Team Report from Peter Morris, PMC Midlands Porsche 996 GT3
A superb grid of 33 GT's kicked off the debut 2008 GT Cup Series at Donington Park this weekend [12-13 April 2008].
Peter Morris, director of construction company PMC Midlands Ltd who are keen supporters and sponsors of the new GT Cup Series, entered with a Porsche 996 GT3 and had high hopes for a good result racing against a potent mix of cars which included Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Ginetta, Marcos and TVR's
“I came to Donington testing last Thursday” explained Morris “and we were able to get some good settings on the car. This really paid off as the conditions were changeable in qualifying and I qualified in third.”
The first race was on Sunday morning and with a rolling start, but Morris had dropped back a couple of places by Redgate. |
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“I had a Britcar start!” said Morris. “Far too cautious into the first corner.”
The Porsches of Paul Mace and Nick Whale both pulled past Morris, but after a couple of laps Morris had passed both to take back his third position. Apart from passing battling back-markers Morris had a steady remaining race and bagged his first podium finish of the season.
“Racing on the GP circuit at Donington meant it took ages for me to start catching up with backmarkers” Morris explained, “but despite the various battles going on between the mix of cars and drivers, there was never any problem passing them.”
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Morris adds: “I just wish I had been able to get onto the pace of the 997's of Donovan and Leonard to challenge for second or first!”
The top three finishing cars had ballast added for the next race, which meant Morris had to take on 20 kilos. |
In race two Morris had a better start, but had to push hard to try and get on the pace of the Porsche 997's.
Mike Donovan and Nick Whale made a quick getaway at the front, breaking away from the rest of the pack.
Steve Rance's Porsche 997 managed to manoeuvre past Morris on lap five when he was compromised by a backmarker through the Esses, dropping him down to sixth place.
Morris continued to push his car hard through the traffic for the remaining nine laps; lapping within fractions of a second of Rance but unable to get close enough to make a move and had to settle for fourth place.
“I'm happy with a third and fourth this weekend” Morris said. “All the cars have been power tested now and there will probably be some equalising done before the next round at Anglesey in May to keep things as fair as possible between the makes and models.”
Morris concludes: “Overall I'm really pleased. Marc Haynes has done a fantastic job to bring everything together in time for the first round of the season. The GT Cup races this weekend went without a hitch.” |
Peter Morris with GT Cup Series Organiser Marc Haynes |
