Andrew Rackstraw’s second outright race victory of the season, and his third maximum Pro points finish, maintains the 23-year old South African driver’s strong challenge for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB title after a hard-fought double podium race weekend at Donington Park, in his Rosland Gold by Century Motorsport 911 GT3.
With an average speed of just over 100mph, Andrew qualified second for the first of two races at Donington Park in his 510bhp Rosland Gold/Investchem/Sparco-backed Porsche – and immediately took the lead after making a brilliant start from the inside of the front row.
Leading into the opening Redgate corner for the first time, Andrew quickly pulled away at the front of the field – although his 1.204sec lead vanished on lap seven when the Safety Car was deployed for debris to be collected from the track.
Having successfully fending off an attack at the restart, Andrew put in a fast and consistent set of lap times to re-establish the gap, eventually scoring a well-deserved and inch-perfect win by 1.302secs – and scoring an extra point for setting the fastest lap (1:29.663) around the 2.49-mile Grand Prix circuit.
For the reverse grid race two, Andrew made another great start, this time from the second row, but damage caused by early contact as the top four cars battled hard for position slowed him as the race unfolded. Despite this, Andrew remained in the mix as the leading positions changed several times – but in a race once again interrupted by another Safety Car, it proved to be a somewhat frustrating Round 12 encounter, as Andrew had to settle for third.
Another double podium finish netted Andrew 19 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Pro points – his second highest race weekend haul of the season, after the 21 points he scored at Snetterton. He also maintains his 100% points scoring finishing record and leaves Donington second in the Pro standings, just eight points behind the leader with four races remaining.
“It was a great weekend in terms of a win and a third-place finish, however, in terms of the championship, we needed more than that,” says Andrew.
“In race one we managed to get the outright win. That was achieved on pace, and the fantastic result was a nice way to thank the team for all the hard work that they’d put in.
“Early contact in race two slowed us down a bit and P3 was the best that we could do. We took the points, but it could have been better.
“It’s still super close in the race for the title and it’s getting towards the end of the season, so all these small details make a big difference.
“We’ll now look back at the Donington race weekend, particularly race two, to see where we can improve, both me as a driver and us as a team. We’ll learn from it and come back even stronger at the next round at Silverstone.
“It’s going to be a hard fight for the title and it’s likely to go all the way to the last race of the season. I’m really looking forward to the challenge – and I’ll be giving it my all.”
Published by: Paul Evans
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