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Third Place for Courtney in her First Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Season
Third Place for Courtney in
Courtney Prince has been tearing up the bitumen in her maiden Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge season with two podium positions after three races.
‘We got a third podium at Sandown, as well as a third overall in the first round at Sydney Motorsport Park,’ Courtney explains.
‘So, we've got a podium finish in two out of the three rounds so far. I’d like to move up the top step – that would be great, but it’s been a great year so far. There are 29 competitors, all of whom are male except for two girls.’
‘Last year we only did two rounds, due to Covid travel restrictions it wasn’t classed as a championship,’ Courtney points out. ‘So, I’m really excited that this year we’re having a full season championship. It’s my first year in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, so I’m super-stoked to have my first season in a national series and it is going really well!’ Courtney enthuses.
Even though Courtney’s obviously very excited about the racing and having had some very close battles for the lead, there have been some trying times recently – such as the recent Melbourne race at Sandown, where the weather wasn’t kind. In fact, it poured rain on and off all weekend, forcing teams to second-guess tyre choices at the last minute.
Courtney remembered the final race at Sandown, a 45-minute endurance race where the field had lined up in dummy grid prior to doing a warm-up lap.
When the heavens opened suddenly, her team changed tyres to wets (super-sticky grooved tyres) but no sooner had they done that than it stopped raining. Off with the wets and on with slicks to maximize the grip on the drying track. Part way around the warm-up lap and again Melbourne’s weather changed, pouring with rain. So, off with the slicks and on with the wets again … but that forced Courtney to start the race from the pits rather than on the track, which put her at the tail end of the field.
‘Together with the other main contenders in the series we had to start from pit lane,’ she recounts. ‘We then all passed the cars who started before us, and I got up to third.’
The main contenders vying for the title are Ryan Wood, a Kiwi, and Thomas Sergeant. Courtney’s challenging them not only for the podium in most races, but also for the championship, where she’s now sitting in third place.
The Bend is the next event on the calendar. Courtney’s looking forward to racing there, as it’s one of her favourite tracks.
‘It reminds me of European tracks. (I hope to go over to Europe one day),’ Courtney observes. ‘They’re definitely the tracks I like and prefer, so I’m very excited to go there.’
What’s Courtney planning for next year?
‘I’m just focusing doing the best I can this year,’ she confides. ‘Then, if I do a good enough job, the doors should open for me next year.’
With that attitude, we’re sure she’ll be bursting through every door she encounters!
Keep up to date with Courtney's progress by following the @PorscheMotorsportAU Facebook and Instagram accounts, the @PorscheMspAU account on Twitter.•
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