Rockingham Race Report

Exciting season Finale at Rockingham Motor Speedway
A glorious October weekend was the perfect setting to play out the final meeting of the 2011 Design911.com Porsche Championship at Rockingham Motor Speedway.
Whilst Dave Clark had already wrapped up the overall and Boxster class Championships at the previous round at Snetterton, there were still some important battles to be resolved at Rockingham, not least the one for top spot in the Porsche 924 class.
From the off, it was clear that this was going to be a competitive meeting, as the top three drivers in both the Boxster and 924 classes respectively were separated by just two tenths of a second in qualifying! Guest driver Richard Sykes took pole in the Boxsters, ahead of team mates Gerry Taylor and Richard Styrin. In the 924′s it was Championship protagonists Steve Brown, Adam Croft and Alfred Piesinger fittingly occupying the top three spots. ‘Girl Racer’ Rebecca Jackson qualified an impressive fourth in class, her best starting position to date.
RACE 1
In race one, Styrin got a flyer at the start and moved into the lead of the race, a position he would never relinquish, to take his well deserved first win of the season. Behind him, things were less serene, as Sykes and Taylor had a coming together on the last lap, which would later see Sykes unfortunately disqualified from the race results. This promoted another guest driver and future 2012 competitor, John Loggie, to an excellent podium position in third place.
In the 924′s, apart from a first corner squabble between team mates Croft and Piesinger, the top three finished as they started, with Croft pushing Steve Brown hard all the way home, trading fastest laps as they went. The win for Brown was sufficient to give him more than a 26 point cushion to his competitors, thereby giving him a thouroughly well deserved FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP in the Porsche 924 class! Congratulations from everyone involved in the PDA to Steve on his outstanding season and Championship win!
Further down the field, yet another guest driver and racing rookie at this meeting, Alistair Wright, was showing impressive potential battling with established names such as Paul Bravo and Tony Mekwinski. Clearly one to watch for the future!
RACE 2
Race two saw some dramatic action to determine the runner up spots in both classes! In the Boxsters, Richard Styrin, fresh from his first race win the day before, showed his class again by taking a back to back victory. Meanwhile, the man who had held second position in the Championship all year, Gerry Taylor, had a nightmare, when he had to retire his car mid-race with a suspected engine failure…..this left Taylor and Styrin equal on points (and wins), but Styrin was handed the Boxster Championship runner-up spot on the basis of more second place finishes!!
Richard Sykes put in a great recovery drive from the back of the grid, to end up second at the flag, right behind his friend and team-mate Styrin.
In the 924′s, it was also all to play for, as Adam Croft and Alfred Piesinger entered the race equal on points! Quite simply, whoever was ahead by the flag would take the runner up spot in class……at the start, Piesinger got yet another of his trademark flyers from third on the grid, to jump Croft into second place. The next 5 laps would see the pair locked in combat as Croft desperately tried to find a way past his more experienced Austrian colleague. He finally managed to make a move stick at Pif Paf half way through the race, and set about chasing down Steve Brown who had disappeared into the distance. By the flag, Croft had closed the gap to just 1 second ,and set the fastest race lap in the process, to secure the runner up spot in class!
Further down the field, friends and team-mates Sean Siddal and Marc Mackenzie were once again battling for supremacy, whist Rebecca Jackson, Paul Bravo, Tony Mekwinski and new boy Alistair Wright were locked into a ‘battle royale’ all race long.
Final Championship Standings (full standings can be viewed here:
www.porscheracingdrivers.co.uk/standings.php
Porsche Boxster Porsche 924
1. Dave Clark 1. Steve Brown
2. Rick Styrin 2. Adam Croft
3. Gerry Taylor 3. Alfred Piesinger

And so the curtain falls on the 2011 season with some great, close and exciting racing throughout the field. As thoughts already turn towards the 2012 season, all at the PDA would like to extend their thanks to the following:

The BRSCC who with their race officials have given us some great racing in 2011.

The British Racing Marshalls, without whom there would be no racing, a terrific bunch of guys and girls.

Carl Chopra and his team at Design 911.com for our 2011 sponsorship, very much valued and appreciated.

Toyo and ‘Tony Tyres’ ,always there to help and a valued addition to the 924 grid this year.

Motors TV for the great TV footage, and Dave Clark for setting it all up.

All of our sponsors and supporters throughout the season.
Roll on 2012!!