Jack McCarthy has continued his superb start to his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign, with a standout performance seeing him take his first two Pro Am class victories at Donington Park this past weekend (27/28 April). McCarthy headed to Leicestershire with fond memories of a double podium finish in the Renault UK Clio Cup during the corresponding meeting twelve months ago, and he kicked off the weekend in positive fashion by setting the Pro Am pace in both free practice sessions on Thursday. The 18 year old narrowly missed out on securing the same result in qualifying on Saturday, with a strong run in changing track conditions seeing his best effort of 1m 16.988s put him less than a tenth of a second off the leading Pro Am driver in eighth overall. That put McCarthy in a great position to challenge for silverware in race one on Saturday afternoon in his Shandon Spa & Hotel and SAS International backed Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car and he settled into second place in class following a busy first couple of laps. McCarthy, who resides in Bromley in Kent, showed impressive pace as the race progressed. Moving into the class lead on lap six, he made further progress up the order to take his best overall finish so far of sixth and with it both the Pro Am and Rookie class victories. That result had added significance when his number was drawn out of the bag for the reversed grid pole position for race two on Sunday. In front of the live ITV4 television cameras, the TMJ Interiors and Integra supported driver put in a spirited display in his Redline Racing Porsche. Going toe-to-toe against the leading Pro drivers including a former champion and a number of experienced Porsche racers, McCarthy put in an impressive performance and came home in seventh overall at the chequered flag to record the Pro Am and Rookie wins again. The TMJ Interiors and Integra supported driver’s double wins in both classes means he now sits at the top of both the Pro Am and Rookie points standings heading into a seven week break before the next rounds at Croft in Yorkshire over the weekend of June 15/16. Jack McCarthy: "It’s been a fantastic weekend. The pace was there in the Redline Racing car straight from first practice on Thursday and considering I felt like we missed the peak of the tyre and the conditions in qualifying, to come away second in class was good. “I made it tougher than I needed to at the start of race one, but worked my way back and was able to get a gap at the front. I pushed to match the conditions but took no risks and it felt great to get my first class win. Pole position for race two was a real added bonus. “The second race was a real learning curve for me, battling with the best drivers in the championship. While I’d have liked to have finished higher, getting another victory was a great end to the meeting. I’m really looking forward to getting back on track at Croft.”
Image from Dan Bathie/Porsche GB.