Mark Kimber looking to continue confident start at Oulton Park
Mark Kimber is aiming to continue his front-running pace after a confidence-building start to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB season - which heads to Oulton Park this weekend (August 22&23). The last round at Brands Hatch saw the Brookspeed driver secure his best result of the campaign so far with a hard-fought fifth, and was on-course for another strong finish before his race was brought to a premature end. Despite his crash, Mark is still full of confidence ahead of the trip to Cheshire. He said: “I’m quite confident after Brands. My race starts are continuing to get better and there’s definitely been more pace in qualifying since the start of the season too. If we start at Oulton where we finished at Brands then I think we’ll be in a good position and fighting well within the top ten is definitely possible.”
The Oulton Park circuit is familiar to the multiple-karting champion, having made his car racing debut at the track in 2019 but the layout this weekend - which cuts out the Shell Oils hairpin in favour of the Island Hairpin - is new to Mark, but he believes the layout will work to his advantage.
“The track has a lot more sharper changes of direction compared to the circuits so far this season,” the Team Connect It-supported driver explained. “That’s why I’m very happy that working closely with the engineers has led to a set-up for the Porsche that I think will do us well at the weekend.
“I’ve not raced on the shorter version of the circuit but I think the Island Hairpin will be a better overtaking spot as the cars don’t have as long to open up an advantage like they do on the run to Shell Oils.”
He’ll be taking on the two 18-lap races in a completely reshelled car, after the Brookspeed crew were forced to drive to the Porsche factory in Weissach to collect a new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup shell to replace the one written-off in the Brands crash. The extraordinary work of the team to completely rebuild the car in the week-and-a-half between races has given Mark an extra boost.
“I have to thank all the guys for all the hours of work they put in to build the car back up again, they all went above and beyond to get the car looking brand-new. It’s given me even more motivation to go out and get a good result for them as a way to say thank you for the long days they’ve been putting in,” he said.
Race one takes place at 16.40 on Saturday, with the second encounter scheduled for 15.30 on Sunday.