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The Pink Panther will be back out at Brands Hatch on the 16 August.

 

Sarah Bennett-Baggs - Having started her racing career in the inaugural Formula Women series in 2004, she has since completed three seasons of racing in Britcar Production Saloons, and Britcar, including guest races in Dutch Supercar Challenge in 2007 and two 24hr races. She works as Team Manager for Rupert Lewin Racing Ltd, as well as project managing other motorsport related projects.

 

 

Sarah Bennett-Baggs

 & the 'Pink Panther'

Another two Podium finishes for Sarah Bennett-Baggs at Silverstone Classic.

The Pink Panther was back out in action at the weekend at the Silverstone Classic meeting, broadcast live on Motors TV.

A packed grid of 60 cars lined up for practice in baking temperatures on Friday evening where Sarah, the only girl on the grid, drove superbly and qualified 2nd in her class.

In Race One, Sarah's Pink Porsche was rather conspicuously seen spinning off at Copse when, after a cracking start Sarah got caught out by the lack of grip on the circuit due to high ambient temperatures. "As the back end started to go, I tried to save it, but couldn't. As soon as I knew it was going round I launched onto the brakes to stop it hitting the wall. I'm so lucky there is loads of run-off at Copse and I rejoined the pack but dead last!"

After a couple of laps Sarah not only caught and passed the back markers, but also quickly caught her rival for 2nd place. With only one lap remaining, she made a couple of brave dives at regaining her 2nd  position, but the place was well defended and wasn't to be and had to settle for 3rd in Class.

Sunday's race was even hotter and starting 3rd in Class on the grid got of to a great start. Sarah, confident she could make up Saturday's lost places, quickly diced for 2nd in Class on the first lap. However, the heat started to take its toll on the air cooled 911 and despite all her best efforts, Sarah was unable to continue the fight as the Pink Panther was running rather hot, thus causing a loss of power. Despite the power loss Sunday's race finished with another podium 3rd in class.

Due to her consistent Podium finishes in every race this year, Sarah still retains her Class lead in the Championship, but this has now been reduced to just a one point. At the half way point of the Season, the battle is now hotting up for a dramatic second half of the year with 8 races still to go at Brands Hatch, Castle Combe, Silverstone GP and the awesome Spa Circuit in Belgium.

 

Sarah Bennett-Baggs Extends Class lead in the Porsche Club Championship

 
Sarah extended her Championship Class lead by picking up 2 more podiums on Saturdays two Silverstone rounds of the Porsche Club Championship.
 
Firstly Sarah clinched her first pole position of the season pinching it off rival Jeremy Clark on the final lap of qualifying to gain just 1 hundredth of a second,  then, in race 1 Jeremy got away on a better start which gave him the lead as Sarah got bogged down with back markers had to settle for 2nd place finish as Jeremy extended his lead to the end of the race.
 
In race 2 more determined than ever Sarah got alongside Jeremy off the start, and in the first few laps the Class 3 order changed around before settling with Jeremy in the lead, followed by Sarah then Adrian. A coming together of two Class 2 cars led to the Safety car period which closed the gap on the class contenders, Sarah keeping Jeremy in sight at all time and fending off Adrian but she couldn't mount a campaign to get past him and had to settle for 2nd position,  finished just 3 seconds behind him she did however manage to pick up the fastest lap.
 
Jeremy commented ""Sarah gave me a run for my money, she is getting quicker. I was watching her in the mirrors and I had to push, and even with these wins she is still ahead in the points."
 
Sarah's two podiums extended her Championship lead to 17 points.
Next round Silverstone Historic GP Circuits, July 26th  / 27th. 

 

Sarah  maintains her 12pt lead in Class with 2 more podium finishes at Brands Hatch 

The pink panther was back out at Brands Hatch at the A1 GP meeting, where the Porsche Open and Club races were run together on the same packed 45 car grid. 

Frustrations with losing the brakes in qualifying meant Sarah qualified 3rd in class, and for race one, a poor start meant she didn't catch up the class leaders and had to settle for finishing 3rd in class. Race 2 was better, a blinding start and some front row scuffles meant Sarah was able to muscle through to catch up with the class leaders, and on lap 2 over took Adrian Stock for 2nd position. Two safety car stints then got in the way of the battle and a completely oil covered circuit meant everyone had to be cautious of falling off, the 2nd Safety car worked to her favour and got Sarah right up behind Class leader Jeremy Clarke but with only 2 laps left to go she couldn't get in front of him. 

The 3rd and 2nd finishes means Sarah maintains her 12 point lead in the battle for the Class Championship title and looking forward to the next round at Silverstone at the end of May. 

Race preparers Harvey Racing enjoyed another full house of podiums for the weekend, Saturday resulted in a 1st , 2nd and 3rd, from Tony Brown in the Porsche Open, Ian White in Class 1 of the Club and Sarah in Class 3, and on Sunday 2x 1st from Tony and Ian and a 2nd from Sarah.  

Sarah said: 'Another great learning curve this weekend, I overheated my new brake pads in qualifying plus I need to sharpen up my  race starts, and despatch the back end of Class 2 drivers more assertively. I can't wait for Silverstone now I'm just starting to get in tune with the car.'

 

Another Class Win in the Bagg for Sarah  

Sarah Bennett-Baggs picked up her 2nd Class Win, in the third round of the Porsche Club Championship at Oulton Park on Saturday.   

Saturday 18th April opened the third round of the Porsche Club Championship at Oulton Park, where Sarah Bennett-Baggs contested her Adrian Flux sponsored pink 3.0 Porsche 911 SC. The organising club split the grid to let the Class 2 runners out with the Open to even up the grid sizes, so Class 1 and 3 ran together in the Club race. 

Sarah qualified 2nd in class, behind the 944 of Dave Roberts and in the race she got a good start and got along side him into the first corner, but he maintained his lead coming out of cascades, Sarah stuck with him for the first half of the race working out where best to make the move, but in true James Bond style Roberts started trailing an oil slick behind him, leaving Sarah no choice to drop back and off line for fear of sliding off the circuit, she took Roberts on the run up to Lodge after which he retired with engine failure, leaving her to take 1st position in class after keeping the chasing Adrian Stock at bay behind her for the rest of the race.  

Ian white once again took the race win in class 1, and Harvey Racing enjoyed a clean sweep of wins, with Sarah in Class 3, Ian in Class 1 and Tony Brown in Class 3 of the Porsche Open.  

Sarah extends her lead in Class 3 in the Championship points and will be back out at Brands Hatch A1GP meeting in two weeks time. 

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