Chris Car and Dino Zamparelli continued preparations for their forthcoming British GT Championship debut with three impressive class podium finishes at Snetterton in Norfolk last weekend (May 4/5).
Making their second appearance in the GT Cup Championship, Chris and Dino took to the 2.9-mile ‘300’ configuration at the Norfolk venue in their GT Marques Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, getting valuable track time under their belts.
Chris continued to demonstrate his progress in the car with a strong third place in qualifying on Saturday and went even better with a second-place finish in the ‘sprint’ race. In the longer pit-stop contest that afternoon Chris bounced back from being spun on the opening lap before handing over to Dino as the pair finished third in Group GTH.
Repeating on Sunday, Chris was unlucky to miss the podium in the morning as he was stuck behind a gaggle of cars, but he and Dino combined well again in the longer race as they finished second, just 0.5s away from victory.
“What a great way to prepare for British GT next weekend,” said Chris Car. “I have to thank GT Marques for doing such a great job with the Porsche. The car felt good and Dino has been a big help, so to come away with three podiums and second place when I was driving on my own is fantastic.
“Obviously British GT will be a very different prospect, but we feel ready and comfortable after doing these races in preparation, so it is now about relaxing and doing the best job we possibly can, but also enjoying the experience.”
“It was a successful warm up weekend for our British GT debut,” said Dino Zamparelli. “We were pleased with the double podium and Chris drove really well to get a solo second place. We’ve done five races now and he has done well to pick everything up so quickly and is getting faster and faster. It’s a big learning curve but I am really impressed with what he has been able to handle.
“We think we will be competitive with the car and set up so we’re hopeful and just have to have a clean weekend. We needed to do these two warm up meetings because it has put us in good stead. We’ll have some fun this time out and see what we can come away with.”
Chris, Dino, and GT Marques will make their British GT Championship debut this weekend (May 18/19) at Snetterton. There will be two practice sessions on Saturday morning before GT4 qualifying later that afternoon. The first of two one-hour races gets underway at 11:10 on Sunday, with the second taking place at 15:25. Both will be shown live on BritishGT.com, the series' Facebook page and SRO's GT World YouTube channel