Maiden Podium for Bartholomew at Brands Hatch

Jack Bartholomew achieved his first podium in the Porsche Carrera Cup Championship GB at Brands Hatch at the weekend finishing third in the first race of the weekend.

Qualifying took place on Saturday in warm conditions with Bartholomew managing to qualify in 5th place just 0.126 shy of pole position with the entire field covered by just 1 second on the short Indy circuit.

Race one started with rain threatening and the field starting on slick tyres, a good start saw Bartholomew hold position but was demoted back to 6th after the first lap. On lap 20 with rain starting to fall Bartholomew managed to snatch back the position.

After 24 laps the race was red flagged as the rain had become heavier and the cars were on slick tyres. The race was restarted after all the cars had switched to rain tyres and with 5 laps remaining the race restarted behind the safety car. Bartholomew starting in P5 immediately jumped to 4th and was now challenging for third whilst defending his place from attacking cars behind, eventually crossing the line in P4. A post-race penalty for the third-place car for a jump start was issued and promoted Bartholomew to a third place podium position.

Race 2, which was live on ITV4, started in extremely heavy rain and Bartholomew lined up in P4 on the grid. A poor getaway demoted Bartholomew to 5th in the treacherous conditions and after a car set up change before the race Bartholomew was struggling for traction eventually crossing the line in P8.

“Overall, I’m really happy with the weekend, both races were really tricky with the weather conditions and in race one we were challenging at the front. We made a small set up change before race two but it didn’t work for us in the heavy rain and we struggled for grip. We did score good points from both races so I’m happy”.

Jack now moves into 2nd place in the Rookie Championship with the next round at Oulton Park on June 11th & 12th.