News: Motorbase Performance Carrera Cup report, Thruxton: 5/6 May

A third victory from six rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB has put Steven Kane and Motorbase Performance just two points adrift of championship leader Tim Harvey after another superb weekend for the team at Thruxton (5/6 May).

For the second weekend running, Motorbase Performance was also named as the 'RAC team of the weekend', which was a fine way for team boss David Bartrum to celebrate his birthday on Sunday.

Kane dominated the weekend at a venue that is notoriously challenging for teams and drivers. He took pole position, won both races and took fastest lap in the first race to cut five points from Harvey's championship lead. Heading into a four-week break in the calendar, Kane is now only two points behind Harvey after six of the season's 20 races.

Meanwhile, Sam Hancock had his best Carrera Cup weekend to date and came within half a lap of his first podium finish as he claimed a brace of fourth places, while Andy Britnell took second in pro-am in round five.

"It's a learning curve all over again," said Kane after taking pole position at the high-speed track. "We’ve changed the car since we tested here last month and it felt really good." Hancock also qualified strongly, while Britnell had lapped faster than ever before after a good test day at Donington a week earlier.

In the opening race, Kane got the jump on his rivals at the start and was able to fend off Harvey and James Sutton to claim a superb victory. That gave him pole for Sunday's race, when he did it all over again. However, Sunday's race ran with a lengthy safety car session after Kelvin Burt crashed heavily on the first lap. "I tried to make a bit of a gap and hold it. But Tim is really good round here, and every time he pushed, I had to push as well," said Steven.

Hancock went with the leading pack and was holding third until the final lap when Sutton was able to nip ahead as Sam struggled with tyres. "He got past me on the one corner where I was struggling," said Sam after his strongest showing to date.

Britnell led the chase of pro-am winner Nigel Rice on Saturday, but was soon in trouble in Sunday's race when he lost the front splitter from his car. "I honestly don't know how I lost it, but after that I was really struggling with understeer," said Andy after salvaging fourth in pro-am.

There is now a four-week gap before the season resumes at Croft on 2/3 June. While Kane is now right with Harvey in the overall title race, Hancock is fifth and Britnell is second in pro-am. In the prestigious teams' championship, Motorbase lies second to Red Line Racing, just 17 points adrift.

08.05.07

Provisional 2007 driver championship points positions

After round 6, Thruxton 6 May

Pos	Driver	Total points
1	Tim Harvey	114
2	Steven Kane	112
3	James Sutton	90
4	Michael Caine	88
5	Sam Hancock	75
6	Nigel Rice	57
7	Rob Collard	56
8	Andy Britnell	46
9	Charles Bateman	42
10	Pete Osborne	29
11	James Pickford	16
12	Kelvin Burt	12
13	Colin Willmott	11
14	Peter Bamford	9
15	David Ashburn	5
Pro-am category
1	Nigel Rice	57
2	Andy Britnell	46
3	Charles Bateman	42
4	Pete Osborne	29
5	Colin Willmott	11
6	Peter Bamford	9
7	David Ashburn	5

 

Provisional 2007 team championship points positions

After round 6, Thruxton 6 May

Pos	Team	Total points	Scoring drivers
1	Red Line Racing	204	Harvey and Sutton
2	Motorbase Performance	187	Hancock and Kane
3	Team Parker Racing	129	Caine and Collard
4	Team O	29
5	QME Sport	28
6	Willmott Racing/TWC	11
7	Team RPM	9
8	Trackspeed	5

 

Note:

Only two cars per team can score points towards the team championship.
The scoring cars had to be nominated prior to the opening race of the season.

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