Double delight for Octane Finance-backed racers at Spa
Octane Finance-backed drivers Robert de Haan and Harry King enjoyed fine starts to their respective European Porsche Carrera Cup programmes with a victory apiece at the Spa Francorchamps circuit.
Dutch racer Rob was making his first appearance in Carrera Cup Benelux, the series won last season by fellow Octane-supported racer Harry - who has now switched over to Carrera Cup Deutschland.
Rob made the trip to Belgium with the Richardson Racing team on the back of a race-winning performance in Carrera Cup Great Britain at Donnington Park a week earlier, where he became the youngest driver to take a win in the series.
Having gone well in pre-season testing at the home of the Belgian Grand Prix, Rob, qualified on the second row of the grid in tricky wet conditions and kicked off his weekend with a solid run to second place in race one.
It would be in the second race on a damp, drying track where Rob was really able to shine, grabbing the lead with a fine move on the exit of turn one at the start and then controlling proceedings from the front to take a relatively comfortable victory, despite a mid-race safety car period that backed up the field behind.
Harry, meanwhile was appearing in Carrera Cup Deutschland for the first time, having inked a deal to join the Allied-Racing team.
His weekend started in fine form when he became the first British driver for more than a decade to score pole position in the series, and he followed it up with a fine win in race one.
Having maintained his lead at the start, Harry was able to drive away from a fierce battle for second spot, setting the fastest lap of the race en-route to victory.
Things would be more challenging in race two with the talented youngster unable to replicate his front-running pace in wet conditions. Despite that, a battling drive, allowed him to finish just off the podium in fourth place to ensure a good haul of points from his first weekend in the series.
With two wins in two weekends. Rob returns to action next weekend at Brands Hatch for round two of the Carrera Cup GB season, with Harry’s next outing coming in mid-May when he starts his Porsche Supercup campaign at Imola.
His next outing in the German series comes at Hockenheim in early June.
Harry King, #19 Allied-Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, said:
"Although I was hoping for a better result from race two, that’s a good start to my time in Carrera Cup Deutschland. Pole, a race win and a fastest lap was a great achievement against a strong grid of drivers, and I can’t really complain with race two when you consider we didn’t have the outright pace in those conditions.
"We’ve scored some good points this weekend which gives us a platform to build on, and I’m looking forward to Hockenheim for round two."
Robert de Haan, #46 Richardson Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, said:
"I’m really happy to come away from round one of Carrera Cup Benelux with a victory and we've scored some good points for the championship. The team did a really good job all weekend considering it was our first time racing in the series and the pace in the car was really good.
"I think we could have won race one without the safety car, so to win race two was great in very difficult conditions. Hopefully we can keep this up and after winning at Donington Park and now here, I’m looking forward to fighting for another win at Brands Hatch."
