Tordoff takes first Porsche Carrera Cup GB win as Meadows extends points lead

Sam Tordoff starred in last weekend’s Porsche Carrera Cup GB round at Oulton Park by taking his first pole and race victory in the series, while Redline Racing’s Michael Meadows extended his points lead with race two spoils.

Tordoff took his first pole position with a blistering lap on Saturday afternoon to beat the championship leader Meadows, in the first race he got a good getaway when the lights went out to leap into the first corner still at the head of the pack.

In glorious conditions the sun was certainly shining brightly on the Parker Racing man as he lead the opening lap ahead of Meadows and Jonas Gelzinis, while further back Richard Plant lost places to Ben Barker and Rory Butcher having started fifth on the grid.

Glynn Geddie had also gone by into fifth place, but he then spun coming out of Cascades on the second lap of the race, joined in sympathy by Tautvydas Barstys.

Tordoff set a hot pace at the front and edged out a cushion over Meadows who was dropping into the clutches of Juta Racing’s Gelzinis, while the trio had gapped another battling trio of Lloyd, Barker and Butcher for fourth.

With four laps to go of the 18, Gelzinis was now all over the back of Meadows for second and looking both sides of the SAS/Redline car for a way past, but the championship leader held his ground with some good defensive driving to keep the Lithuanian at bay.

Tordoff held on to take a fantastic first victory in the Carrera Cup, 1.137s ahead of Meadows who held off Gelzinis to the flag. Lloyd pulled away from the fierce battle for fifth which was won in the end by Butcher who found a way past Barker in the closing stages.

Victor Jimenez took a well-deserved Pro-am1 class victory ahead of Derek Pierce and a recovering Ahmad Al Harthy, while Pro-am2 honours went to Will Goff on his season debut.

Michael Leonard had an eventful race which went downhill after Oly Mortimer forced him wide at the final corner, before on lap eight he launched his Parker car over the Knickerbrook kerbs and spun into the tyre barrier on the way to finishing 14th.

Race two was a different story as Meadows readressed the balance, making a good start as race one winner Tordoff dropped from the front row behind Thruxton winner Lloyd and Gelzinis with a sluggish getaway.

There was immediately then drama when Michael Leonard dropped fluid all over the Knickerbrook chicane after damaging the radiator in contact at the hairpin, where Gelzinis then overtook Lloyd for second place.

As the pack approached the slippery chicane, several cars had big moments on the coolant including Geddie who went wide, and Lloyd in third who lost another position on the road to Tordoff.

Just like in race one, Gelzinis looked quicker than Meadows and began hounding the leader looking for a way past, while Lloyd then lost another place to Butcher when the latter got a much better drive out of the ultra-fast Druids corner.

It took until after the first 10 laps for Meadows to almost crack under the pressure as he ran straight on across the grass at the chicane tryin gto extend his lead, but hung onto the lead.

He would make no more mistakes on his way to the flag to take his fifth win in eight races this season, pulling away from Gelzinis while Tordoff scored another podium ahead of Butcher, Lloyd, Plant and Barker.

Pro-am1 went to eighth-placed Mortimer in race two, ahead of Al Harthy who came from 12th on the grid in a class full of attrition as Pierce also spun out at Knickerbrook, while Goff again took Pro-am2 two as Barstys failed to finish.

Meadows’ points lead at the top has stretched to 36 points ahead of Gelzinis, although third place has now been taken up by Tordoff who has leapfrogged Scholarship winner Lloyd with his win and third place finish as the series heads to Croft in two weeks time.

Championship standings after rounds 7-8:

1. Michael Meadows – 157 points

2. Jonas Gelzinis – 123 points

3. Sam Tordoff – 104 points

4. Daniel Lloyd – 100 points

5. Ben Barker – 92 points

6. Rory Butcher – 90 points

Pro-am1 class standings:

1. Ahmad Al Harthy – 75 points

2. Derek Pierce – 43 points

3. Oly Mortimer – 38 points

Pro-am2 class standings:

1. Tania Mann – 59 points

2. Will Goff – 20 points

3. Tautvydas Barstys – 10 points

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