The Richardson Racing team concluded a busy 2023 racing programme with a podium finish as it headed for Brands Hatch for the final rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB season.
The Northamptonshire-based team was returning to the series having missed the previous event at Silverstone due to a clash with the final meeting of the Carrera Cup Benelux season – where it wrapped up the championship title with Dutch racer Robert De Haan.
That marked a second championship win of the year for both team and driver after Rob won the inaugural Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe title back in February.
Pre-event practice around the famous Brands GP layout saw Rob top the times with a lap two-tenths of a second quicker than anyone else, with team-mate Micah Stanley joining him inside the top ten with a lap late in the second session.
Rob then carried that form into qualifying as he edged out James Kellett to grab an impressive pole position, with Micah ending up eleventh in the Pro Class and 15th overall in a closely-fought session where the top 19 drivers were within a second of pole.
Although he slipped back to third at the start, Rob wasted little time in grabbing second back from Josh Malin and then dived down the inside of Kellett into Surtees to briefly secure the lead – only for his rival to reclaim the position.
Rob was keeping Kellett honest at the front before the safety car was deployed following an incident further down the pack, with the race ultimately ending under caution to leave him in second spot.
Micah was soon on the move from his starting position and avoided a number of people running wide on fluid on lap two to move up into the top ten.
Micah was hopeful of further forward progress when the safety car ended his charge, leaving him seventh in the Pro class at the flag.
Rob would line up third on the reverse grid for race two and held position through the first half of the race before battling ahead of Malin into second spot.
From there, the teenager heaped pressure on title winner Adam Smalley at the front and swept ahead with two laps remaining to cross the line first, although an unfortunate track limits penalty dropped him to fourth in the final result.
Micah meanwhile would climb into the top eight overall on lap one before being overhauled by Gus Burton, leaving him to round out his campaign ninth place overall – and eighth in the Pro category.
Impressively, the team secured third in the Teams’ Championship despite missing a number of events due to clashes with the Benelux series.
Micah Stanley, #5 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, said:
“We were on the back foot a bit after qualifying and when the times are so tight across the field, we knew it would be tricky trying to make up places. To score two top-ten finishes from that position was good although it could have been more without the safety car in the first race.
“We’ve shown good pace this season even though we haven’t always been able to get the results our pace deserved, and I think we can be pleased with the way we’ve performed.”
Robert De Haan, #46 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, said:
“We has fantastic pace from the moment we hit the track this weekend and were right at the front through practice and qualifying. Without the safety car in race one, I think we could have got back ahead of Kellett to get the win and then we were unlucky with the penalty in race two, but we were quick again like we have been all season.
“Even though we missed some rounds racing elsewhere, we nearly won the Rookie title and I’d say my first year in Porsches couldn’t have gone much better. Two titles, multiple wins and podium on my Supercup debut is brilliant, and something to build on in the future.”
