Oulton Park - Superlight R300: DPR Motorsport cars on the pace but miss the podium

DPR Motorsport drivers Jon Walker and Mark Shaw showed their pace at the second round of the R300 championship at Oulton Park by gaining first and second place on the starting grid for race one. However lap one saw Mark Shaw out of the race with Jon Walker behind the leading pack to finish 6th overall. With Jon Walker unable to do race two, Mark Shaw powered from the back of the grid to gain another 6th overall for DPR.

2009 champion Jon Walker achieved a blistering pole time of 1:50.718 - over half a second faster than fellow team driver Mark Shaw. However high hopes for a podium result were dashed by the first lap scramble approaching Cascades that saw Jon Walker at the back of the leading pack and the Mark Shaw car receiving terminal damage from an ambitious pass by another driver. Despite getting the second fastest race lap time, Walker was unable to do more than hold position and finished sixth overall. Novice driver Johnathan Packer who started 17th on the grid achieved a very creditable 9th place in his second Caterham race weekend.

With Jon Walker unable to take part in race two due to an unmoveable diary conflict, Mark Shaw rose to the challenge by powering through the field to gain sixth place despite starting from the back of the grid and racing a car with a corner rebuilt in the limited time available after race one. Caterham novice driver Johnathan Packer showed his potential by rising to third overall only to fall back in the final stages due to a self-inflicted error at Shell Corner.

Team Principal David Rowe said “With Jon Walker only able to do one race, his sixth place was disappointing given his qualifying pace. Mark Shaw’s second place on the pole had an even more disappointing outcome as he was taken out on lap one through no fault of his own whilst still in the leading pack. A one day meeting always presents a challenge and in this case we had an incident in testing that required repairs to Mark Shaw’s car that were almost duplicated in race one. However we were able to get the car repaired and set-up just in time for race two. Mark achieving sixth place provided us with a good outcome given the potential for another DNF.

We were also pleased to see Johnathan Packer racing at the front in race two. Given their limited Caterham race experience, both Mark and Johnathan have demonstrated race pace equal to much more experienced competitors.”