2016 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season review – part two
If the first half of the 2016 Porsche Carrera Cup season suggested that Daniel Cammish wasn’t going to have it all his own way (despite taking five wins from eight races), the second part of this year’s campaign confirmed that the 27-year-old from Leeds is currently one of the fastest 911 GT3 Cup racers around.
Between rounds nine and ten at Snetterton and rounds 13 and 14 at Silverstone, the Redline Racing driver dropped just two points to his rivals. 2016/17 Carrera Cup GB scholar, Charlie Eastwood grabbed the point for fastest lap in race one at Snetterton while Stephen Jelley did likewise in race two at Silverstone.
Cammish was untouchable at Snetterton, Knockhill and Silverstone, with a run of six consecutive victories allowing him to wrap up the 2016 title when the series revisited the home of British motorsport for two races on the National circuit.
His charge to the championship was accelerated by Dino Zamparelli’s sudden downturn in form over the second half of the season. Having dominated at Croft, the 24-year-old from Bristol could only manage sixth and third in the two races at Snetterton.
Things got even worse for the GT Marques driver at Knockhill. Struggling for the whole weekend north of the border in Scotland, Zamparelli couldn’t break into the top five in either of the races before a fifth and third at Silverstone saw him concede the title to Cammish before the Brands Hatch finale.
While Zamparelli’s challenge fell by the wayside, Cammish’s closest rival came from within over the second half of the 2016 season as Eastwood, driving for Redline Racing in his debut Carrera Cup GB campaign, strung together a run of four consecutive second places at Snetterton and Knockhill.
Silverstone was slightly tougher for the new Porsche GB scholar but, at the season finale, held on the Brands Hatch GP layout, Eastwood finally scored his first Carrera Cup pole position, duly converting it to a maiden victory in race one as Cammish made a rare mistake, spinning on his way to eighth.
Normal service was resumed in the final race of the year as Cammish took a record-breaking 12th victory, ahead of Zamparelli and Eastwood, the order of the podium finishers reflecting the final points standings.
After a solid run throughout the season (in which he only finished outside the top six once), Carrera Cup GB debutant, Tom Oliphant finished the season in fourth. Driving for Redline Racing, the 26-year-old’s best performance of the year came with second place in the first race at Silverstone National.
Behind Oliphant in the final points table, Jelley and Tom Sharp both showed flashes of speed. Each took five podiums during the season however, neither had the consistency to challenge each weekend at the sharp end.
In the Pro-Am1 class, it was all about the McKay brothers. Driving for IN2 Racing, Euan McKay won the title at a canter, taking nine class victories and four other podium finishes however, come the end of the season, it was younger sibling, Dan doing the winning as the latter rallied to finish second in the standings.
Pro-Am2 saw an intense, season-long battle between Tautvydas Barstys, Parr Motorsport’s Peter Kyle-Henney and Mark Radcliffe. Only settled at the second visit to Brands Hatch, it was the Lithuanian who took the crown ahead of Kyle-Henney and Radcliffe (the latter taking the most class wins in 2016 with seven).
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