NORTH Yorkshire racer Robert Lawson continued his progress in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship at Donington Park over the weekend, securing his second Pro-Am1 Class victory of the season.
On a weekend which saw the majority of track action affected by rain showers, the JHR Developments driver produced two excellent drives, his best result of fifth overall and first in class coming in round five on Sunday morning.
Tied on 53 points at the head of the Pro-Am1 class driver standings, Lawson is the highest placed Pro-Am1 racer in the championship table, currently standing sixth with 50 points.
Lining up ninth on the grid for round five, Lawson made a good getaway in his Bardon Concrete and Bardon Aggregates-backed car and found himself in the top six early on, ahead of class rival Tony Gilham.
On lap four, he gained another place by passing Michael Leonard at Coppice.
For round six, which all drivers started on wet tyres, the Richmond-based racer got away fairly well and managed to hold ninth place when boxed in through Redgate. Pressuring Pro-Am1 rival Gilham during the first few laps, Lawson made the breakthrough on lap four at Goddards Chicane with a good out-braking move to take eighth position.
Closing on Michael Leonard, he gained another place on lap 11 at Redgate with a quality pass and then started to reel in championship front-runner and multiple race winner Michael Caine as the race passed mid-distance.
In a position to think about mounting an attack on Caine on lap 18 at Goddards, things almost got a little too close for comfort between the pair which resulted in the JHR ace having to take avoiding action which lost him time.
He did manage to recover and retain seventh place and second in class though, holding both to the chequered flag.
"We've had a good weekend, but there's certainly room for improvement," said Lawson. "I haven't got very much experience at all in the Porsche in such tricky conditions so considering that I think we did a very good job.
"These cars are certainly a handful in the wet, for us it was a case of going out there to try and raise the bar a bit as we got more and more track time under our belt.
"I was a bit disappointed not to pass (Michael) Caine in the second race but that's one of those things. There's still a long way to go for us, but to have achieved a first and a second place in Pro-Am1 this weekend is a good result.
"We've only got six races behind us but we're improving and starting to mix it with the top drivers which is great."
Rounds seven and eight of the Championship will take place on May 30/31 at Oulton Park.
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