News: Motorbase Performance Carrera Cup report, Croft: 2/3 June

A brace of second places in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB has put Steven Kane and Motorbase Performance into the overall championship lead after rounds seven and eight at Croft over the weekend (2/3 June).

It was a great weekend for the team in the high-profile Porsche series, with five podium finishes from six race starts. While Kane took two second places, Sam Hancock scored a breakthrough result with a third place and Andy Britnell claimed a pair of second places in the pro-am category.

"That's a great weekend for the team and I'm over the moon for Sam, who has scored his first podium finish with us. I'm sure it won’t be his last," said team boss David Bartrum.

However, the weekend didn't get off to a great start for Kane when he clipped the tyres at the notorious Croft chicane very early in the first test session on Friday morning. With a radiator damaged, he missed the rest of the first test session, but rewarded the team's work to fix the car by setting the pace in the afternoon test session.

Both races followed a similar pattern, with James Sutton using all the local knowledge of his team to win both races from pole. Kane, meanwhile, twice led the chase of Sutton to finish runner-up in both races and take a significant four-point championship lead over Tim Harvey. "I've not been to Croft for thee years and it's been a good weekend," said Kane. "To get two second places and come away with the championship lead is all we could have hoped for," said Kane.

Hancock ran a strong fourth in the opening race, almost getting onto the tail of the Kane/Harvey battle for second. However, in qualifying, Sam had suffered a high-speed spin and one set of tyres had been wrecked. In line with championship regulations, he opted to take a new set of tyres for the second race and start from the back of the grid.

With a really fighting drive, Sam flew up through the field and caught Harvey as he battled with Michael Caine for third place. Caine spun after a clash with Harvey and two laps later Hancock boldly dive ahead of Harvey and take third place. "It was a massive risk to start on brand new tyres and halfway through the race I'd reached a plateau. So I backed off for a couple of laps to let the tyres cool a little and then pushed again. Tim's a tough racer and I only had once chance to pass him. I'd really like to thank the Motorbase team for being so supportive," said Sam after spraying the champagne on the podium.

Britnell, meanwhile, twice chased pro-am winner Nigel Rice and was always in contention, finishing the second race less than three seconds behind his rival.

The team will now prepare for rounds nine and ten of the season at Oulton Park in Cheshire over the weekend of 23/24 June.

04.06.07

Provisional 2007 driver championship points positions

After round 8, Croft 3 June

Pos	Driver	Total points
1	Steven Kane	148
2	Tim Harvey	144
3	James Sutton	133
4	Michael Caine	110
5	Sam Hancock	105
6	Nigel Rice	79
7	Andy Britnell	64
8	Rob Collard	56
=	Charles Bateman	56
10	Pete Osborne	45
11	Colin Willmott	23
12	James Pickford	16
13	Kelvin Burt	12
14	Peter Bamford	9
15	David Ashburn	5
Pro-am category
1	Nigel Rice	79
2	Andy Britnell	64
3	Charles Bateman	56
4	Pete Osborne	45
5	Colin Willmott	23
6	Peter Bamford	9
7	David Ashburn	5

 

Provisional 2007 team championship points positions

After round 8, Croft 3 June

Pos	Team	Total points	Scoring drivers
1	Red Line Racing	277	Harvey and Sutton
2	Motorbase Performance	253	Hancock and Kane
3	Team Parker Racing	151	Caine and Collard
4	Team O	45
5	QME Sport	28
6	Willmott Racing/TWC	23
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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