This was Henry’s first competitive race after a 14-year break and he teamed up with Mark Sumpter of Paragon Porsche. The car had also seen a similarly long break from competitive racing so it was great to have both car and driver back on track.
After using the Donington historic as the only shakedown, the car and drivers were thrown straight into the action at Spa!
During the practice sessions it became quickly clear that the gearing of the cabin car was too short for Spa. Luckily we had also brought Pinky with us (the sister car to Cabin), which was still fitted with its longer ratio Le Mans spec gearbox. The team worked through the day to swap the gearboxes over in time to get a qualifying lap on the board. With the gearboxes swapped just in time for the second qualifying session Mark managed an impressive 5th fastest in class.
Due to not getting a lap on the board in the first qualifying session Mark started the first race 6th in class. After a strong start he handed over to Henry early due to a safety car. Henry was thrown in at the deep end as he pushed to catch up to the safety car. He lapped faster in these first few laps than he had done in the qualifying session! The 2nd place Porsche 962 quickly flew past Henry and was lapping on average over 3 seconds faster, however throughout the stint Henry really got to know the limits of the car and started to catch back up. At the end of the race he finished less than a second off of the 2nd place 962! Neither driver was expecting a podium, what a result for the first race in over a decade for car and driver!
The car continued to perform perfectly in the second race and the came home 5th in class. Overall a great weekend, and if Henry can jump in the Cabin car after 14 years and score a podium in an international race event this shows that the Porsche 962 is as capable as ever but maybe not as intimidating as it may seem…