By Paul Evans
Ryan Ratcliffe will return to the Porsche Carrera Cup racing series next year with his sights firmly set on winning the Pro-Am title – after finishing runner-up in his first attempt at Britain’s fastest single make championship this season.
The 27-year old Carmarthenshire-based driver arrived at the final round of this year’s series still in with a chance of winning the Pro-Am title.
This in itself was a magnificent achievement, given that Ratcliffe’s first season of racing a 458bhp 911 GT3 Cup car had been condensed into 16 races spread over just three and a half months, and that the Pro-Am category was the only Carrera Cup title yet to be decided.
Having qualified on pole (posting an impressive 53.649 seconds lap time around a wet 1.2 mile Brands Hatch Indy Circuit), Ratcliffe took his Groundhog-backed Porsche to penultimate round race victory on Saturday.
He then finished fourth in the final round on Sunday, to be confirmed as runner-up in the Pro-Am series – finishing just 15 points behind Esmee Hawkey and comfortably ahead of third placed Aaron Mason.
What a season, P2 in the Pro-Am standings with 6 wins, 8 Seconds one Third and a Fourth. To come away 2nd in my maiden season is only something I ever dreamt of! Thanks to all at Team Parker Racing, the hard work that goes on behind the scenes is unrivalled! Here's to 2021 😁🏆🏁 pic.twitter.com/qKDdtlXphD
— Ryan Ratcliffe (@RyanRatcliffeR) November 16, 2020
“I plan to do the Porsche Carrera Cup again next year, staying in the Pro-Am category and going all-out to win the title,” says Ratcliffe.
“I really enjoyed contesting the championship this year.
“I knew it was going to be a closely fought series, but the opening round was still a big shock because all the classes, the Pro, Pro-Am and Am, are massively competitive.
“But I’m very pleased with that I achieved in my first year in the Porsche Carrera Cup.
“We’ve got a short winter break now, and we hope to be back out testing in mid-February in preparation for the start of the 2021 season.”
Ratcliffe also hopes to contest more endurance races next year too.
He returned to the British GT Championship for the recent three-hour Silverstone 500 race, where he won the GTC category – also driving a Team Parker Racing-run Porsche 911.