TRICE MAKES IMPRESSIVE PORSCHE DEBUT
Toby Trice made an impressive debut in the Porsche Visit Cayman Islands Sprint Challenge at Silverstone.
Despite having limited testing, Toby put in a strong performance all weekend to walk away sixth in the driver’s standings.
After a short testing session on Friday, Toby went out for his first hot laps on Saturday morning, qualifying fifth for the first race, setting a best time of 2m11.274 seconds.
It set Toby up well for the first race on Saturday afternoon and he ended up finishing an impressive sixth position, despite not having the optimum setup.
That set the tone for the weekend, with Toby finishing sixth in the remaining two races on Sunday, in what was a strong learning curve on his championship debut.
“The race weekend was incredible,” said Toby. “It was brilliant to join the Porsche Visit Cayman Islands Sprint Challenge for the first time.
“It was a super proud moment for me to finally make my debut as a Porsche driver and get our TestHim race car out there. It was a true honour and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.
“The bar is a lot higher than I anticipated. The standard is very good, the grid is very strong in the Pro category and the window for the optimal setup feels very small in the Porsche.
“We made some minor adjustments which made a big difference on circuit and we haven’t quite got the setup bang on yet to what I want. But we are very close and in race two we were knocking on the door for the top three so I’m feeling really pleased with our progress.”
It wasn’t just Toby’s debut this weekend, it was also the first time that SVG Motorsport had run a car in the series, and the learning process has left the whole team feeling positive for the rest of the season.
“This is brand new for SVG Motorsport, it’s brand new for me, it was my first race weekend on slicks and we still didn’t embarrass ourselves. We worked very hard all weekend, extracting as much as we can out of the car, bearing in mind we’d only done two days testing prior to the opening round.
“We have to take the fact that yes, we were P6 all weekend, but what we can take from it is how much we have learnt and how much we’ve progressed in two days of testing and one race weekend.
“We had a great weekend and we all had a fantastic time together and it’s just great to be back in the paddock with the bobble hat army. Team Trice is back fighting hard again and hopefully we can move forward and progress.
“Fingers cross we can a podium in a round or two’s time because it feels very much deserved.
“It’s been a challenge just to get on the grid this year, so it feels a massive achievement to be here. And to be developing as we are as a team, I think it’s a phenomenal achievement.
“So we will keep our heads down, look forward and those that dare and those that work hard in silence are the ones you need to be careful of. So watch this space to see how we get on!”
