Porsche Cup Thruxton 05/06/2006

Paragon Porsche takes Carrera Cup victory

Andy Purdie claimed a tremendous victory for Paragon Porsche in round eight of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire on Sunday (4 June). 

The Maidstone-based driver was racing the Paragon Porsche-entered 911GT3 Cup car in two rounds of the championship after missing the previous two race weekends while completing his university final exams. In a dramatic round eight, Andy drove a superb race to win the pro-am category and finish fifth overall. "That's a great result," said Purdie after spraying champagne on the podium. 

The result confirms Andy as one of the new rising stars of the championship and his performance at one of the most challenging tracks on the schedule was very impressive.  In testing on Friday, Andy drove the car at Thruxton for the first time and spent the day getting used to the fast and notoriously bumpy track. Then, in qualifying on Saturday morning he posted tenth best time, which was third amongst the pro-am category runners. "It’s so much fun to be back out in the car and I'm just easing myself back in," he said.  In the early laps of the opening race, Andy ran in tenth place, but a spin on lap three dropped him to the tail of the pack. However, he battled back into contention to finish tenth overall and fifth in the pro-am category.  

That put him tenth on the grid again for round eight on Sunday and he managed to avoid the second lap accident that eliminated several cars. In fact, as the cars lined up behind the safety car while the track was cleared, Andy held an amazing second place overall, headed only by VIP racer and Porsche works driver Sascha Maassen.  

From the re-start, Andy didn't fight too much as pro category racers Richard Williams and Richard Westbrook moved ahead, but it was a challenge from Mark Cole that resulted in a spin for the Paragon car at the Complex following a touch from Cole's car.  Andy quickly rejoined, but now had Jason Young pressing hard for the lead of the pro-am category. 

However, Andy drove a fine race to keep Young at bay and score his first pro-am victory with fifth place overall. "That's just amazing! I'm very, very happy! I learnt a few tricks in the first race and just tried to keep my head in the second race," said Andy after a great weekend.