Tough weekend for Seb Perez
Chesterfield Pro racer Seb Perez encountered a tough weekend for rounds three and four of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Donington Park (27- 28 April) after a big impact in the first race on Saturday that nearly ruled him out of the rest of the weekend.
Fantastic work overnight by his team Redline Racing saw the car near perfect for race two on Sunday for him to bag more points for him and the team in the championship.
An early weekend start on Thursday for the teams saw two free practice sessions in changeable weather of sunshine one minute and torrential rain the next causing its own issues for drivers with ever changing track conditions that saw Perez finish 6th and team mate Nottinghamshire’s George Gamble taking second fastest.
The weather conditions didn’t change much for Saturdays qualifying and in fact high winds added to the rain making driving difficult and challenging at times on a wet but drying circuit.
A mid qualifying session rain shower meant most teams stayed in the pit lane including Team Amigos Redline Racing that saw reining Pro Am Champion Perez fifth fastest to take a third row grid for race one and Gamble take a front row finishing second.
Race one Saturday afternoon saw Perez hold onto his position off the line and take Lewis Plato to move into fourth place, the battle continued for a further 10 laps or so where coming out of Hollywood and down Craner Curves Plato regained the advantage running wide and forcing the Amigos Redline Racing Porsche off line. There was nowhere to go for Perez, he hit the wet grass and the car slid at high speed into the barriers, the strength of the car taking the impact and Perez escaping unhurt.
Team mate Gamble went on the finish and take a podium second place.
A late night repair session fixing the damage saw the Team at Redline Racing make the car as new and by Sunday morning the car was race ready for the second encounter.
Starting race two in 9th place Perez was hot off the line as the lights went out picking his way through the pack and into 7th by the end of lap one, on lap four he gained a further place from Dan Vaughan and then into fifth,
A slowing puncture then hit the Porsche causing Perez to drop two places halting any further progress seeing him nurse the car home to finish seventh and missing a potential podium place on how he was performing, this place would become sixth after the post-race exclusion of Tom Roche for a technical infringement.
Team mate Gamble also missed out on the podium finishing fourth.
“Qualifying was interesting,” said Seb. “We were in the wet, but we had a good run and were in the top three. We slightly missed the boat when we went to go out as the track dried a little bit and was a bit greasy, so it had lost the edge when we changed tyres.
“The pace in the first race was brilliant. The car was fantastic, and we were really hunting people down. I had a good battle with Lewis Plato, but he ran wide into the Old Hairpin and re-joined in an awkward position which pushed me wide, and onto the grass. The kerbs were still wet, and the grass was sodden, so I was just a passenger.
Editorial and Images by Paul Horton Motorsport Media and Photography
