2009 Season Review

Sumpter and Slater take Britcar class title for Paragon Porsche

Mark Sumpter and Adrian Slater ended the 2009 racing season with a class title in the Britcar GT Championship and missed the overall tile by just one point after a superb campaign in the Paragon Porsche-entered Porsche 911GT3RSR.

"It's been a really good season and only a couple of pit-stop problems cost us the overall title," said Mark as he reflected on a season that included three overall race wins against more powerful opposition. The highlights included a double victory at Rockingham in May and a famous victory at Spa-Francorchamps in June, with a season tally of six podiums from seven races. 

Although the season started with a non-finish at Silverstone in late March, Sumpter and Slater were quickly into their stride and got their title bid off to a great start with a double win at Rockingham in early May. "It was a fantastic weekend and a really good team effort," said Sumpter. 

That became a hat-trick of wins when the series headed to the world-famous Spa circuit in Belgium in late June, when ever-changing weather conditions made it a tough weekend for the entire Paragon team. "It was one of those weekends when we had to make some difficult decisions on tyres and set-up, but we were always on the right tyres and it all worked for us." 

At Snetterton in late August, a problem with a rear wheel arch inner lining took them an extra minute during a routine pit-stop and they ended the race second, just 24s down on the winning Mosler.

A couple of incidents during the Silverstone 6-hour race in early October cost them the chance of another victory, but third place kept them well in the title hunt heading for the final race at Brands Hatch in November. Ultimately, third place in the race and the class one crown was their reward for a great season as the championship wrapped up with a 90-minute race in the dark on the Indy circuit. 

"We've had a great season," said Sumpter. "Everyone in the Paragon team has worked really hard and my co-driver Adrian Slater has driven superbly all season. We hope to do some more Britcar races next year and also look at doing some races in Europe."