CARRERA CUP TO VISIT BARCELONA IN 2019
Series will return to thruxton after five years in revised calendar
The Porsche Carrera Cup GB will head to Barcelona for the first time next year after making a number of tweaks to its provisional 2019 calendar.
The series had originally pencilled in a round at Spa or Monza as its overseas event next season when its draft schedule was unveiled in September. But since then, an opportunity to race at the Circuit de Catalunya in support of the European Le Mans Series has arisen and organisers have elected to go to Spain in July instead.
This in turn has had a knock-on effect with the rest of the calendar. The series will still feature at seven of the 10 British Touring Car Championship events, but instead of skipping Donington Park and Thruxton – as originally planned – it will now not compete at Knockhill and Snetterton. That means a first visit to Thruxton since 2014, but the series will continue to miss the first of the two BTCC visits to the Hampshire venue.
“We’ve effectively got three new circuits for next year [the series will also make a first Croft trip since ’16],” said Porsche GB motorsport manager James Macnaughton. “It’s a shame we’re missing Knockhill and Snetterton as they’re great circuits and everyone enjoys going there. But we have to see what’s offered to us outside of TOCA and we try to get a calendar that doesn’t have too many massive gaps in it.
“We’re really looking forward to going to Barcelona – that was a very welcome offer we received. We thought we were going back to Monza but when we were offered that opportunity at Barcelona it helped a lot [with rest of calendar, as Monza would’ve been earlier in the season]. It gives the teams a bit of variety and it’s important for us because we spread ourselves around the country.”
JTR team boss and factory Porsche driver Nick Tandy is cautious about a British championship including rounds abroad, but believes the Carrera Cup has chosen its non-uk rounds carefully.
“We have such a good array of circuits in Britain, but when we get the chance to race at, for example, Le Mans, this is clearly a no-brainer,” Tandy said.
“Barcelona is another mega circuit and very well suited to these cars. Of course, it puts an added strain on teams and budgets due to the time away and logistic costs involved, but it’s always good for drivers to experience new tracks and this is one of the best in Europe.”
Tandy also welcomed the return of Thruxton: “It’s the fastest track in the UK and I wish I was racing the Porsche there myself! We know from Monza that the high-speed, heavy left-side-loaded tracks are a potential problem for the tyres but it’ll be up to the teams to manage that.”
Macnaughton added he’s encouraged by the amount of interest in the series for next year, with a record number of drivers taking part in a taster day at the end of last month. Twenty-five drivers tested with Porsche and that doesn’t include extra drivers that ran with specific teams.