Porsche Cup Brands Hatch 24/09/2006

Purdie wins for Paragon at Brands Hatch

Andy Purdie scored his second victory of the season when he won the pro-am category in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at his home track of Brands Hatch on Sunday (24 September).

After finishing third in the opening race on Saturday in the Paragon Porsche entry, Purdie claimed pro-am victory in the second race to put himself in the running for third place in the final championship standings when the season concludes at Silverstone in mid-October.  

Purdie qualified 11th fastest overall on Saturday morning, fourth among the pro-am racers and less than a fifth of a second than the fastest pro-am, Sam Edwards.  However, Andy knew that there was more time to come in the car. “The lack of dry weather testing on Friday lost us the chance to try out what we wanted to try,” he explained. “So to get away with fourth in pro-am was not too bad and we’re definitely aiming to be in better shape for the race,” he added.  

At the start of the opening race on Saturday afternoon, Andy was edged back a couple of places, but quickly set about fighting back into contention. He was soon ahead of David Ashburn and then swept ahead of Nigel Rice under braking for the high-speed Paddock Hill Bend. That left him in a secure third place in the pro-am category, and earned another visit to the podium at the end of the race.  “I think I finished in the right position for my pace,” he said. “But I took a lot of my tyres early on getting past Ashburn and Rice and so I couldn’t get any further up the order,” said Andy.  

In race two, run in front of a packed BTCC crowd on Sunday, Andy again made a modest start and had to overtake Rice again in the opening laps. "I got a run on him coming out of Clearways and was able to get ahead into Paddock," he reported. Once ahead, he had a relatively simple race to claim pro-am spoils and take his second category victory of the season.  

Despite missing four races early in the year while finishing his university exams, Andy now lies fourth in the pro-am points with two races left at Silverstone (14/15 October). However, he is now only five points behind David Ashburn, so he could yet snatch third place in the championship.