Will Aspin returned to Porsche Carrera Cup GB action at the weekend (August 26/27), having what was ultimately a frustrating time at Donington Park, where his pace and speed weren’t reflected in his results.

The Italian teenager battled tricky mixed weather conditions in his Attis Sports-livered, Team Parker Racing-prepared, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machine, as he was set for a remarkable race two podium, before contact from a rival sent him off track.

Taking part in practice on Thursday, Will was confident and knew what areas he needed to improve as he produced top-ten overall and front-running Pro-Am class pace, as the series competed on the circuit’s Grand Prix layout for the first time.

Going into qualifying on Saturday afternoon, his theoretical best time would have put him fourth in class, but he was frustrated on his quickest lap in the closing moments of the session, being held up in the final sector and losing close to half a second, meaning he had work to do in the races.

Lining up seventh in Pro-Am for the opening contest on Sunday morning, Will had to manage wet tyres on a damp but drying track, before rain returned in the closing stages. Going into the high-speed Old Hairpin turn, he went over the inside kerb which, due to the rain, sent him into a spin and off the track. As he recovered, he was thrust immediately into a battle and locked up at the following corner, making contact with another car, for which he was later disqualified from the results.

That meant he had to start at the very rear of the 22-car grid for race two and, fired up, he made up an impressive eight places on the opening lap. Settling in and figuring out where he could make further progress, he started to push on once again and quickly closed in on the Pro-Am podium positions.

Getting alongside Ollie Jackson down the Craner Curves, he gave his rival room, but was pushed wide at the Old Hairpin, being sent over the gravel and losing his front splitter – providing key downforce – in the process. Despite that, he continued to push on and closed back in on the battle for the final class podium spot, but ran out of time to make amends, crossing the line fifth.

Taking the positives from the weekend and identifying key areas to learn from and continue to build his knowledge, Will is back in Porsche Carrera Cup GB action at Silverstone, over the weekend of September 23/24 – the penultimate meeting of the 2023 season.

Will Aspin

G1 – 7, R1 – DSQ
G2 – 12, R2 – 5

Championship: 6 (46 points)

“Thursday started off well. I was confident going into the practice and the two sessions went really well. I learned a fair bit and that's key. I'm always learning as it's what's going to make me a better driver. Qualifying is probably where I need to improve however, but I don’t think the result really showed our true pace. On the first set of rubber, we did struggle a little bit and on the second set, the lap didn't feel great. In the end, it would have been enough to be on pole in Pro-Am and sixth overall, but due to some other competitors warming up their tyres and not checking their mirrors, we didn't get to finish the lap, so in the end, we qualified 17th, which is not where we should have been.

“Going into race one, we were fairly confident. Everything was going fine; we started 17th, went up to tenth and it was just a mistake on my side when it started to rain a lot heavier. The inside kerb at the Old Hairpin was extremely slippery and as I went in I touched the kerb, it spat the rear around and we went into a spin. On re-joining the track we were thrown straight back into a battle, I locked up and ran wide, and so did [Josh] Stanton. I got a penalty for that, a really harsh penalty if I may say so and we were disqualified. I have a different view, but it is what it is.

“For race two I was extremely annoyed and quite angry, starting right from the back. We made up eight places on lap one and we were going forward. I was settling in, watching what people were doing, and I thought to myself 'it's time to crack on.' I made a move on [Ollie] Jackson going down the hill and he squeezed me onto the grass, so I thought 'okay, I'm on the outside, I'll give him the space.' Going into the Old Hairpin he lunged at me and ran me wide on the exit, dropping me back. It was unlucky that he did that to us because we would have been P2 in Pro-Am, and it would have been a nice one-two for the team. It's unfortunate but we have to move on.

“I lost my splitter after the contact with him and was two and a half to three tenths faster without it and to me that's pretty good job. It was literally a faultless drive, it's just other people not giving me any room. Moving forward, the performance was good and to drive this car without a splitter is really hard. There are lots of positives and lots of things to work on. On the learning side, it was probably a good weekend because I'll be a lot wiser and a lot more confident at Silverstone.”