Team Parker Racing again had one of its drivers in the winners’ circle in the latest round of the ultra-competitive Porsche Carrera Cup GB at the challenging Oulton Park circuit.

This time it was Sam Tordoff who broke his Carrera Cup duck, the talented Yorkshire driver taking a composed victory after leading all the way from pole position to the chequered flag.

Tordoff was under constant pressure all the way through, but held firm despite the best efforts of his rivals to unseat him.

“That was fantastic,” he said. “I got a great start and Michael Meadows [the Carrera Cup championship leader] never really got close enough to mount a serious challenge to pass me. I had that bit of a cushion but it was pressure all the way.”

Tordoff backed up his win with another podium finish in the second race, in which he placed third. Although he ran wide at the first corner to drop to fifth, he recovered as others lost control on coolant fluid that had been dropped on the track to climb into another strong position.

His results move him up to third in the championship and earned him the Carrera Cup GB’s Driver of the Weekend prize.

Team Parker Racing’s Thruxton winner Daniel Lloyd showed exceptional pace in wet conditions in Friday’s test, but his weekend took a turn for the worse when he crashed. A water hose blew off the car in the early stages of qualifying, the team believing this to be a legacy of the accident, but he was able to put himself on the second row for both races after rejoining the session later on.

In race one he stayed close to the leading group in the early going before finishing fourth. In race two Lloyd made a storming start to move into second place, but he was one of those to run wide on the coolant and had to settle for fifth position.

Meanwhile, the team’s third talented up-and-coming Yorkshireman Richard Plant, who won on the opening race weekend of the season at Brands Hatch, suffered from illness all weekend. He was still able to perform a strong exercise in damage-limitation by taking a sixth and seventh from the two races.

Team Parker Racing remains in second place in the teams’ championship with four of the 10 race weekends completed.

Team principal Stuart Parker said: “After a disappointing previous round at Thruxton Sam had an absolutely fantastic weekend at Oulton. He was good in the wet on Friday, and in the dry on Saturday and Sunday. He led race one from the front and really controlled it. Hopefully this will help him with the self-belief to go forward and win more races.

“Daniel was massively impressive in the wet on Friday. He got hit at the first corner of race one and that knocked his tracking out, so he did really well to get the result he did. He had a bit of a nightmare in the second race but still scored valuable points.

“We all feel sorry for Richard. Because of his sickness he was never really able to get to grips with it in the way we normally expect. He’s just got to put the weekend down to experience, dust himself off and get ready for the next round at Croft.

“We’ve got to take the positives from the weekend, and obviously the main one is Sam’s win. It’s great for the team that all three of our pro drivers have now taken victories this season, and they’ll go to Croft knowing that as long as they work hard it’s possible to beat Meadows and close the gap in the championship.”

PIERCE TAKES TWO PODIUMS AFTER BATTLING FOR LEAD
Derek Pierce had another strong weekend at Oulton Park to score some good results in the pro-am1 class with his JD Pierce with Team Parker machine.

The Scotsman was looking good for the class pole position, but a mystery hole in a tyre prevented him from improving and he slipped to second while everyone else improved on their second sets of rubber.

Nevertheless, he got a good start to lead the first race before a slide at the hairpin relegated him to second place.

Pierce made it a double pro-am1 podium by scoring third place in race two. He was pressuring hard for the class lead, but a quick spin on the coolant that was dropped on the circuit dropped him back. Even so, he keeps second place in the pro-am1 points.

Ironically, the coolant on which both Lloyd and Pierce slipped up was dropped by Team Parker Racing’s Michael Leonard when he made contact with Pierce in the early jostling.

As a result, Irishman Leonard failed to finish the race and could not add to the seventh position in pro-am1 that he earned in the first race.

Team principal Stuart Parker said: “Derek had a really strong weekend. He was good in testing on Friday, and really strong in the initial part of qualifying. We’re not sure what caused the hole in his tyre – he may have just run over something. He raced really well and can be very satisfied with his results. It was a shame for Michael, who had a trying weekend. But he’ll put it down to experience and come back stronger – we know he’s capable of some more good results.”

As part of the ultra-popular British Touring Car Championship package, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB enjoyed live coverage from Oulton Park on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, and was streamed live at itv.com/touringcars. The series now heads to Croft in North Yorkshire on June 23/24.