Octane Finance maintains early season success at Brands Hatch
Octane Finance-backed racer Robert De Haan enjoyed further success on track as the Porsche Carrera Cup GB headed for Brands Hatch for the second round of the season.
The Dutch teenager had enjoyed a fine start to life in Octane colours two weeks earlier at Donington Park, where he secured victory in his Richardson Racing-run car to become the youngest winner in series history.
Rob then followed it up with victory on a debut in Carrera Cup Benelux a week later at Spa on the same weekend that fellow Octane-backed racer Harry King took to the top step of the podium in Carrera Cup Germany.
From the outset at Brands Hatch, Rob was right on the pace at the front of the field, missing out on pole by just 0.001s in the closest of qualifying sessions in tricky wet conditions.
In the dry for race one, Rob rocketed away off the line to lead the field into turn one and after an early caution period, was able to clear away at the front - setting the fastest lap of the race and scoring a dominant win by more than five seconds.
Starting race two from fourth place, Rob fought his way up to second early on before the safety car was called out, and wasted little time on the restart before he once again hit the front.
The fastest driver on track for the second race in succession, Rob pulled out an even bigger margin at the front to grab a third win in four starts although there would be a sting in the tail when he was deemed to have made a move for position when safety car boards were displayed and demoted back to P3.
Despite that, the results across the weekend leave Rob second in the standings and just six points off top spot ahead of the next round at Thruxton in early June.
"It’s been another good weekend and I’m really pleased to have taken another Carrera Cup GB win," he said. "Race one was pretty comfortable at the front and not a lot happened once I was ahead, but it was good that we had the pace to build a lead over the rest.
"Race two was a bit more action-packed as I had to get up from P4 and there was so much going on that I didn’t see the safety car board until I had got into P2. It’s a shame that it cost us another win but we were the fastest car on track again and everyone could see how strong we were.
"Two wins here and another in Benelux has been a good start and is something to build on when we go racing again in a few weeks."
