2008 Race Reports

A memorable year for the Paragon Race Team

2008 proved to be both a memorable and exciting year for the Paragon Race Team. 

The undoubted highlights of the year were the 2nd place at Le Mans and a well deserved win in the Silverstone 24hr Britcar race.

Le Mans was a very special event as it was the support race for the prestigous Le Mans 24 hour.  It proved to be very exciting with Mark Sumpter in our Porsche 962 close on the tail of the leading Jaguar driven by Justin Law. 

However later in the race slower cars and back markers frustratingly pushed Mark too far behind the Jaguar to enable him to have a chance to fight for the lead. Finishing second at such an iconic location was a huge achievement for Mark and the team.

The Silverstone Britcar 24 hour race proved to be exciting and incident-filled. The car was driven by the trio of Mark Sumpter, Adrian Slater and Andy Purdie. A major accident on the opening lap caused Mark Sumpter to swerve onto the grass avoiding a mass of cars in just the first few minutes of the 24 hour race.

Three hours into the race driveshaft failure resulted in our Porsche 911 GT3RSR falling back to 23rd position. With frantic work from the race technicians the car was soon back out on the circuit. 

With some committed and consistent driving through the night from all three drivers, the lead was soon retained.  

However in the last two hours came more drama, with a noisy transmission and a failing wheel bearing leading Mark Sumpter to have to nurse the car to the finish.

This final effort was enough to ensure victory with the Paragon GT3RSR winning three laps ahead of the second placed car.