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Defending Champion Dan Cammish (Redline Racing) lit up the time sheets in the second practice session to post the fastest time of a rain-affected first day as the Porsche Carrera Cup GB lined up alongside the World Endurance Championship.

Tyres were the early focus as rain and cold temperatures made the first practice session on Silverstone’s legendary 3.66 mile Grand Prix challenging. Teams opted to run the session on the Michelin wet tyre, new for 2016 and still a largely unknown quantity due to limited wet running in pre-season testing.

Despite this, there was no lack of commitment from any of the competitors through the demanding Maggots and Becketts complex on the first lap. Dino Zamparelli (GT Marques) tiptoed around in the slippery conditions to finish just 0.028s ahead of Dan Cammish, a remarkably slender margin for an 18 corner lap. Rounding out the top three was Porsche 2016/17 Scholar Charlie Eastwood (Redline Racing), impressing on his wet-weather debut with a time just 0.344s adrift of Zamparelli.

Leading the Pro-Am1 charge was Euan McKay (IN2 Racing) with an impressive time that saw him in the mix with the Pro category drivers, while Tautvydas Barstys (Juta Racing) ended the session with a clear advantage in Pro-Am2.

Strong winds and a 90-minute practice session for the WEC teams, which saw the Porsche 919 Hybrids first and second, dried the track sufficiently for all but six of the 26 drivers to opt for slicks. Choosing to start on wets were the cars of IN2 Racing, Brookspeed, Asset Advantage Racing and The Car Loan Centre, the four teams opting to sacrifice some track time for an opportunity to practise tyre changes ahead of what may prove to be changeable conditions in race one.

On an almost dry track, Zamparelli set the early pace, forming part of a well-spaced train that included Cammish, Tom Sharp (IDL Racing) and Charlie Eastwood. The quartet traded purple sectors (fastest times overall), but Cammish managed to find the most grip from his tyres to post an unbeatable 2:06.954.

Cammish commented: “The track was dry, but the time wasn’t quite there due to the temperature. We had a good session, swapping to newer tyres half way through which gave us a little more time. Considering the length of the circuit, it’s very close.”

Also settling into the conditions very quickly was Charlie Eastwood, improving to second with a consistent set of laps and finishing 0.213s shy of the flying Cammish. Posting an impressive lap time to jump into the top three was Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing).

Pro-Am1 was again headed by a McKay, this time Dan leading the IN2 Racing squad with a time that would have been worthy of the Pro category. Brother Euan was not far behind, just pushing Sean Hudspeth (Parr Motorsport) into third place after a lap that had seen the Singaporean driver inside the top six overall at one stage. Tautvydas Barstys maintained a firm grip on Pro-Am2, in session two ahead of newcomer Salih Yoluk (IN2 Racing), impressing on his Carrera Cup GB debut with a solid second place in the category.

Following the track action, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB race centre welcomed Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of Porsche Motorsport, and Porsche drivers Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, pilots of the Porsche 919 Hybrid in the LMP1 category of the WEC. Listening to Dr. Walliser and the two drivers discuss the Porsche Motorsport pyramid, of which the Carrera Cup is a key component, and the LMP1 programme presented a rare opportunity for the Carrera Cup GB drivers, further underlining the importance of the weekend’s racing.

With weather conditions set to be changeable heading into Saturday, tyre strategy will play a key role in what will be a difficult qualifying session and race to predict. Qualifying is at 10.10 GMT, with race one following at 12.55 GMT. Coverage of round three of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB will be shown by Motors TV at 18.45.

Follow the Championship at @CarreraCupGB and @PorscheGB on Twitter, and visit www.porsche.co.uk/CarreraCupGB for more information and the full race entry list.

Ends

For more information, please contact the Porsche press office team:

Kate Gregory: Press Office Assistant
Email: kate.gregory@porsche.co.uk
Tel: 0118 916 5050

Rob Durrant: Motorsport Press Officer
E-mail: rob.durrant@porsche.co.uk
Tel: 0118 925 2855
Mobile: 07342 084 853

Rob Punshon: Senior Press Officer
E-mail: rob.punshon@porsche.co.uk
Tel: 0118 925 2733
Mobile: 07881 008950

Nick Perry: Product Affairs Manager
Email: nick.perry@porsche.co.uk
Tel: 0118 925 2721
Mobile: 07775 860 291

Angus Fitton: Head of PR
Email: angus.fitton@porsche.co.uk
Tel: 0118 925 2720
Mobile: 07824 623 874

Press website: https://presse.porsche.de and porsche-press.co.uk
Press email: press@porsche.co.uk
Press Twitter: @PorscheGB @CarreraCupGB
Porsche News: newsroom.porsche.com

Editors’ Note:

Porsche can claim more than 30,000 race victories in almost every motor sports series worldwide, and while many of these successes have been achieved with immensely powerful specialist race cars like the evocative 917 and 956, the iconic 911 sports coupe is the bedrock on which the peerless racing reputation of the Stuttgart marque has been built.

The 911 demonstrates perfectly the Porsche philosophy of not only building sports cars in order to win races, but also to gain development know-how that can be incorporated into the evolution of its road cars. Successive generations of the rear-engined 911 have been honed on the race circuit since its debut in 1963, with customers benefitting from continuous improvements in key dynamic areas such as engine performance, braking and aerodynamics.

Porsche is the world's largest manufacturer of racing cars; the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car competes in the Mobil1 Supercup, the world’s fastest international one-make Championship, which supports Formula One Grands Prix. The 911 GT3 Cup also entertains spectators around the world racing in the many domestic Carrera Cup Championships in Germany, Asia, France, Italy, Japan, Scandinavia and Great Britain. The all-new GT3 R is the first step for drivers moving up to GT racing, while the 911 RSR is the standard-bearer for the Porsche Works teams in international blue riband events like Daytona and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

With a record number of overall victories, Porsche is the most successful manufacturer in Le Mans history. In 2014, Porsche returned to Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the factory-run 919 Hybrid sports prototype race car in the top LMP1 category, and scored its first outright victory in its debut WEC season in the final race in Brazil.

The 919 Hybrid LMP1 proves the ‘downsizing’ concept in featuring a unique two-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, supplemented by two energy recovery systems, which combined develop almost 900 hp.

Porsche scored its 17th and latest success in Le Mans last June when Britain’s Nick Tandy, New Zealand driver Earl Bamber and German F1 star Nico Hulkenberg took the chequered flag in their 919 Hybrid LMP1 after 24 hours of flat out racing. Chasing this trio across the line was the second 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley (New Zealand), Mark Webber (Australia) and Timo Bernhard (Germany) to deliver a 1-2 result for the Stuttgart team. This trio ultimately clinched the 2015 Drivers’ World Endurance Championship, and the WEC Manufacturers’ Championship, for Porsche.