Team Redline Racing will fight for championship silverware at next month’s Porsche Carrera Cup GB series finale after scoring a hat-trick of podium finishes at Silverstone this past weekend (September 24/25).
On what proved to be an action-packed penultimate event of the season around the Home of British Motor Racing, Adam Smalley and Nigel Rice both picked up silverware whilst the Teesside squad set up a grandstand finish in the Teams’ Championship.
Fine margins split the grid during Saturday’s ultra-competitive qualifying session and at the front, Smalley missed out on pole position by little over a tenth of a second. Setting a blistering time late on around the 1.64-mile National circuit, the Porsche GB Junior driver secured his spot on the outside of the front row for the first of Sunday’s two races.
Behind Smalley, Nathan Harrison clinched fourth overall in the Pro-Am category whilst Oli White and Micah Stanley finished 13th and 15th respectively. Rice - who was back behind the wheel following his sizeable accident at Snetterton last month - rounded out the grid as he secured the fourth fastest time in the Am class.
Race one saw the team kick-start their Sunday with a double dose of silverware as Smalley and Rice both made appearances on the podium.
Despite dropping to third on the opening lap, Smalley produced a superlative drive in what was a frenetic bout. Soaking up immense pressure from Will Martin and then Gus Burton, the 21-year-old held his ground to secure his seventh top three finish of the year.
In the Am category, Rice marked his return to the one-make series in style with a third visit to the rostrum of 2022. Wasting no time in moving up a position, the experienced racer then proceeded to hold position all the way to the chequered flag.
Further down the order the trio of White, Stanley and Harrison all found themselves in the thick of the action. White emerged as one of the standout performers as he bounced back from a first lap spin to finish 13th whilst Stanley and Harrison crossed the line in 12th and 15th respectively.
The weekend’s second encounter proved to be one of attrition for the squad. Rice would claim the headline honours once again as he produced a measured drive to complete a clean sweep of podium finishes - bringing his rear-wheel-drive machine across the line third in class.
Smalley’s chances of repeating his own podium heroics ended early as contact with Martin dropped him down the order. Running as low as 16th at one stage, the Lancastrian produced a valiant fight back to carve his way back up the order and finish seventh.
Stanley and Harrison - both of whom were in a host of wheel-to-wheel battles - finished tenth and 14th respectively whilst White was an unfortunate retirement in the latter stages.
Simon Leonard – Managing Director: “It’s been another strong weekend and to come away with three more podiums is a fantastic achievement. To have Nigel back in the car was great and I’m so happy to see him come away with two trophies; he fully deserved it.
“Adam, Oli, Micah and Nathan were in the thick of the action today but they showed what they're about with some fine drives too. We’ve now got one more event to go in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the aim is to make sure we sign off the season on a high. If we can close out the year with some top results that will be brilliant.”
Team Redline Racing will bring the curtain down on its Porsche Carrera Cup GB season this weekend (October 8/9), with two races set to play out around the Grand Prix layout of Brands Hatch.
Image from Porsche GB.