Pickford and Harvey take Carrera Cup wins at Silverstone
James Pickford and Tim Harvey were the winners as some tremendous racing wrapped up the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup GB in front of a crowd of 33,000 fans at Silverstone on Sunday (15 October).Round 19
While Pickford (Macclesfield) drove superbly to score a debut Carrera Cup win, second place for Harvey (Oxford) was enough to clinch second for him in the championship standings, and a tremendous drive from Andy Purdie (Maidstone) netted the Pro-Am category victory.
Pickford didn’t make the best of starts and slotted into sixth place on the opening lap. However, a mighty start from Jason Templeman (Nottingham) catapulted him into the lead from Danny Watts (Buckingham). Into Brooklands for the second time, Watts dived down the inside into the lead, but ran wide and spun into the gravel. Templeman was forced to spin in avoidance and dropped to twelfth place. “He spun in front of me and I had nowhere to go,” said Templeman.
That set Harvey into the lead with Templeman’s Team Parker with SAS team-mate, Damien Faulkner (Co Donegal, Eire), chasing, but all the time Pickford was moving up the order and soon deposed Michael Caine (Newmarket) for third place. By lap 10, Pickford was pressurising Faulkner, but it was another five laps before the IN2RACING car moved into second. Four laps later, Pickford got a run on Harvey out of Copse and moved ahead into Becketts. “There was no way I was going to risk anything with James,” said Harvey, who knew that second place in the championship was now firmly in his grasp.
Once ahead, Pickford extended his lead to score an impressive win. “The car was fantastic,” he said. “It’s been a real team effort and the team has worked so hard. I’ve just done the job I was brought in to do,” he added. Harvey, meanwhile, was delighted to take second and secure the championship runner-up position. Faulkner chased Harvey home, but was less happy and accepted that he did not have the pace to finish higher. “Clearly we have to find some pace. They had way more pace than I had,” he said.
Caine had a relatively lonely race to fourth, while Purdie stormed through to fifth overall and Pro-Am victory at the expense of Mike Richards (Knutsford). “I’m just so happy with that; it was such hard work,” said an elated Purdie. “Mike ran wide into Luffield and I managed to squeeze up the inside. But once I was in front it was even harder work!” Richards had moved up very well with an excellent start and battled for many laps to fend off Purdie. “I had him pegged for a while, but I was struggling at the end,” said Richards.
Richard Williams (London) took seventh, while Andy Demetriou (London) fended off the recovering Templeman and Sam Edwards (Aylesbury) for eighth and the final place on the Pro-Am podium. Edwards had recovered well from a first lap spin, while Phil Quaife (Tonbridge) worked through to eleventh after starting at the back of the grid.
Round 20
Harvey ended the season with a fine victory in round 20, winning under tremendous pressure from Faulkner. Meanwhile, Quaife won the Pro-Am category to conclude a great season.
Harvey got the best start to beat poleman Pickford into Copse as Faulkner slotted into third. Pickford was soon on the attack, but Harvey stood his ground and on lap seven the cars touched at Luffield. Pickford went out with a damaged radiator, while Harvey escaped with a torn rear panel, but now had Faulkner and Caine in his wheel tracks.
For the next 20 laps, Harvey used all his experience and racecraft to defend his lead, never giving Faulkner any opportunity. While he tracked Harvey, Faulkner also had to watch his mirrors as Caine was always well in touch. Lap by lap Faulkner tried to find an opening, but Harvey drove a masterful race to win by a fifth of a second after 28 neck and neck laps. “It was very hard fought,” admitted Harvey. “I wanted to do it for the team and I knew that James Pickford was the biggest threat.”
Faulkner made it 19 podium finishes from 20 races in 2006. “Pickford was clearly faster than me, but the car was better today and it’s nice to finish the season with a good race. Team Parker Racing has done a fine job all season.”
Caine, meanwhile, shadowed Faulkner to the flag in third. “I did think that Tim and Damien might get together and I’d be through,” said Caine. But his chance never came, and he finished the race third as Watts battled through from the back of the grid to take fourth from Williams on the penultimate lap.
“I couldn’t have asked for more today. We definitely had the pace to run at the front, but I made it hard for myself yesterday,” admitted Watts, who had spun into the gravel on Saturday while battling for the lead. Williams, too, had a good race to complete his record of being the only driver to score points in all 20 races this season. For many laps he had battled to close the small gap to the three leaders and almost succeeded. “Once that gap opens up, it’s very hard to get back up to them,” he reported.
Templeman fought through to sixth, while Quaife claimed a fine Pro-Am victory in seventh overall. “I got a really good start and pushed hard,” said Quaife after his tenth Pro-Am win of the season. In his wake, Edwards and Nigel Rice (Beverley, E Yorkshire) completed the Pro-Am podium, with Rice holding off a late challenge from Andy Britnell (Kent). “I needed to finish well to make sure of second in the Pro-Am category,” said Rice.
Fifth Gear television presenter and journalist Vicki Butler-Henderson drove the car entered by Porsche in association with Vertu, the world’s first and only manufacturer of luxury handcrafted mobile phones. Vicki finished 16th in race one and 15th in race two, strong results in this most competitive of single marque race championships.
