Nick Tandy won the penultimate race of the season in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB ahead of the two SAS/Redline drivers and championship contenders James Sutton and Michael Meadows. The third title contender, Team Parker’s Stephen Jelley retired from the race after contact with Meadows which all but ended his hopes of championship glory.

Starting from pole, Tandy made a good start to lead into copse while Sutton jumped Meadows off the line to take second and in the early stages held pace with the Motorbase driver. As the track rubbered in though, Tandy was able to stretch his lead and looked comfortable out front, while Meadows closed in on his team mate Sutton as he looked to regain the position he lost off the start line.

Further back Stephen Jelley was on an early charge, as he made his way up to fourth from seventh on the grid by lap three, pulling clean moves on Jonas Gelzinis and team mate Sam Tordoff in the process. Once he got into fourth though he was unable to keep pace with the lead three.

However on lap 19 the front four were bunched up when Tandy caught backmarker Tommy Dreelan at Brooklands but was unable to overtake as there was a yellow flag at that section of the circuit. This delay allowed Sutton, Meadows and Jelley to catch right up to him, this meant that with nine laps remaining the front four were suddenly all nose to tail. They safely negotiated Dreelan but on the next lap Jelley saw an opportunity to pass Meadows for third and attempted to lunge down the inside at Becketts, it proved a horrible misjudgement on the Team Parker with Juta driver’s part though and he hit the back of Meadows’ car with some force, busting the radiator and causing him to spin. He then limped back to the pits to retire. This dropped coolant all over the circuit causing drama for drivers further down the field as they spun on it. The drivers at the front drove with a bit more caution in the closing stages which allowed Tandy to re-establish a comfortable lead from Sutton which he held until the chequered flag.

Speaking to BTCC Crazy Tandy said: “The good start was the key thing, it enabled me to get out in front. I was hoping to build a bit of a bigger lead the first couple of laps but at the same time you’ve still got to look after your tyres when they’re low on pressure but all in all I’m really pleased, it was fairly straight forward and I’m looking to do the same this afternoon.”

Sutton finished in a secure second place as Meadows consolidated third which means that the pair are separated by just one point in the championship standings in Meadows’ favour with just one race to go.

Sutton emphasised the importance of his start in relation to taking points off Meadows in the race. Speaking to BTCC Crazy he said: “It was a good getaway. I kind of feel sorry for Mike (Meadows) because when we arrived on the formation lap I noticed there was coolant or something on the ground in front of Michael and I think that may have just cost him a little bit off the lights.”

Meadows’ pace faded in the closing stages and he was caught on the final couple of laps by Sam Tordoff but he was unable to find a way through and had to settle for fourth. Despite having his championship lead reduced, Meadows was fairly upbeat about the result and is still confident he can clinch the title in the final race.

Speaking to BTCC Crazy he said: “I’m still very much in it, it’s still very much in my hands (the title), so I just need to beat him (Sutton) in this race, it’s easier said than done but I’ll be giving everything to make sure I do.”

Jonas Gelzinis claimed fifth and victory in Pro-Am1 with Euan Hankey sixth and Richard Plant seventh. Eighth and ninth overall and rounding off the Pro-Am1 podium were Rory Butcher and George Richardson.

In Pro-Am2 championship leader George Brewster secured a vital victory to boost his chances of securing the title after long time race leader Keith Webster spun on coolant. Brewster now only needs a top five finish in the class in the final race to become Pro-Am2 champion. Webster fought back from the spin to finish second which gives him a slim chance of the title. Steve Parish was third to mean Motorbase secured a podium finish in each category, the first time that this has happened all season.

For the full race classification see here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2011/114103por.pdf

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.