Dan’s the man in the Carrera Cup while Zamparelli maintains his slender points advantage over Ellinas
Dino Zamparelli extended his Porsche Carrera Cup GB points lead over Tio Ellinas by a solitary point as JTR’S Dan Harper stole the show at Knockhill.
Northern Irishman Harper came into the weekend insisting he had “nothing to lose”, and showed as much by converting pole position into a victory and a second place at the Fife circuit.
“It’s been a fantastic weekend and it was good to put on a bit of a show for everyone. Hopefully this can kick-start the last two rounds of the championship going into next year now,” an elated Harper said.
He was made to work hard for his opening race win, having lost his early lead to team-mate Lewis Plato after being baulked by the lapped Steve Gales on the main straight.
After a brief safety car intervention to recover the beached cars of Jamie Orton and Fraser Robertson, Harper retook the lead with a forceful late lunge on Plato under braking into Clark’s.
Plato then spun at the hairpin, allowing Zamparelli and Ellinas through to claim the final positions on the podium.
As torrential rain hit the circuit throughout the day, organisers elected to start the second race behind the safety car. With that, polesitter George Gamble led from start-to-finish for Team Parker, with Ellinas this time beating Zamparelli for third.
Harper made swift work from fourth on the partially reversed grid and profited from a perilous slide from Zamparelli at the exit of the chicane to take third.
The rookie then followed Ellinas for several laps before grabbing second as the pair turned into Duffus. Harper took to the sausage kerb while the Cypriot trundled across the run-off on the outside.
While far from a perfect weekend for Zamparelli, the Redline Racing driver maintains a five-point lead heading into the penultimate round at Silverstone next month.