Team Report from Peter Morris, PMC Midlands Porsche 996 GT3

Oulton Park saw an impressive grid of thirty GT cars for the third round of the GT Cup this weekend.

Qualifying took place on Friday afternoon and Peter Morris (PMC Midlands/Porsche GT3) took a chance with wets in the changeable conditions.

"Although the circuit was drying, you could see the track was still quiet wet” Morris explained, “I decided to play safe and do the qualifying session on wets. Thirty cars and only 15 minutes qualifying time, with a damp Oulton track could easily have ended in disaster!” The gamble paid off and Morris qualified third on the road and first in Class 2 for the first race. “I was lucky to get some space on track” said Morris.

Qualifying in the damp on Friday afternoon

“Some drivers pitted to change tyres, but there wasn't really enough time in the session for a change to pay off.”

The GT Cup was the first race on Saturday morning and Peter Morris lined up on the second row of the grid with the PMC Midlands Porsche GT3 sporting new sponsorship decals for Willmott Developments.

“Colin Willmott of Willmott Developments is keen to get involved in the GT Cup and will be doing a few races with me this season.” Morris explained.

Morris ahead of Nick Whale

Morris got an unusually poor start and dropped back allowing Colin Broster's Porsche 996 to take the class lead along with Michael Leonard's Class 1 Porsche 997 who had a flying start from ninth to fourth on the first lap. Karl Leonard's Porsche 997 took the lead from Paul Hogarth at the head of the field. For the first four laps Morris and Broster enjoyed a close battle for the class lead and fourth on the road until a wheel failure retired Broster from the race. “Colin was pushing his car hard and taking too much of the curbs” said Morris. “It's a shame he ended up damaging his wheel as we were having a great race.”

After Brosters retirement Morris settled down to concentrate on holding fifth place and his class lead ahead of the Ferrari 360's of Anthony Wilds and Duncan Cameron. However a safety car incident four laps from the end brought the field back together and Morris lost his 24 second advantage over the sixth place class 1 Marcos of Colin Simpson.

Morris said: “I was determined to try and stop Colin from getting past me right at the end. The good news is I ended up doing the fastest lap on my last lap while trying to hold the Marcos off.”

The race was improved further for Peter Morris when Hogarth had to retire from second with a fuel pump failure a couple of laps from the end which put Morris on the podium, along with the class 2 win and fastest lap.

“A great first race of the day!” added Morris.

Morris finishes third on the road, first in Class 2

Race 1 Results: 1 Karl Leonard (Porsche 997 GT3/ Cl 1) 13 laps in 25m53.108s; 2 Michael Leonard (Porsche 997 GT3/Cl 1) +0.484s; 3 Peter Morris (Porsche 996 GT3/Cl 2) +5.268; 4 Colin Simpson (Marcos Mantis/Cl 1) +5.792; 5 Nick Whale (Porsche 997 GT3/Cl 1) +6.488; 6 Mark Stephenson (Porsche 997 GT3/Cl 1) + 10.439.

Race two saw Morris taking on 60kgs of success ballast. He started third on the grid but the Class 1 Marcos of Colin Simpson took the place, behind the Porsche 997's of the Leonard brothers.

Morris however held onto the Class 2 lead, with the Ferrari 360 of Anthony Wild in close pursuit. The pair were soon joined by the Porsche 996 of Paul Mace, up from 8th on the grid, in a great class battle.

The start of the second race at Oulton Park

A missed gear change three laps later allowed Mace to take the class lead off Morris, but the close racing continued and Mace and Morris managed to pull ahead slightly on Wild's Ferrari. Colin Simpson held onto third place until lap eight when both Paul Hogarth and Paul Mace were able to get by.

Unfortunately Simpson went off a lap later which put Peter Morris back into fifth and on the tail of Mace again.

Michael Leonard took the race win, with Karl Leonard in second and Paul Mace taking third on the road and first in the tightly run Class 2 battle, with Peter Morris (Porsche 996), Steve Taylor (Lotus Exige) and Anthony Wilds (Ferrari 360) all closely behind.

“Oulton has seen the end of the early dominance of the Porsches, with Ferraris and Lotus taking podium finishes this weekend” commented Morris today. “It seems the regulations and equalisation measures the GT Cup organisers have in place are giving all marques the opportunity.”

The Class 2 battle with Morris, Mace, Simpson & Cameron

Race 2 Results: 1 Michael Leonard (Porsche 997 GT3/Cl 1) 15 laps in 26m43.413s; 2 Karl Leonard (Porsche 997 GT3/Cl 1) +20.653; 3 Paul Mace (Porsche 996 GT3/Cl 2) + 23.978; 4 Peter Morris (Porsche 996 GT3) + 26.115; 5 Steve Taylor (Lotus Exige/Cl 2) + 26.365; 6 Anthony Wilds (Ferrari 360/Cl 2) +34.346.

The next two rounds of the GT Cup are at Snetterton on the 19th and 20th July 2008 when Colin Willmott will be driving the PMC Midlands Porsche 996.