Fifer Butcher dazzles in German rainposted in POR27 | 06 | 2011

    SCOTLAND'S LEADING sportscar team, St Cyrus-based Celtic Speed, returned to its base today having taken on and beaten some of the best Porsche racers in the world in the Porsche Carrera World Cup race on the 14-mile Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany.

    The team's assault, watched by close to 300,000 spectators, was led by 24-year-old Fifer Rory Butcher (pictured) who delivered one of the drives of his young career to win the Pro-Am1 class in the biggest one-make Porsche race in history.

    After qualifying seventh his Celtic Speed 911GT3 in dry conditions, a torrential downpour before the start of the race left the high-speed track very wet and slippery for the 98-car field contesting the six-lap race.

    But after easing himself into the action through the opening two laps, Butcher from Kirkcaldy gradually carved his way through the field to eventually finish just two seconds behind race winner and multiple Porsche Carrera Cup champ Tim Harvey.

    See more photographs of Celtic Speed in Germany

    "That was awesome," Butcher admitted afterwards. "The whole experience was the best I've ever had in my racing career, and without question this was one of the best drives I've delivered.

    "The Nordschleife is like nothing else I've ever driven; you're so close to the crash barriers at the side of the wall, plus the circuit's like a rollercoaster because it undulates so much.

    "The conditions, certainly in the opening few laps were, to be brutally honest, very scary. We were doing speeds of 160mph and literally I couldn't see the end of the car's bonnet because of all the spray being thrown up.

    "I just concentrated on keeping out of trouble for the opening few laps, but I still had a couple of big moments where my race could easily have been over very quickly. But then the race just came to me and I was able to overtake cars quite consistently. To be honest, I know if we'd had another lap I'd have been able to pass Tim."

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    Butcher took the chequered flag second in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB element of the race and a stunning 15th overall out of the 98-cars who started the race; and this in only his first full season racing in sportscars.

    A controversial 30-second penalty imposed hours after the race for 'overtaking under yellow flags' ultimately relegated Butcher to fourth in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, but such was his advantage that he still won the Pro-Am1 class.

    "That was always my principal aim," he continued. "Winning the Pro-Am1 championship is my primary goal this year and to leave Germany with maximum points is the perfect outcome."

    There was disappointment though for Butcher's Celtic Speed team-mates George Brewster and team boss Tommy Dreelan.

    Edinburgh racer Brewster qualified on pole position in the Pro-Am2 class, but his race ended on the opening lap when his car was rammed up the rear by another competitor pitching the Scot into a wall.

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    The disappointment for Dreelan was even more difficult to take. Having survived an impact at the same 180-degree corner which ended Brewster's race, the Aberdeen-based driver was on course for a comfortable second in Pro-Am2 before the clutch on his car failed with just two miles of the 84-mile race remaining.

    "That's racing," Dreelan said philosophically. "But it was frustrating because after being punted sideways on the first lap, I put together an excellent race, perhaps my best race of the year, and was on course for a podium finish.

    "But almost within sight of the chequered flag, the car's clutch went and that was my race over. It was a terrific performance and result by Rory who ensured Celtic Speed was on the top step of the podium again."

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    Jim McGill

     

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