Hankey tops Carrera Cup testing at Croft
Euan Hankey topped the time sheets in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during testing at Croft today (Friday 18 June) ahead of rounds nine and ten of the championship. In two tremendously competitive sessions, Hankey (Team Parker Racing) ended the day just eight-thousandths of a second ahead of Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing). In pro-am1 Ollie Jackson (Addison Lee Motorbase) set the pace while Mark Hazell (JHR) set the pro-am2 pace.
The best times came in the closing stages of the afternoon session as most of the leading runners went out on new tyres. Although he topped the times, Hankey felt that there was more time to come from his new set of tyres. "On old tyres the car was absolutely brilliant, but I didn't find as much time on the new tyres as I expected," said the Carrera Cup Scholarship driver. "But I think I know where I can find the time."
Championship leader Harvey was second fastest and also believed there was more time to come. "I had a big miss with a slower car at Barcroft and lost a couple of laps through traffic," said Harvey. "Qualifying is so important here and I think we can go quicker."
Making it a good day for Team Parker Racing, Stephen Jelley was third fastest, only a tenth of a second adrift of team mate Hankey. "It's a good start; we've just got to carry it through the weekend," said Jelley. Although he was only fourth fastest, Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) was very impressive as he opted not to use new tyres. Having been 0.364s away from the fastest time on old tyres, Caine should be right in contention for pole position in qualifying.
Fifth fastest overall and top of pro-am1 was a fine result for Jackson as four-tenths of a second covered the top six cars. "It was a slightly untidy lap but I'm happy with the pace of the car," said Jackson, who ended the day with six-tenths of a second in hand over his nearest pro-am1 rival, Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing). Splitting them on overall times was Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing), but Gelzinis could be a real threat to Jackson in the races after his showing on his first experience of the North Yorkshire track. "I drive only with old tyres," said the Lithuanian racer. "I hope to improve between five and seven-tenths on new tyres in qualifying."
Red Line Racing team mates Michael Meadows and Archie Hamilton, third fastest in pro-am1, were inside the top 10 while Tom Bradshaw (JHR) was tenth based on his morning times. A car vibration prevented him running in the second session.
JHR topped pro-am2 with Hazell, who was pleased with his day's work on his first run in a Porsche at Croft for four years. George Richardson (Motorbase Performance), who was impressive on old tyres, headed Hazell's opposition in second fastest from Glenn McMenamin (Red Line Racing) and Paul Mace (GT Marques).
