Michelin Porsche Club Championship Thruxton 20/08/2005

Another Podium for Purdie at Thruxton

Lewis Tootell and Andy Purdie shared the wins during two tremendous races for the Michelin Porsche Club Championship at Thruxton over the weekend (20/21 August). Although both of the rising young stars were racing at the high-speed track for the first time, they each claimed a win as Fraser Robertson ran them very close in his class two 944S2.

Qualifying

"It took a while for me to get into the circuit," said Tootell (968CS) after taking pole with a best of 1m29.270s. That was eight-tenths up on White (3.2 Carrera) at a circuit that the championship leader does not rate among his favourites. Class two was wide open, as Tom Segrue (944S2) set the pace with third overall, even though it was close to a decade since his last visit to the track. 

Marcus Carniel (911SC) and Richard Lambert (Carrera 3) were just behind, with Robertson fourth on his first sight of Thruxton. The Richmond racer had taken seven hours to travel south in his truck and even struggled to find the track late on Friday night!  

Right at the bottom of the times was Purdie (3.2 Carrera) after his gear linkage fell apart at the start of qualifying. "No pressure," he predicted of his race, although a top four finish seemed within reach from the back of the grid.

Race One

White got the better start to beat Tootell into Allard while Purdie started a meteoric climb up the order. By half way round the opening lap he was eighth and into the Complex for the third time he dived past Carniel and Lambert to take third place! While Purdie soon started attacking Tootell, Lambert, Robertson, Segrue and Carniel all tagged along to make an impressive lead bunch. However, Carniel then dropped back with brake problems and Segrue lost ground with a couple of moments at the Complex.  

Meanwhile, White was starting to lose ground as Tootell and Purdie took up the running at the front of the race. "I couldn't live with them towards the end of the race," admitted White. Now it was Tootell defending from Purdie and despite trying all sorts of attacks, Purdie couldn't quite dislodge the race leader as Robertson swept up to make it three cars nose-to-tail on the final lap. It was Tootell's first win in only six races. "I'm absolutely thrilled with that," he said. "But I had to defend hard. Ecstatic!" 

Purdie, equally, was delighted with the result. "I couldn't believe how quickly I went up the field. Lewis was defending superbly and I'm happy with second."  Having learnt more about Thruxton by following Lambert in the early laps, Robertson was elated to win class two by finishing right on the tail of the leading duo. Much of his gain came under braking for the chicane as the ABS kicked in. "That was really good," he beamed. 

Lambert slipped away a little in fourth as White and the troubled Carniel completed the top six and Ben Demetriou (911SC) had class three to himself.

Race Two

Purdie took the lead from the outside of the front row at the first corner in race two, with Tootell in close attendance. The race one winner closed on Purdie on the second lap, only to slow on the next lap and retire with an exhaust problem. That put White into second, and he in turn closed on Purdie, who was locking his brakes regularly at the Complex and losing time.

White, in turn, was coming under pressure from class two leader Robertson as the top three closed up at two-thirds distance. White had more power than Robertson, but the latter’s 944 was better on the brakes and an overall fastest race lap helped Robertson into second with a move at the complex two laps from the end. Robertson was right with Purdie on the final lap, but there was no way by and the Kent student took his fourth win of the season."That must have been one of my worst races ever," said Purdie. "I never seemed to get the slow corners right and I'm glad the car was good in the quick ones. It was a shame we lost Lewis early as that would have been another good fight, but these things happen to everyone sometime or another." 

"My car was superb," exclaimed Robertson after a memorable weekend. "To be challenging for the lead is great, one more lap and I really think I could have won here today." Meanwhile, in class three, Demetriou took his second win of the weekend.