Phil Quaife Set For Porsche Supercup Debut

01 April 2007

British racer, Phil Quaife, is ready for his first Porsche Supercup race next weekend, in front of a Formula One audience, at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Porsche series supports the FIA Formula One World Championship, which attracts a strong spectator audience that enjoys the wheel-to-wheel action of this highly competitive championship.

Quaife, 21, from Tonbridge in Kent, is making his debut in the Series and expects to be the youngest British driver competing in the championship. Acknowledged as the fastest international one-make-cup, Quaife and his rivals drive powerful identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars under the same technical conditions.

The season-opening race weekend for the Porsche Supercup series in Bahrain will feature two races, following qualifying sessions earlier in the weekend. Races are contested over a distance of around 70 kilometres and the Middle Eastern races will be highly competitive and full of action.

Quaife says of his debut weekend, "I've been testing through the winter, keeping myself fit and preparing as much as possible, but I haven't been to this circuit and I haven't raced alongside the F1 championship, so it's all going to be very new and exciting for me.

"I'm not underestimating how tough it's going to be for me, particularly with a field which will include three past champions, plenty of older, more experienced drivers and some like myself who are rookies this year.

I think I'm well prepared, particularly for the heat, which is going to play its part here, as this is probably the hottest venue that we visit and that will be hard, physically. "My aim is to finish as high as possible, and if I can finish in the points, which is top fifteen I'll be satisfied for my first outing. If I can do that in the first race, then I can start pushing a bit harder in the second one, and aim higher.

With the big grid, possibly as many as 35 cars, the run to the first corner is going to be fraught and I need to keep myself out of trouble so that I'm there at the end fighting for a top finishing position."

The Porsche Supercup starts with two qualifying sessions on Friday 13 April at the Bahrain Sakhir circuit. The first race takes place at 12.30pm local time on Saturday 14 April. The second race precedes the F1 Grand Prix with the start scheduled for 11.55 am on Sunday 15 April, and both races will be 12 laps of this three-years-old high-tech circuit.