Pole to podium as team bounce back
PORSCHE SHOWS ITS SPEED WITH TECHNICAL WOES RESOLVED
TEAM Parker Racing bounced back in style in the British GT Championship at Oulton Park at the weekend, claiming the first pole position for Porsche in the series in eight years and following up with a GT3 Pro-Am podium and pair of top-five finishes.
After a tough two months where technical woes and damage hampered progress at the past three rounds, a trouble-free weekend allowed the Desford-based team and drivers Nick Jones and Scott Malvern to showcase the speed of the SD Team-liveried Porsche 911 GT3 R.
In qualifying, Nick did well in the first session, with the team starting eighth for race one, while Scott topped the times in the second, claiming pole for the second contest by just 0.005s – 0.088s covering the top four on the grid.
Nick drove well to start race one, keeping out of trouble and remaining with the pack which meant, without any success seconds added to the mandatory pit stop and the team doing a great job, Scott emerged in fifth position.
He hunted down a Bentley ahead which then had a fourth warning for exceeding track limits, taking a 30s time penalty.
That promoted the Porsche to fourth on the road and third in GT3 Pro-Am at the flag and, with the race winner a non-championship entrant, the team also scored third place points.
Lining up on pole position for race two, Scott started well in difficult wet conditions, opening up a small lead, but was under constant pressure from both Barwell Lamborginis behind.
As the pit window approached, a Safety Car period bunched up the field and, with an extra five seconds added to the pit stop after the race one success, it cost the team two places, with Nick emerging in third.
Despite the tough conditions and tyres which were losing the best of their performance, he ran well in third but was passed by a couple of cars in the closing stages, still crossing the line in an excellent fifth to give the team a boost heading to the final round of the season at Donington Park on October 16-17.
said: “I am disappointed we didn’t get a result for the team, but I am not disappointed with my driving because I drove as hard as I could to the conditions that were out there.
“Everything else has been great so I have to thank all the team for their hard work as usual in giving us a brilliant car.
“As race weekends go in GT3, apart from when we won at Donington Park, this weekend was one of the best we’ve had so far.
“The conditions were changeable and Oulton Park in the wet is probably not the easiest race we’ll ever have, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Malvern said: “Race one was a nice surprise, to get up to fourth in that race wasn’t what I expected with it being dif- ficult to pass around Oulton Park.
“It was nice to lead in the Porsche for the first time in the second race, in tricky conJones ditions, and I think we did everything we could up to that point.
“The success penalty on the stop hurt us so much with the Safety Car coming out and bunching us all up and five seconds is a lot at that point.
“With the penalty we opted not to change tyres at the stop to get it bang on and, in the end, it rained pretty hard at the end of the race so that probably hurt us a bit.
“I think Nick should be happy with what he did today. In the first race he stayed with the group and showed good pace and in the wet of race two it was tricky.
“I struggled a bit toward the end of my stint so having not changed tyres it must have got worse for Nick so for him to bring it home was a result.
“The positives are we’re making good progress with the car in the wet and dry and to get the first Porsche pole since 2013 against some stiff competition I am really happy with.”
As race weekends go in GT3, this weekend was one of the best we’ve had so far
Nick Jones