County’s Team Parker earns a podium finish at the Le Mans circuit
DESFORD-BASED Team Parker Racing enjoyed a podium finish at Circuit de la Sarthe at the weekend as Nick Jones and Justin Armstrong made the most of their invitations to compete in the one-off Porsche Sprint Challenge France contest ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
On a packed grid of 56 Porsches, racing in five classes, it was a unique opportunity for both drivers, as the legendary circuit was opened to only amateur drivers for the first time.
Getting up to speed during Thursday and Friday’s 45-minute practice session, Jones and Armstrong were straight into qualifying on Friday afternoon, the former finishing second-quickest in the R class and the latter 15th out of 27 in the busy 991-2 class.
This was despite Armstrong’s car needing significant repairs in the 24 hours after getting back to the workshop from his Porsche Carrera Cup GB contest at Knockhill and needing to leave to get to Le Mans. The driver was also in pain after hitting the barriers at the Scottish venue.
Regardless, both drivers made the most of the rare opportunity and enjoyed themselves on track.
Jones thought damage sustained at turn two would end his race but dug deep and made up positions to make the podium by finishing second in the 911 GT3 R class, while Armstrong finished 14th in a close gaggle of second generation 991 GT3 Cup cars, as the second half of the 45-minute race ended behind the safety car due to barrier damage.
Both drivers will now enjoy several weeks’ break before returning to
the British GT Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup GB, respectively, while the team returns to track this weekend, as the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB heads to Thruxton, racing alongside the British Touring Car Championship.
Jones said: “I’m really glad we made the effort to go over, as it was well worth it. It was a great, great weekend and a fantastic experience.
“While it wasn’t attended by as many people as would normally go, it’s still a massive event.
“There aren’t many people that get up on to that podium, so I’m pleased with that. It makes it all worthwhile, especially for the team.
“I’d got some damage at turn two from another car, so I didn’t have any of my front aero as the dive planes had come off. I didn’t even mind having the damage, I was just glad I could finish. I did think ‘oh here we go, same old luck,’ but it’s all good – I lost a few places but then made them back up.”
Armstrong said: “Racing at Le
Mans is something that you can only ever dream of unless you’ve got unlimited budget to do the 24 Hours, so to be invited to do the support race was definitely an opportunity you can’t turn down.
“Going from Knockhill to Le Mans to Croft – if you’re going to make some jumps, that’s certainly a big step! From Knockhill where you barely get out of fourth, to Le Mans where you bounce off the rev limiter in sixth at 292 kph – that definitely wakes you up!”
PORSCHE CHALLENGE WAS CURTAIN RAISER TO LEGENDARY RACE