Dino Zamparelli and Chris Car tackled the British GT Championship’s toughest challenge as they took part in the three-hour Silverstone 500 at the weekend (June 8/9) in their GT Marques prepared Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
Just the second race the pair have entered in what is arguably the world’s toughest national GT racing series, both Dino and Chris can be proud of completing almost 500km of racing with competitive lap times and emerging without any significant dramas.
With persistent rain soaking the Northamptonshire venue on Saturday morning, it meant that teams were unable to properly set up their cars for what would be a dry race. Both drivers ventured out in the tricky practice conditions but were unable to demonstrate their true potential in a dry qualifying session.
Chris started the race on Sunday before handing over to Dino at the first pit stop. Both drivers completed two stints each in the car, the longest time behind the wheel either has completed to date, but would be frustrated with a puncture which cost significant time, crossing the line 21st in class.
There is little time to rest and recover for Dino and Chris, as they will be back in action in their Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport at Donington Park on June 22/23 for the next round of the British GT Championship. As usual, live coverage will be available on the official championship website and social media channels.
Dino Zamparelli
“It was a difficult race as well as being probably the biggest of the year. We both had good pace at points and Chris showed some really good promise with solid times when he was in the car.
“The big positive for us is that we finished the race, despite getting a puncture, with no damage on the car. We had two stints each which is quite a long time, but it wasn’t too bad in the end. The rain on Saturday morning was frustrating as we more than any other car, need the dry running to set our car up and dial it in. We weren’t able to do that so unfortunately we didn’t quite have the balance we wanted in the qualifying and race. But it was good to test ourselves in those tricky conditions. It is a building process for us this year after all.
“It is a shame we couldn’t get the result we wanted or be right in the mix at the end, but we’ve learned a lot which we can try to improve for the next round at Donington Park. That should be a better circuit for us and will suit the car a bit more, so we’re looking forward to that challenge.”
Chris Car
“We knew we would challenge ourselves by competing in the British GT Championship and this weekend was another good one in terms of pushing ourselves in different ways. Saturday morning was tough with the rain, but it was good to do a couple of laps in the worst of the conditions and I managed to get closer to Dino in the second session which was a positive.
“It was also nice to be able to test ourselves in a three-hour race which is by far the longest we will do this season, especially as we came out largely unscathed, aside from the frustration of getting a puncture.
“We had some running at Donington Park earlier this year so it isn’t an unknown for us and it will be great to get back out there in just a couple of weeks’ time and test ourselves once more.”
Image Credit: Xynamic Motorsport Photography