As proud supporters of Dino Zamparelli, it was great to see him take a win and a 2nd place, scoring 38 out of a possible 40 points during rounds 8 and 9 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Championship at Snetterton.
Qualifying took place under sunny conditions on Saturday and with chief rival Dan Cammish having to miss the round due to European commitments, Zamparelli knew it was a big chance to make some ground up in the Championship battle, but was Charlie Eastwood who took pole.
Once again, the sun came out on race day, and the 20 strong Porsche Carrera Cup grid would blast off the line for round 8 and race one of the day. The race was a tactical battle between the top two, with Zamparelli slotting in behind Eastwood. The pair would trade fastest laps after fastest laps, but with no mistakes from either, it would remain a stalemate with Eastwood crossing the line 0.9 tenths ahead of Dino, who despite taking the fastest lap, couldn’t mount a serious challenge for the lead.
For Round 9, and race two of the weekend, Zamparelli would once again make a steady start, slotting in behind the pole man Eastwood off the line. This time however, Zamparelli was able to keep up a strong pace throughout the race.
With Zamparelli now posting fastest lap time, lap after lap, the pressure got all too much for the leader and Eastwood made a mistake in turn 2 on lap 12 of 14. Zamparelli dummied his car to the inside and Eastwood took the bait; distracted, he locked the rear tyres and ran wide. This allowed for Zamparelli to cut to the inside and firmly shut the door to take the lead with only two laps remaining.
From there, Zamparelli looked untouchable and crossed the line more than a second ahead of his rivals to take the first win of the year, as well as JTR’s first win in Porsche Carrera Cup.
We now look forward to rounds 10 and 11 of the Porsche Carrera Cup Championship taking place at Knockhill in Scotland on the 12th–13th August 2017.
