‘Morgan had a difficult weekend’
More heart break for redline driver as ellinas wins by two points
The Honda Civic man came to the meeting with no ballast weight but still had to perform. He put it on the front row and performed faultlessly in the opening two races – and the second was even though he was hauling 75kg around. A real eye-opener.
To lose a title on countback by taking one fewer win is pretty cruel. To then lose the title the following year by just two points is heartbreaking. Dino Zamparelli was left heartbroken at Brands Hatch.
The Redline Racing driver was defeated again in Kent to become Porsche Carrera Cup GB runner-up for the third successive year as Tio Ellinas took the spoils.
It had all been going so well for Zamparelli. He jumped polesitter Dan Harper at the start of race one to take the lead – if the race had finished at that point he would’ve been crowned champion. But that wasn’t to be.
Dan Vaughan’s Porsche was damaged after contact and leaking fluid over the track. Zamparelli was first to hit the slippery surface at Hawthorn. And he spun.
He was eventually able to control the slide but then he couldn’t get going. The steering wheel was slammed in frustration. After what must’ve felt like an eternity, finally the Porsche crept back into life. He had slipped to the back of the field, however.
“There was some oil or coolant on the track and I was the first one to hit it,” said an utterly despondent Zamparelli. “Once you’ve gone backwards in one of these things, that’s it.”
Lewis Plato inherited the lead but was under intense pressure from Dan Harper – who then spun at Surtees when trying to grab the place. That left Ellinas second and the scores were level.
“It was a really good start, I went from P6 to P4,” said Ellinas. “I saw the oil flag out and it was really unfortunate – the first thing I saw was Dino spinning. I feel sorry for Dino but it’s one of those things.”
For race two, Zamparelli was starting down in 13th as a legacy of the spin, while Ellinas was fifth. Zamparelli simply had to beat Ellinas to secure the title. And it started off well – he had surged up to seventh on the opening lap, aided by polesitter Michael Caine spinning at Paddock Hill Bend in front of the pack.
But Zamparelli’s efforts were then frustrated by a safety car period – ironically caused by Zamparelli sending Seb Perez into the barriers out of Druids.
On the restart Ellinas fell to fourth while Zamparelli passed Rory Collingbourne, meaning just Harper split the pair. But Zamparelli never really got close enough to mount a challenge and third place for Ellinas (well behind comfortable winner Tom Wrigley) secured the Cypriot the crown by two points.
“It’s incredible, to win with a little team like Slidesports is incredible,” enthused Ellinas. “It was a crazy race, I was really worried because it [Caine’s car] was spinning and spinning in front of me. I just wanted to finish third, stay there and be consistent.”
Consistent he certainly was – never finishing below fifth this year – while there was a different sort of consistency for Zamparelli, continual near-misses.