Perez Finishes fifth in Porsche Championship
Chesterfield’s race ace Seb Perez finished fifth in the season finale of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship at Brands Hatch at the weekend (12 – 13 October).
The 20-year-old has had an up and down season in the Pro class series that saw him in the points at the seasons final two races, finishing 6th and 7th in the championship on the Kent 2.4 mile Grand Prix circuit.
Finishing short of a podium slot at the weekend, and in the championship, was made up for by his teammate George Gamble taking two podium finishes, a second and third place, that saw him take the championship third place finish to the season and their team Amigos Redline Racing finishing runners up.
The weekend was going to be hard for last season’s Pro Am champion knowing that he wouldn’t make the mark to be champion but points made prizes for him and the team and he did well on that score.
The weekend’s free practice sessions on Friday saw a mixture of weather conditions and all the teams knew this would be the case for the whole of the weekend, Perez finished 7th and 10th out of the 22 cars taking part where tyre choice was the big issue due a drying track followed by rain rapidly changing the conditions.
Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session saw Perez finish 9th and again on a damp track with drizzle falling for most of the session with a mix of some red flagged sessions slowing the test down but still saw less than two seconds separate the top 13 cars to finish.
As the lights went out for race one Perez sliced past rookie driver Tom Roche and by the end of lap one he was in 7th place, by lap four he was in 6th place where he remained for the other 11 laps out of 17.
A part reverse grid for race two saw Perez line up on row 3 he knew that this would be a difficult race having Josh Webster alongside and Gamble in front who were in battle for a championship runner up slot as the championship had been decided two weeks earlier at Silverstone where Dan Harper took the crown.
Perez maintained some good laps and kept up with both Webster and Gamble but couldn’t make the move, a three lap safety car stint at the end of lap 12 bunched the pack together and as the lights went out on the car Jamie Orton managed to pass putting Seb into 7th place where he remained for the last two laps.
After the race Perez said: “We had a good final two races. It has been fantastic competing in Porsche for the past two years and great to be with Redline Racing. They are a brilliant team and I have enjoyed every minute with them.”
He added: “We haven’t decided on anything for 2020 yet, but we have options both in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB as well as further afield, so we’ll see what we decide on. I have some rallies planned now for the winter so that will be great fun.”
The 2019 season has had some highs and lows for Perez that has seen him take two podium places during the season as well as racing supporting the British Grand Prix as a guest in the International Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup and also seeing him action when the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship was support race to the FIA World Endurance Championship both at Silverstone.
Editorial by Paul Horton and Image by Paul Horton Motorsport Photography
