September 18th - 19th Porsche Open

2 podiums for Stuart

Stuart returned to sprint racing for the first time in two and a half years and chose the Porsche Open around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit to give the GT3 a good shake-down prior to the British GT round in October.
The last time he had competed in a Porsche sprint race was in the Porsche Cup during 2000 in the very much slower 944 which gave him class championship runners up spot.

The weekend got off to a good start with competitive times being posted on the Friday test session with guidance from JWR team-mates Mike Jordan and Mark Sumpter. Mark did six laps in the car to give Stuart a goal to aim for and post test analysis by Mike and Mark gave him cause for optimism.

Qualifying was in the dry on Saturday with Stuart placed in class 1.
"Although the car is really a class 2 car, it is set-up for Dunlop tyres and not Michelins which the other GT3 runners use, and it also has a sequential box. In class 1 the tyre choice is free and, together with the gearbox, it placed the car up against some very serious equipment in the top class ", explained Stuart.
Unlike in the GTs where Stuart and Steve run in the Cup class, Stuart was now one of the front runners and the lower classes were having to move over for him. He soon got into the swing of overtaking and out-braked the leading 935 car of Richard Chamberlain into Druids. After 15 minutes Stuart was called in by his chief mechanic Neil,the tyre pressures were dropped and was sent back out to do a quick lap which gave him 6th on the grid alongside friend Henry Firman.

"My target for the weekend is to beat Henry (Firman) and although he out qualified me by less than a tenth of a second I knew I was in with a chance".

The afternoon saw the rain come and with Mike Jordan and Mark Sumpter watching from the grandstand, Stuart went out on wets for his first standing start in two and a half years.
"I had a dire start and was dismayed at being passed by a 944! Being on the outside round Paddock Hill Bend meant I had a good run up to Druids and quickly took back 2 places".
From then on Stuart overtook a car a lap and was soon in 5th behind Henry when the safety car came out and bunched the field up.

Stuart takes up the story, "I had a 924 between Henry & I and I was very concious of not being able to overtake it until we had crossed the line. I took the 924 on the way up to Druids and then chased after Henry down Graham Hill Bend. As I came round onto Clearways I came across Henry and 4 slower cars all on the inside of the circuit so I just went to the outside and overtook the lot - it was great!"

Stuart pulled away from Henry and now went after Craig Rapp and started to catch him by 1.5 seconds a lap but when Rapp was made aware of this he pulled away again. In the later stages Stuart eased up to conserve his tyres and Henry came back at him crossing the finish line some yards behind.

"I really enjoyed that."

Sunday's race was in the dry and Stuart started on the second row of the grid and on the the outside which is the better line into Paddock Hill.
This was the first time Stuart had started from the second row of the grid. "Aren't the start lights bright from that position!!"

Again the start was slow with the GT3's gear ratios more used to rolling starts than standing starts. "I can do 60mph in 1st but getting from 0-30 is so slow", he explained.

This time the field spread out quickly with Stuart running 6th and the car was not handling so well. "I had loads of understeer due to running on old rubber so I found it very hard work". The Tony Brown 964 spun off and down the order leaving Stuart to chase after Henry again. This time the traffic fell the other way with a 944 spinning right infront of Stuart and battles lower down the classes hindering his progress.

"I came across 3 having a good battle and I didn't want to interfere with it". He let Brown past as he was in class 2 and concentrated on bringing the car home in 6th place overall and third in class again.

"It was a fantastic weekend - just what racing is all about".

Steve Kevlin from the Porsche Motorsport Division is pressing Stuart for more outings this year, including a trip to Spa so this might not be the last sprint race Stuart will compete in this year.

Stuart will be back at Brands Hatch early October with Steve in the British GTs and their aim is to get back on the podium, but this time together.
What an end to a season that would be.