Ratcliffe’s back in the hotseat
DRIVER, 27, SETS SIGHTS ON PORSCHE CARRERA CUP GB PRO-AM TITLE
RYAN Ratcliffe will return to Leicestershire-based Team Parker Racing for the 2021 season as he sets his sights on the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Pro-Am championship title, a year after narrowly missing out on the crown on his debut in the series.
The 27-year-old previously competed in endurance racing, including two years in the British GT Championship with the team, before making the switch to the Carrera Cup in 2020, where he finished runner-up to team-mate Esmee Hawkey, taking the battle right to the final round of the season.
Despite being in a new car, new championship, and racing under the strains of the global pandemic, Ratcliffe claimed an impressive six wins in the Pro-Am class, while also taking the fight on track to Pro category drivers, consistently competing in the top ten overall as he got to grips with the challenging but rewarding Porsche 911 GT3 Cup used in the series.
In addition, he and team-mate Justin Armstrong also entered the British GT Championship’s Silverstone 500 in November, with Justin’s GT3 Cup machine, where they ran a faultless race, taking the class victory after three gruelling hours of racing.
Team Parker Racing will open their 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign in Norfolk when the series travels to Snetterton over the weekend of May 14-16, with 16 rounds at eight venues across the country, finishing in October.
Ratcliffe said: “The Pro-Am championship title is the plan going into the season and the progress we made last year puts us in good stead.
“Team Parker Racing is one of the only outfits I have raced with for such a long time – it’s a family environment which is one of the reasons why we do it.
“I was talking to Dan Bathie, the series photographer, at the end of last season and he expressed an interest getting back into livery design.
“In fact, he and Jake Yorath designed the livery on the Z4 I raced in Blancpain in 2015, so I said to him ‘if you want a project I am after a fresh look’ and let him run wild on it. The car looks great and when you have little input in the process it has the wow factor when you first see it, so I think Dan has done a good job.”