MARK Kimber said he “increased in confidence” every time he was in the car after two solid race performances on his Porsche Carrera Cup GB debut at Donington Park.
Racing a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for Team Connect It-sponsored Brookspeed Automotive, the world karting champion quickly got down to work applying the knowledge he had acquired during testing into a real race weekend – five months later than expected.
After getting to grips with the car during the scorching temperatures of Friday, Solihull racer Kimber quickly got up to speed in qualifying and put himself tenth for the opening 23-lap race on Sunday.
Making the first standing start of his car racing career, Kimber put in a respectable performance under the watchful eye of the ITV Sport cameras to take the chequered flag in tenth and bank himself a handful of points in the Rookie Cup classification.
Having made tweaks to the car’s set-up in the break between the two encounters, in race two he continued his solid form as he crossed the line in ninth with more valuable knowledge of how to extract the most out of the car in race trim.
“I was feeling more confident as the weekend went on,” said Kimber.
“The opening race was tough but a few set-up tweaks before the second really paid off and I was a lot happier with the car.
“My start in the first race wasn’t the best – it was the first time I’ve ever done a standing start – but in the second I gained a few places off the line so I think with some practice I’ll be a lot happier with that as well.
“I’m pleased with the results in both races. I enjoyed the challenge of single-make racing – because everyone is in equal machinery, you can follow the car ahead a lot closer which means there’s the opportunity for a lot more battling.”
Despite Donington having just been completed, there is no time for Kimber to relax as the series quickly heads on to the world-famous Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit at the weekend (August 8/9).
With the opportunity to test on the Grand Prix loop limited because of noise restrictions, Kimber is drawing from his experience of the track in British GT last year and is hopeful the limited amount of testing means everyone will be starting from a more equal level.
He added: “Brands is a great track to race on, it’s a different challenge to Donington which is generally quite fast and flowing everywhere.
“The first sector at Brands has a few slower, more technical corners but, once you get out the back, the sections through the trees are really quick and you really need to commit to it to get the ultimate lap time out of the car.”
This weekend’s two 17-lap races will be broadcast live on ITV4 and on the ITV Hub.
