The SAS backed Redline Racing duo of James Sutton and Michael Meadows led the way at Snetterton during the Porsche Carrera Cup GB media and test day, which was held on Tuesday.

As teams and drivers mastered the new 300 circuit at the Norfolk venue, Sutton and Meadows set the pace in what is already shaping up to be the most competitive season in the championship’s history. With seven-tenths of a second covering the top six drivers on the new 3-mile track, the pacesetters were an intriguing mix of established Carrera Cup aces and exciting newcomers.

Sutton said: “We seem to be in really good shape. It was important to get a really good sense of what the car is doing and this bodes well for the opening races at Brands Hatch.””

Meadows said: “It’s been close all through. James and I like a similar set-up and we found a lot of time on the new rubber.”

Third fastest was Team Parker Racing driver and btcccrazy blogger Sam Tordoff. The youngster set the pace for much of the afternoon before eventually being knocked back to third.

Defending champion Tim Harvey was fourth, edging out Motorbase team mate Michael Caine. Harvey said: “We’re pleased with the work we’ve done today but I don’t think we got the best out of the new tyres.”

Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy headed the pro-am 1 class for Redline from Juta Racing’s Jonas Gelzinis.

While in Pro-am 2 Celtic Speed’s George Brewster set the pace despite having only been in the car once since last season’s final round at Brands Hatch in October.

The times from the afternoon session are listed below:

Position	Driver	Category	Team	Time
1	James Sutton	Pro	Team SAS with Redline Racing	1:50.245
2	Michael Meadows	Pro	Team SAS with Redline Racing	1:50.409
3	Sam Tordoff	Pro	Team Parker Racing	1:50.627
4	Tim Harvey	Pro	Motorbase Performance	1:50.815
5	Michael Caine	Pro	Motorbase Performance	1:50.877
6	Richard Plant	Pro	Team Parker Racing	1:50.948
7	Ahmad Al Harthy	PA1	Redline Racing	1:51.057
8	Jonas Gelzinis	PA1	Juta Racing	1:51.377
9	Rory Butcher	PA1	Celtic Speed	1:51.807
10	George Brewster	PA2	Celtic Speed	1:52.559
11	Freddy Nordstrom	PA1	Parr Motorsport	1:52.641
12	Alex Martin	PA1	Team Parker Racing	1:52.849
13	Daniele Perfetti	PA 2	Motorbase Performance	1:52.972
14	Derek Pierce	PA1	Team Parker Racing	1:53.127
15	Keith Webster	PA2	Redline Racing	1:53.345
16	George Richardson	PA1	Motorbase Performance	1:53.408
17	Andrew Shelley	PA1	Redline Racing	1:53.724
18	Steve Parish	PA2	Motorbase Performance	1:54.939
19	Richard Denny	PA2	Parr Motorsport	1:55.110
20	Tautvydas Barstys	PA1	Juta Racing	1:55.794
21	Tommy Dreelan	PA1	Celtic Speed	1:56.397
22	John Taylor	PA2	Team Parker Racing	1:58.173

 

All times courtesy of tsl timings (http://www.tsl-timing.com)

Tom Surgay is the Porsche Carrera Cup GB correspondant for 2011. Tom's currently studying English Language with Journalism at Huddersfield University. You can contact him at tom@btcccrazy.co.uk or on twitter @tsurgay.