Michelin Porsche Club Championship Croft 24/09/2005

1st and 2nd for Purdie at Croft double header

20 year old Andrew Purdie claimed two podium positions in his Paragon prepared 911 Carrera in a double header at Croft. 

Qualifying 

Purdie (3.2 Carrera) set the pace in qualifying on Saturday morning despite picking up a major flat spot on a tyre. White (3.2 Carrera) was second fastest, a third of a second slower despite lapping nearly two seconds faster than ever before at Croft.  

Segrue (944S2) headed class two times from Richard Lambert (Carrera 3), who was disappointed with his qualifying pace, while Ben Demetriou (911SC) topped class three.

Race One

Purdie led the opening race all the way on Saturday afternoon, even though White was never far adrift. "I put in a couple of quick laps at the beginning and then held the gap," Purdie said after victory in his debut race at Croft. Some mid-race backmarkers allowed White to narrow the gap and the margin was less than two seconds at the flag. "The pace is so even once we get going," said White.  

Lambert found his car transformed by a new set of tyres for the race and moved through to win class two in third place overall. "Tom resisted for a while," said Lambert of his progress from sixth on the grid to third place.  

Local expert Mike Clapham (968CS) ran home fourth as Segrue took an important second in class to strengthen his title bid. "Richard steamed off on new tyres," admitted Segrue, who prepared for race two knowing that third in class would be enough to win the title whatever White did in class one.

Race Two

For the first four laps of Sunday's race, Purdie looked on course for a double. However, he ran wide into the hairpin and picked up a marker cone under the front of the car. "It hung on for half a lap and I had to slow down to get rid of it," he explained.  

That was all the chance that White needed to dive ahead and win by over three seconds. White knew that he had done all that he could in terms of the title contest, but Segrue ran home second in class behind Lambert to win the crown.  

Lambert bagged third place overall once more. "That was all I could do; I love this circuit," he added. Clapham was fourth as most eyes were on the contest for fifth as Marcus Carniel (911SC) and Segrue battled for much of the race. With a bold and decisive move under braking for Tower, Segrue swept ahead to make certain of the title. "I did it the hard way," acknowledged Segrue. "But I had to look after myself at the start."   

Knowing that White was leading the race overall, Segrue fended off Carniel to make certain of the title. "Brilliant!" he said as he climbed out of his car in the pit road, confirmed as champion. Up into a strong seventh came local ace David Botterill (924 Carrera GT) from Colin Ingram (911SC) and novice Steve Bridgwood (911SC), while Demetriou was a commanding class three winner.