at least two drivers with clear ambitions to take the top step of the podium on Sunday, including Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport). Despite only starting racing in April, Kyle-Henney has made tremendous progress and scored a breakthrough first win at Brands Hatch last Sunday after pressuring Sherwood into a mistake. This will be the first time racing at Silverstone for the Hampshireman, but he is more than capable of winning again.

The other driver with serious ambitions to win is Steven Liquorish, team mate to Sherwood at Team Parker Racing. Steven has finished second in every one of the ten races to date and the Oxford racer would love nothing more than taking victory at his home track: he is now assured the championship runner-up position.

Kyle-Henney heads to Silverstone with a narrow lead in the battle for third, but Kelvin Fletcher (Redline Racing) and Guy Riall (Almara Racing) are firmly in contention. Fletcher has had a fine debut Porsche season and has shown excellent pace while Riall has belied his prior lack of racing experience to make strong progress and a debut podium last time out at Brands was a big result for the Harrogate racer.

Adding further strength to the grid are Rob Boughton (Parr Motorsport), Mark Cowne (Kruger Cowne Talent Management) and Bertie Carruthers (GT Marques) and all of them will be chasing the top five racers.
 

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Sherwood and Fletcher win at Silverstone in GT3 Cup Challenge GB

Justin Sherwood wins for the tenth time this season
Kelvin Fletcher secures maiden GT3 Cup Challenge victory
Podiums for Peter Kyle-Henney, Guy Riall and Mark Cowne

Justin Sherwood and Kelvin Fletcher shared the victories as the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge came to a thrilling conclusion at Silverstone (Sunday 29 September).
The series ran in conjunction with the Porsche Carrera Cup GB on the BTCC package to give the GT3 Cup racers live TV coverage and a huge crowd for the final two races of the season.

Qualifying

Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) dominated Saturday's qualifying session, which was held in dry but slightly overcast conditions, setting an impressive pace that put him top of the timesheets by three-tenths of a second.

Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) was Sherwood's nearest challenger as he secured two second place starts on what was his first competitive outing at the Northamptonshire circuit. He was kept honest by the hard charging Kelvin Fletcher (Redline Racing) who missed out on a place on the front row by just two-tenths of a second. He was forced to settle for two third positions.

Steven Liquorish (Team Parker Racing) and Guy Riall (Almara Racing) claimed a fourth and a fifth position apiece which, for the former, was a case of damage limitation as he was forced to pull off the circuit early in the session with a gear linkage problem.


Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) pole for rounds eleven and twelve
'I'm happy with that. Two great laps, 57.6, I think that's as quick as I could go. I don't know about the car, but it felt fantastic."

Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) second for rounds eleven and twelve
'I'm very happy to be on the front row. We knew we didn't have the pace of Justin, he's in a bit of a class of his own round here. He's done so much racing here in the past but through the weekend I've progressed my times and I found a bit more time in qualifying."

Round eleven

Newly-crowned champion Sherwood romped to victory in the opening race, winning convincingly. From pole, a good getaway allowed him to assume an immediate lead which he never relinquished. Such was his pace that he even battled with some of the Carrera Cup runners. At the flag Sherwood crossed the line for his tenth win of the season, beating his rivals by the convincing margin of 11.4s.

Kyle-Henney was second and initially shadowed Sherwood, but just five laps in he flat-spotted a tyre which severely hindered his pace. This meant he fell into the clutches of Fletcher who up until that point had run a secure third. However, despite the best efforts of the Oldham racer, he could not find a way through and was forced to settle for third position.
Guy Riall (Almara Racing) was fourth, Mark Cowne (Kruger Cowne Talent Management) took fifth and Bertie Carruthers (GT Marques) rounded out the top six. Meanwhile, there was disappointment for series runner-up Liquorish who was forced to retire with a driveshaft failure.

Justin Sherwood (Team Parker Racing) winner of round 11
'I got a good start, then it was a matter of just avoiding any incidents and getting my head down and pulling away from Peter, which I managed to do. Then it was a bit of a lonely race after that. The car was great it has been great all year."

Peter Kyle-Henney (Parr Motorsport) second in round 11
'It was fantastic. Away from the line was okay, Kelvin got a little bit of a better start than I did but I managed to edge him out and get into second. It wasn't too difficult to stay with Justin for the first few laps then unfortunately around lap five I flat-spotted a tyre in a fairly major way; I knew I was in trouble from that point onwards. My race changed at that point, it became far more strategic. I had to brake softer for longer and tease the time out of the car the best I could and try to keep Kelvin behind. It was a race of two halves."

Kelvin Fletcher (Redline Racing) third in round 11
'I thought I drove really well, I certainly had the pace for second but I couldn't get round Peter. I made a couple of lunges but he shut the door on me."

Round 11 results:

1 Justin Sherwood; 2 Peter Kyle-Henney; 3 Kelvin Fletcher; 4 Guy Riall; 5 Mark Cowne; 6 Bertie Carruthers. Fastest lap: Sherwood 58.360s (101.19 mph)

Round twelve

The final round of the championship was marked by Fletcher claiming his maiden victory in the series. However there was first-lap drama as the leading pair of Sherwood and Kyle-Henney made contact at Becketts and were both instantly eliminated.

This promoted the fast-starting Liquorish into the lead of the race but his hopes of a first victory of 2013 were soon dashed when he slowed with mechanical issues, which ultimately forced his retirement from the race.
Fletcher swept past the ailing Liquorish and, once in the lead, drove a controlled race to ease his way to a memorable first GT3 Cup Challenge win. Riall was a career best second but some way adrift of Fletcher after slowing his pace in the closing stages to ensure he secured the impressive result.

Cowne completed the podium with one of the best drives of his career to date, while Carruthers was the final runner to make the finish in what proved to be a race of attrition.

Kelvin Fletcher (Redline Racing) first in round 12
'I am really delighted, I was screaming in the car when I won. It's a great way to finish off the season."

Guy Riall (Almara Racing) second in round 12
'I'm buzzing. If you want to finish first, first you have to finish and that's what this is all about, you have to put that car where it's supposed to be on the track but you have to finish the race. I kept it clean, I backed right off with ten laps to go: I just wanted to get it home. And you know second, I'm delighted. I've thoroughly enjoyed this season."

Mark Cowne (Kruger Cowne Talent Management) third in round 12
'It's absolutely incredible. To actually get a podium place in the last race of the year for me is amazing."

Round 12 results:

1 Kelvin Fletcher; 2 Guy Riall; 3 Mark Cowne; 4 Bertie Carruthers. Fastest Lap: Steven Liquorish 59.539s (99.18 mph).
 

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The TV coverage from the final race weekends of the 2013 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB.

The films, produced by Hay Fisher Productions, cover the stories of the all-action race weekends at Brands Hatch and Silverstone in late September as Justin Sherwood secured the 2013 title. Meanwhile, Peter Kyle-Henney and Kelvin Fletcher both scored debut race wins and Guy Riall and Mark Cowne claimed their first podium finishes.

Narrated by David Addison, the programmes also look behind the scenes of the GT3 Cup Challenge GB.

 

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