Caffeine Six by Parr Motorsport enjoyed a productive visit to Oulton Park for a packed one-day GT Cup Championship meeting at the weekend (July 9), where Tim Creswick continued to build his knowledge and experience behind the wheel of his Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
Partnered once again by Pro driver Chris Dymond, Tim not only had to contend with the tricky, high-speed Cheshire venue with which he is unfamiliar, but also the short timeframe on track, with just a few practice sessions on the Friday before action got underway on Saturday morning.
Chris headed out for the short warm up first thing, before Tim qualified in a ten-minute session which was disrupted by a red flag. Once he was able to get going, he was only able to complete a few flying laps, finishing eighth quickest in the GTH class for GT4 machinery.
Starting the first of two 40-minute races, Tim did well to avoid an opening lap incident with contact between GT3 competitors leaving one machine stricken. Holding firm, he slipped back to ninth in class before a rival attempted an unnecessary move at the final corner, Lodge, sending the Parr machine into the gravel and retirement, for which the other driver was disqualified from the results and handed penalty points on their license.
Getting over that disappointment, Tim tackled the second race solo for the first time and had a good start, despite running onto the grass at turn one, gaining two positions. Running as part of a five-car pack for the podium, his pace was strong through to the mandatory pit stops.
Emerging from his stop in the thick of the battle, he had to take avoiding action as the same driver as in race one made an opportunistic move, costing time and places, crossing the line sixth, having set his fastest first sector of the contest on the penultimate lap, underlining his excellent progress across the day.
Tim, Chris, and the team will be back in GT Cup Championship action in a few weeks’ time as the series heads to the home of the British Grand Prix, Silverstone, on the full 3.661-mile layout, with four races across both days.
Results
G1 – 8, R1 – DNF
G2 – 6, R2 – 6
GTH Championship: 9 (56 points)
Tim Creswick, Am
“At the moment, I race better than I qualify, so there’s some work to do there. Qualifying was alright. I was struggling in practice as it’s been a really, really long week at work and I’ve fallen a bit behind on sleep. in qualifying I was a second quicker than I was in testing, so against my own benchmark that was good.
“Race one was a bit of a disappointment, with what I thought was a bit of an unnecessary move. I was comfortable that I’d left the other drive enough room. He’s been disqualified and got points for it, but it still means that we ended our race after eight laps which is a real shame.
“Race two wasn’t too bad. The position was limited to what I’d got in the first seven laps of race one, so we started sixth on the grid. I doubled stinted it and did the whole race and it felt good, the car was amazing which was nice, and it was very confidence inspiring. Again, there was probably one slightly unnecessary move up the inside from the same guy, so I backed out and thought ‘let him through, I’d like to come home with a car in one piece.’ But other than that, it was a good race and nice to do a full 40-minute stint in the car.”
Chris Dymond, Pro
“We had good pace in practice, so we got the balance of the car sorted. We just needed to get Tim a little bit more comfortable with everything so we could get a bit more consistency and install some confidence in him. It’s one of those circuits where, if you’re just overdriving a little bit, it can really punish you, so there were little areas that were costing him over the lap. He made massive improvements from testing and that’s exactly what we want to see.
“Tim qualified well and it’s a really tight group, so that’s always going to be tough, and it’s a shame that we didn’t get more laps in race one. In the second race, which Tim did solo – the first time he’s done that – he was banging in fast laps that were consistent. He started to set some green sectors in the latter half of the race, which is important for him, confidence-wise, to know that the balance doesn’t drop off massively, and he doesn’t need to really change how he drives throughout.
“Hopefully, going into Silverstone that will give him a good boost of confidence and when we get on to a more ‘normal’ circuit he will be much closer to where the pack is. If we can be faster and get away from some of the trouble cars, then that’ll be good, but I’m quite happy with how he’s driven. Considering where we finished in practice, I think he’s really stepped up on race day. We’ve got a shorter break until Silverstone so hopefully we can push on.”
Declan Robe, Team Manager, GT Cup
“Tim did really, really well. I think a lot of people forget how new he is to everything. You’ve got to learn, and you learn in motorsport by racing. Race one was completely not his fault and that’s the way it goes in motorsport; you have to take it, not get disheartened by it, and he did that.
“In the second race he drove well, and his pace was good for an Am. It was a track which he doesn’t know very well, as we only tested here once before. For his first time at Oulton Park, he did a really good job, kept it on track, kept it in one piece, and his pace in the races was solid compared to the other Ams. Onwards and upwards to Silverstone in a few weeks, which is a track he knows a bit better, and we’re all looking forward getting going again.”