Esmee Hawkey endured a difficult weekend in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, but still managed to leave Oulton Park with a podium finish as she retained her championship lead.

After fighting back to claim second place in race one, where she finished just three tenths behind team-mate Ryan Ratcliffe, Esmee suffered bad luck on Sunday afternoon as she was turned around into the first corner and suffered damage which ended her race.

Heading to the Cheshire venue as the standout competitor in the Pro-Am class, the 22-year old was positive heading into qualifying, aiming to grab another excellent result. She duly delivered, taking ninth overall, just 0.5s off pole position and some 0.8s quicker than Ryan, the next placed driver in class.

However, having to take a grid penalty after accidental contact with another driver at Brands Hatch last time out, Esmee had to fight back from 16th position, doing an excellent job on a track which is difficult to overtake on, to close in on a possible Pro-Am victory. Sadly, with a Pro class car between her and Ryan proving difficult to get past, she had to settle for second place this time out, still a great result.

Things went badly on Sunday though, as contact on the first corner of the race spun her on to the wet grass and into the barriers. Esmee managed to get the car going again but was forced to pit a couple of laps later, with radiator damage that couldn’t be fixed, causing her retirement from the race.

Despite the disappointment, Esmee remains in the lead of the Pro-Am championship standings, ahead of Team Parker Racing colleague Ryan, as the series undertakes its second back-to-back weekend of the shortened season, travelling to Knockhill in Scotland next weekend (August 28-30), with Sunday’s second race broadcast live on ITV4.

Fans can continue to race alongside Esmee throughout the season by becoming a Silver Supporter, which not only earns an Esmee Hawkey signature cap and autographed photo, but also means their name is displayed on the roof of her Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Gen II machine.

Speaking after the weekend, Hawkey said: “We struggled a bit in Free Practice 1 on Friday as we didn’t get much track time, because it absolutely chucked it down and was too wet to go out. We got a little bit of running in the end, but it’s been a while since I drove the Cup car in the rain. Free Practice 2 was dry and we didn’t have the greatest pace, so I had a bit of work to do but came away with some good track knowledge for the race weekend and kept positive for Saturday and Sunday.

“Qualifying was good but it was always going to be difficult with a seven-place grid penalty. It was a drying track and we went out quite early on a new set of slicks which probably wasn’t the best thing to do, as we didn’t get the time out of them. I had a good second run on new slicks and we managed to get ninth overall and were just five tenths off pole position, but it was difficult because the penalty then put me 16th.

“I got a good start for race one and managed to get one place at the start but it’s such a tricky circuit to overtake on, so I was just trying to do the best job possible. I had Dorian Mansilla in front of me and he was fighting to get past the Pro-Ams, so I did the best I could, but it was just really tough to get past.

“Race two was terrible. I was taken off on the first corner, which damaged the radiator so I had a DNF, but I’m already looking ahead to Knockhill next weekend and will be aiming to get some good results there.”