RACE REPORT

MATTY TAKES SECOND IN SILVERSTONE THRILLER

Silverstone Podium

A locked break cost Matty a second Porsche Carrera Cup GB win of the season on Sunday (Sept 27) as the Eighty-One Powerdrink backed driver came you second in race two at Silverstone.

Graham was resisting growing pressure from Porsche GB junior Harry King, but the misjudgement into Becketts corner proved to be the decisive moment in a race that Graham had controlled from pole position.

Making a good start Matty was able to lead into the first corner and set about building a solid lead, as the drivers behind him squabbled over position.

With passing places at a premium on Silverstone’s shorter national layout, the battle was acting like a cork in a bottle with a long train of cars building behind second placed Lorcan Hanafin.

When King made a diving lunge on the inside of Becketts and passed two cars in one move on lap seven, Matty was almost two seconds up the road but with more than 20 laps to go, victory was far from a foregone conclusion.

However, where in earlier races this season King had reeled in his opponents as if in a different class of car, Matty was able to match the pace of the pursuer with their comparable lap times setting up a thrilling game of cat and mouse.

It lasted until lap 19 when breaking a fraction too late, Matty locked up his right front wheel and compromised his speed through the corner and out onto the Wellington Straight.

He attempted to fend off King through into the next corner at Luffield, but the Team Parker Racing driver had enough of his car alongside to make the move and demote Matty to second.

With a flat spot on the tyre compromising his performance, Matty had little with which to launch a counterattack and had to settle for the runners up spot.

Events further back however meant that the solid haul of points that came from his visit to the podium, allowed Matty to regain third in the overall championship standings and the lead of the rookie ladder, as Lorcan Hanafin fell from second on the grid to fifth at the flag.

Speaking post-race to ITV2, Matty said: “It’s frustrating that the main thing in the race was the mistake.

“I made a good start and was pushing from that and I saw that behind me there was a big battle going on so I was just trying to get my head down and go.

“When I saw Harry coming, you always know he is going to be fast and that he looks after his tyres but the gap wasn’t just vanishing so I was looking forward to a good fight and putting on a good show.

“The mistake was frustrating for everyone, we’re still happy with a second but I would have just loved to have put on a show for everyone at home and not just have Harry drive off.”

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB returns for its penultimate meeting of the season at the end of October, when Snetterton hosts the championship in Norfolk on the weekend of October 24 & 25.