Porsche Title Battle in Full Swing
The Petro-Canada Lubricants Porsche Club Championship with Pirelli makes its second visit of the season to Oulton Park this weekend, and with just two rounds remaining after Saturday’s brace of races, the title battle is reaching fever pitch. A strong performance last time out at Brands Hatch from Simon Clark has seen him inch five points clear of class one rival Mark McAleer, but the duo shared the race wins here in July so expect some close exciting racing at the popular Cheshire circuit.
Clark has yet to finish off the podium in his Cayman S, but neither has the 997 C2S of McAleer and the two class one runners have seldom been more than yards apart in any of the six races to date. Each has two wins, and any addition to those tallies at Oulton Park will be a big boost for their title chances.
Pete Morris chased the pair home when the series visited in July, and the experienced former double champion is likely to be a major factor once more, and one of a number of drivers chasing an outright win. Fellow 997 runner James Caley took a notable victory in the first race of the season at Snetterton, in just his second season to motorsport, and battled hard with Chris Dyer’s Cayman here earlier in the year.
Jake McAleer has shown his pace this season in both a Cayman and a 996, while Andy Toon is another former champion in class one, and we are pleased to welcome back Paul Seagrave, making his 2020 debut.
The points battle in class two has been just as exciting, with two wins for Matt Kyle-Henney seeing him head James Coleman, who has twice had mechanical issues in races, by just two points. Battling over third in class are two drivers who made their track debuts in the opening rounds at Snetterton, Charles Clark and Bill Caley learning fast and both recording podium finishes at Brands Hatch.
Andy Muggeridge has shown pace and is overdue a good finish, while reigning overall champion Ross Morris – the third of the father-son combinations in the field – took a win at Snetterton, but a troubled Brands has seen him in need of a good points score. In a class dominated by the Boxster S, watch out for the blue 994 S2 of Richard Bayston who flew at Oulton in July, his 944 has less power than the Boxsters but runs lighter making it hard to pass when braking.
The Boxster Cup sees the cars running on treaded Pirellis, and four wins leaves Paul Simpson clear of Mike Thompson in the points, although Oulton was the one circuit this season where he failed to record a win. On that occasion Alistair Nelson claimed both victories, his car shared with Sam Beckett who should be racing their Boxster this weekend.
Qualifying is at 08.30 on Saturday morning, with the two 25-minute races at 11.00 and 14.45.