Damien Faulkner moved a step closer to retaining his title with victory in a thrilling 15th round of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at
Knockhill – bringing the winning run of Danny Watts to an end.
While Tim Harvey and Michael Caine battled up the field to third and fourth after starting on slicks on a damp track, Faulkner had to fend off series newcomer James Pickford for victory, with a fine drive from Sam Edwards netting pro-am victory.
With the track damp but no rain falling, Harvey dived into the pits from the green flag lap to switch to slicks, sacrificing his pole position in the process. Harvey's team mate Caine, who was due to start from the back of the grid anyway, made the same tyre choice, and both cars joined the race from the pit lane.
Up front, Faulkner stormed into the lead from former BTCC racer Pickford, with Watts chasing in third. The leading trio was seldom more than a couple of seconds apart until Watts ran across the grass at Duffus Dip and lost time. It also damaged his car's radiator and he was soon forced to retire as his six race win streak ended in disappointing fashion.
Pickford was able concentrate on challenging Faulkner and the gap reduced to only a second by the middle of the race. Meanwhile, Harvey and Caine were pushing as hard as they dared on slick tyres, but made only modest progress over the first half of the race. However by lap 20, the slick tyres were coming into their own, with Harvey up to seventh and Caine eighth as they set the fastest laps of the race.
Faulkner still led from Pickford, with Jason Templeman and Richard
Williams running third and fourth but being rapidly caught by Harvey and Caine. Now catching Faulkner and Pickford at several seconds a lap, Harvey dived ahead of Templeman for third on lap 30 and Caine snatched fourth on the final lap. But Harvey needed just one more lap before he could have attacked Pickford and Faulkner – with the champion admitting he wouldn't have been able to go faster to keep a charging Harvey behind.
“I was driving as fast as I could given the state of the tyres,” Faulkner said after his win. “I'm just delighted for the team and the sponsors.”
