Roscrea Rocket Nicole wins big in Spain
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The Roscrea racer was on track in the Protech Porsche 718 GT4
‘Roscrea Rocket’ Nicole Drought travelled to Jarama in Spain last weekend for her second weekend of the Iberian Supercar series.
Having taken second place on her series debut in Portimao a few weeks previously, she was keen to get some further seat time in the Protech Porsche 718 GT4 CS at the former F1 venue just outside Madrid.
For the second meeting in a row, testing on Friday was challenging as Nicole and her team mate Lucas Fothergill experienced handling problems and a slight brake issue.
The team worked hard to sort the issues and thankfully, come qualifying on Saturday morning, Nicole was able to set the fastest time in her class in what she later described as a "totally different car to yesterday!"
Between qualifying and race one, some drivers were reclassified and that, added to a few with mechanical issues, meant the Protech duo would be the only car starting in the AM class.
Having had a talk with the Protech team, Nicole and Lucas decided to see how far up the grid they could progress against the Pro drivers, as well as the TCR and Cup cars.
Nicole started the race and battled by a similar Porsche and a McLaren 570S to climb inside the top ten overall. At the halfway point she pitted to hand over to Lucas who maintained their ninth place position to the chequered flag, as well as the class win,
In Race Two on Sunday afternoon, Lucas started the car, but before they got to the grid, disaster struck.
Having had an issue with the seat belts before leaving the garage, he was a few seconds too late leaving the pitlane and was held by the officials.
With no warm up lap, and having to wait until the entire grid started before being released, it was going to be a tough race for the duo.
Before the end of his stint though, Lucas had caught the tail end of the pack and was beginning to make good progress.
Nicole continued this and, lapping as fast as the leaders in the closing stages, chased down and passed the McLaren again and her team mate Pedro Raposa in a Porsche 991 Cup, crossing the line as class winner, eighth overall, with just three GT4 cars ahead.
It didn't end there though, as Lucas was subsequently adjudged to have crossed the white line on his approach to the pitlane for the stop, and they were awarded with a ten second post race penalty, dropping them behind the McLaren once again.
"Another challenging weekend but we are definitely making progress,” Nicole said after the race.
“On Friday, I really thought we were going to have a nightmare weekend but I knew from the first lap of qualifying on Saturday morning that the car was way better.
“For some reason, we can't quite match the lighter cars on new tyres, but once we get to mid race, we are as fast as anyone, so we still have some work to do.
“It's great to be racing on circuits like these - in a Porsche! I was amazed at the amount of spectators at the event, somewhere around 20,000, and I was delighted to meet many of the younger fans at the Drivers' autograph session in the Fanzone.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself because it does feel like a childhood dream. As ever, a huge thanks to my commercial partners for making this possible," Nicole said.