Porsche Carrera Cup contest heads for Donington

The battle for the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup GB moves to Donington Park (Leicestershire) this weekend (29/30 July) for rounds 11 and 12 of the championship.

While Damien Faulkner (Co Donegal) and Tim Harvey ( Oxford ) continue to battle for the title, Danny Watts (Buckingham) will be going all-out for race wins in what is currently his last scheduled weekend of racing in this year's Carrera Cup.

After half of the races in the 2006 season, just six points split Faulkner and Harvey as the title race enters its second half. Meanwhile, in the highly successful Pro-Am category, three young guns are setting the pace with Phil Quaife (Tonbridge) currently enjoying a handy points' lead.

This is proving to be a great season for the Carrera Cup GB. Excellent grids of the stunning ‘Type 997’ 911 GT3 Cup cars are delivering some fine race action and the creation of the new Pro-Am category has assured battles all the way down the field.

Over the Donington weekend, 2004 Carrera Cup champion Richard Westbrook (Ipswich) could well secure the Porsche Michelin Supercup title in Germany , and while he is away the Team IRWIN car is raced once more by Watts . With Westbrook due back for the balance of the British season, Donington is Danny's last confirmed weekend of racing for 2006 so he will be very determined to win again. He took both races last time out at Croft and with Faulkner and Harvey focused on the title race, Watts could win again at Donington.

Defending champion Faulkner just has the edge on former BTCC champion Harvey at the moment, but six points is a tiny margin and Harvey will be working very hard to beat the Irish ace this weekend to close the gap.

Meanwhile, Richard Williams (Bromley-by-Bow) is now right on the leader's pace as his season just gets better and better, and Jason Templeman (Nottingham) and Michael Caine ( Newmarket ) add further quality to the pro category.

Quaife is on a roll in the Pro-Am category and has a useful lead over Sam Edwards (Aylesbury) after 10 races, but there is still a long way to go just yet. What is certain is that these two fine young racers are really making their mark in Pro-Am this year. So too, is Andy Purdie (Maidstone) in only his second season of racing, while the more mature Pro-Am challenge is topped by Jason Young (Oakham, Leicestershire), David Ashburn (London) and Nigel Rice (Beverley, East Yorkshire).

Adding to the Pro-Am mix will be Mike Richards (Knutsford), Mark Hazell (Gwent) and series returnee Alex Mortimer ( Worcester ), who is looking forward to renewing a friendly rivalry with Quaife.

After qualifying in the early afternoon of Saturday (29 July), round eleven will run later on Saturday afternoon, with round twelve on Sunday during the British Touring Car Championship meeting.