Comline Richardson Racing enjoyed another successful weekend on track at Thruxton with two podium finishes from the latest rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB season.
The Corby-based team headed for the fastest circuit on the calendar leading the Teams’ Championship, with Will Martin holding onto second in the Drivers’ Championship in the first year for the new Type 992 version of the Porsche GT3 Cup car.
With Jack Bartholomew continuing to recover from a cycling accident, Josh Malin continued in the second car, and both drivers showed strong pace in qualifying, with Will storming to pole position and Josh securing sixth on the grid with a time just three tenths of a second slower.
From pole, Will made the ideal start to lead the field into Allard for the first time and held off the challenge of Gus Burton through the complex to retain his advantage at the front of the pack, with Josh making up a spot through the opening corners to climb up into fifth place.
Will would extend a slender advantage over Burton through the opening stages of the race before his rival managed to sneak ahead when Will dropped a wheel onto the grass at turn one and lost momentum on the run to the Complex.
Josh meanwhile would hold on to his fifth place before he suffered a puncture on lap ten after running wide at Church, which saw him forced to return to the pits for a new tyre. However, further damage sustained in the trip off track saw the #90 car coming back in to retire a handful of laps later.
It left Will to fly the flag through to the finish with a second place finish that allowed him to close the gap to championship leader Kiern Jewiss, who could only take the flag back in fifth.
The grid for the second race of the weekend saw Will lining up third on the grid, and he would hold station throughout the 17 lap race despite huge pressure from Burton.
Producing an impressive drive to keep Burton at bay despite damage to the front splitter affecting his car car, Will secured third place for his seventh podium finish of the campaign and – crucially – was able to once again finish ahead of Jewiss to close the gap to top spot in the championship to just two points.
After his issues in race one, Josh would start back in 14th place on the grid, but he produced a fine run through to ninth place – and eighth amongst the Pro racers – to ensure that he was able to pick up the final championship point.
It means Comline Richardson Racing retains the lead of the Teams’ Championship ahead of the penultimate round of the year at Silverstone next month.
Will Martin, #10 Richardson Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, said:
“It would have been nice to get a win this weekend but I’m not going to complain with two podium finishes – particularly when you consider that we were carrying some damage on the car in the second race.
“The key thing this weekend is that we’ve been able to gain a lot of points on Kiern in the championship which is massively important at this stage of the season. Taking home trophies is nice, but making sure we finish ahead of the people we need to finish ahead of is what really matters.”
Josh Malin, #90 Richardson Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, said:
“Having a blow-out at 150mph wasn’t ideal in race one but it was self-inflicted as a I ran wide at Church and hit the end of the kerb which then led to the tyre going bang – which was a real brown trouser moment! Unfortunately it did further damage to the car which put me out but the team did a great job to sort it all out for race two.
“I was happy to come through to ninth having made up places, and had fun in what looks like being my final outing of the season. I’ve loved the unexpected chance to race the car in Jack’s absence and thanks to him, the team and everyone involved for allowing me to step in. It’s been a short campaign, but one I can look back on fondly.”