Jack McCarthy will head into the final rounds of his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign in contention for two class titles after visiting the podium twice during the penultimate meeting of the season at Silverstone (28/29 September). Following an impressive display at the ‘Home of British Motor Racing’, McCarthy will now head to his local circuit Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time (12/13 October) with an outside chance of ending the season with both the Pro Am and Rookie class honours. Four weeks after the last rounds of the championship on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, McCarthy was tackling the National layout this time around in his Shandon Spa & Hotel, SAS International, TMJ Interiors and Integra supported Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Following mixed results during official testing on Wednesday and Friday in the lead up to the event, the Kent racer knew it was going to be a tough ask to challenge at the front of the pack in qualifying. He eventually posted the fifth fastest time in the Pro Am class. McCarthy was much more confident in his race pace though and that showed across Sunday’s races, both of which were televised live on ITV4. Rainfall just before the start of the opener presented a tricky tyre choice for the 19 year old, who joined most the field in going with slicks. When the action began it quickly became apparent though that drivers on wet tyres had the pace advantage. That left McCarthy and the other slick-shod runners in a race of their own, with second place in the Pro Am class up for grabs. After taking the position on lap twelve, McCarthy was then embroiled in a race long battle with two class rivals. A fantastic drive saw him tame the tricky conditions to bring his Redline Racing machine home for a seventh top two Pro Am race finish of the season so far. It was a similar story in race two later that afternoon, with the Bromley based driver once again battling for second in class throughout the race. On this occasion he narrowly missed out on the spot in the closing stages, but took the chequered flag in third for his 11th podium result in 14 races. Jack McCarthy: "On a weekend with really tricky and changing weather conditions throughout, I’m delighted to come away with two podium finishes and a good haul of championship points in both the Pro Am and Rookie standings. “Fifth in qualifying was the sort of result I expected to be honest, but we knew our race pace was strong and consistent so we felt positive for Sunday. It’s a shame to make the wrong tyre call in race one, but we made the best of it and ‘won’ the class of those on slick tyres. “It was another strong performance in race two, with some good, close racing out on track. Second and third place finishes is good results for me and a massive thank you to Redline Racing for a faultless car all weekend in all conditions. “To head into the season finale of my maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign in contention for two class titles is pretty awesome. Admittedly it’s a long shot to win either crown, but we’ll go there, give it everything and see what happens.”
Image from Dan Bathie/Porsche GB.