Tom Oliphant scored a pair of crucial top six finishes on home tarmac at Oulton Park this past weekend (04/05 June), though was left rueing a missed opportunity after once again showing podium pace in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

Born and raised within a stone’s throw of the picturesque Cheshire circuit, the meeting was a homecoming for the 25 year old and he aimed to mark the occasion with another strong weekend to continue the impressive start to his maiden Porsche campaign.

The reigning Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup champion kicked off qualifying on Saturday in positive fashion, sitting second on the timesheets after the first run, though he was then unable to piece an ideal lap together on the second set of tyres and finished the session fifth fastest overall.

Oliphant, who welcomed new sponsor Horizon on-board at the weekend to join Mulgari Automotive, Clearview Coaching and Bandera, knew there was plenty more pace to show in the races however and enjoyed a quick start to race one as he grabbed fourth place at the first corner.

Settling in behind his team-mate Charlie Eastwood, Oliphant elected to preserve his tyres over the first half of the race in the hope of producing a late charge for the final podium position, but just as he started to really pressure his adversary, the race was ended early due to a red flag.

Fourth place matched his best result of the season so far however and Oliphant was hoping for a repeat performance in race two, however following a difficult opening lap that saw him shuffled back to eighth place, attentions turned to producing a fightback drive.

An expert switchback manoeuvre coming out of the final corner moved his Redline Racing-prepared Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car into seventh position, and as the race developed Oliphant found himself in a close-fought six car battle that occupied the cars from third position to eighth.

With the contenders so evenly matched and overtaking opportunities notoriously hard to come by around the tight 2.2 mile Oulton circuit, Oliphant had to bide his time before seizing on a mistake from a rival to grab a deserved sixth position on the penultimate lap.

The Oulton results continue Oliphant’s run of finishing each race so far this season in the top six, consistency that has consolidated his fifth place in the drivers’ standings, with only ten points separating him from the championship top three.

Tom Oliphant: “The weekend overall was a positive one as we made big steps forward in key areas. Our pace at the start of qualifying was really good, and the race pace was really strong throughout the two races.

“I’m feeling more comfortable in the car each time we go out, and it just was a bit of a shame we couldn’t fight for the podium in the final race, as it felt like if we had got a good first lap, we once again had the speed to be challenging for it.

“We turn to Croft now and that was the meeting that turned my championship challenge around last season in the Ginetta’s. It’s a circuit that I’ve always been really positive about, so I’m looking forward to going there and hopefully we can produce some more strong results.

“Also, I want to say a massive thank you as well to all my family, friends and sponsors for coming to cheer me on at the weekend. It was my home race and it felt fantastic to have so much support there.”

Source. Simon Paice Media/Photo. James Lipman/Porsche