Northern Ireland’s Charlie Eastwood Endures Difficult Silverstone Weekend to Maintain 2017 Carrera Cup Lead

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During a wet Qualifying session on Saturday afternoon at Silverstone Circuit all Carrera Cup GB cars, except for the #28 Redline Racing Porsche of Charlie Eastwood, had their best and second lap times disallowed for exceeding track limits. Charlie qualified in P3 for Round 12 and P2 for Round 13, but with a ten-place grid penalty carried over from the Knockhill event, the Belfast man lined up in thirteenth position on the grid on Sunday morning.

The safety car led the 22-car strong field for the first two green laps of race one during which Charlie fought back from his penalization through treacherously wet conditions. He drove a mature and accomplished race to finish fourth in the proceedings, maintaining top spot in the Championship going in to the afternoon.

The sun had broken through the clouds in time for the crucial final round at the home of British Motor Racing in Northamptonshire. 2016/17 Porsche GB Scholar Charlie made the best of the front row starts, launching past the pole sitter in to turn one. However, an ongoing issue with the #28 Redline Racing charger meant that despite his best efforts, Charlie was unable to muster enough pace out of his car and lost position to his immediate racing rivals. Following the retirement of race leader Cammish on lap 22, Charlie claimed a well-defended P3 podium trophy and continues to lead the 2017 Carrera Cup GB Drivers’ Championship on 202 points.

 

Charlie Eastwood comments:

“It wasn’t an ideal weekend. We struggled with the car’s handling since testing on Tuesday; we turned the car upside down trying to find the issue. When we got in to Qualifying on Saturday it felt like the problem was still there, so we said to ourselves ‘right, let’s just try to forget about it and go forward’. It’s very frustrating as we know it’s not a setup problem, but something fundamental inside the car. The team did a great job re-building it for the event, but we need to work hard over the next two weeks to see what the issue could be before we head to Brands Hatch and try to maintain that lead.”

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The finale of the 2017 Carrera Cup GB takes place at Brands Hatch, Kent on 30th September and 1st October, 2017.

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