RACE REPORT: OULTON PARK RACE ONE

A late-race pass gave Matty his fourth consecutive fourth place finish in the first Porsche Carrera Cup GB race of the Oulton Park weekend on Saturday, as the Eighty-One Powerdrink backed racer continued his unbroken, points scoring streak.

It was reward for a patient race from the Redline Racing driver as he battled with fellow rookies Sam Macleod and Lorcan Hanafin over the final podium positions, behind the so far unstoppable Team Parker Racing cars of Harry King and Josh Webster.

Making a good getaway from the start the trio exchanged comparable lap times over the course of the opening tours, with the gap between each driver stable at around the half-a-second mark.

That was until lap 10, when Macloed attempted a move on third placed Hanafin that forced both Matty and he off the circuit as the fourth placed driver ran out of room to make the move.

Taking avoiding action to miss hitting the recovering Scotsman, Matty was placed onto the wet grass and while struggling to regain traction, saw his four second lead over sixth-placed team-mate Scott McKenna wiped out.

Whilst that renewed the threat from behind, it was one that the pace of the number 81 car was quickly able to neutralise as the four-second advantage was restored within just three laps.

Up ahead, MacLeod remained just half-a-second in front until the successful pass was made on lap 14.

Getting a good run along the pits straight and being late on the brakes into the first turn gave Matty a good run towards the sweeping left-hand turn of Cascades, before being able to force his way past into the Island hairpin.

While the battle had allowed third-placed Hanafin to open up a four-second gap, Matty’s pace did allow him to eat into that advantage, but only by one-and-a-half seconds as the drivers took the chequered flag on lap 18.