Duckhams Yuasa Racing show front-running pace despite frustrating Silverstone weekend
Duckhams Yuasa Racing and Jacob Tofts showed strong pace throughout the Porsche Carrera Cup GB weekend at Silverstone, highlighted by a Pro-Am pole position, but two difficult races prevented them from achieving the results their pace suggested were possible.
After a challenging round at Croft, Tofts returned to the front of the Pro-Am field and started the first race from the third row of the grid. He looked well placed for a strong result, but his race ended prematurely on the opening lap when he was tapped from behind and sent into Stephen Jelley at Becketts.
Both cars suffered significant damage, forcing Jacob to retire and leaving the team with a big task to repair his car in time for the second race later that afternoon.
Starting from 10th, Jacob was keen to demonstrate the pace he and the distinctive Duckhams and Yuasa-liveried Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car had shown earlier in the weekend, but a difficult opening sequence saw him drop towards the rear of the field.
Despite the team’s best efforts to repair the car, Jacob had to manage lingering issues that worsened as the final race went on. Refusing to give up, he closed in on Pro-Am rival Oliver Meadows through a tightly packed group of cars. Jacob put pressure on Meadows and crossed the line just 0.2 seconds behind him.
Following a post-race penalty for Jonathan Moore, Jacob was promoted to 10th overall and fourth in class, narrowly missing out on the Pro-Am podium. It was a weekend of “what could have been”, but despite the lingering problems, Jacob set the second-fastest lap in Pro-Am.
Although Silverstone ultimately proved frustrating in terms of results, the Pro-Am pole position and strong race pace gave Duckhams Yuasa Racing and Jacob encouragement as they turned their attention to the season finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.
Jacob Tofts
ProAm Class
G1 – 1, R1 – DNF
G2 - 4, R2 - 4
Championship: 3 (89 points)
We found an issue with the car after Croft that had really restricted our pace. Straight away, we were third and fourth in practice and second for most of qualifying.
It was nice to be back at the front, and starting fifth put us in a great position, but the race didn’t go our way. Someone locked up, ran onto the grass and hit me, pushing me into Stephen. We both had too much damage to continue, which was frustrating because our run of bad luck continues.
The team did an amazing job repairing the car for the second race, but we still had some lingering damage that got worse as the race went on. We couldn’t make progress, so it was another weekend of what could have been, without results that reflected the great pace we’d shown.
