Porsche Cup Thruxton 14/10/2007

Podium for Caine and Paragon at Thruxton

Another podium finish and fourth in the final standings was the result for Michael Caine during the final two rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at the Thruxton track in Hampshire over the weekend (13/14 October).  

Newmarket racing driver Caine has been racing for Sussex-based Paragon Porsche this season and clinched fourth in the final overall championship standings in his 400bhp Porsche 911GT3 Cup car, which is prepared by Team Parker Racing. His impressive tally for the season was 11 podium finishes from 20 races.  

Despite suffering from a bout of flu as the weekend started, Caine was among the pacesetters all weekend at one of the fastest and most challenging tracks on the schedule.  

Qualifying was affected when coolant was dropped on the track, making conditions very tricky. Caine posted sixth best time, but was not able to have a real push to move further up the grid. "Once the coolant went down, we were never going to go any quicker," he admitted.  In the opening race, the leading quartet ran in close formation for several laps as Caine chased hard and came close to making it a five-car battle for the lead. 

He then took fourth by getting ahead of championship leader James Sutton, but also had to watch his mirrors to fend off the challenge of Matt Griffin. "It was a case of swings and roundabouts," said Caine after the race. "Matt was catching me, but then made a mistake at the back of the circuit and dropped back again." 

At the flag, Caine was less than a second behind his team-mate Jon Barnes.  However, in a post-race twist, Caine moved up to third in the final results when Tim Harvey was penalised 10 seconds and dropped to fourth place following a first-lap incident.  In Sunday's 20th and final race of the season, Caine slotted into a secure fourth place, just out of touch of the three leaders but clear of the rest of the pack.