Michael Leonard Jnr to lead Naas Court Hotel backed Porsche Mobile 1 Team at Silverstone Grand Prix
June 26, 2012 by John Kenny
Michael in his Porsche 911 GT3 testing at Silverstone
Having raced around the streets of Monaco in 2009, and recently demonstrated to 110,000 spectators at Bavaria City Racing in Dublin, 37 year old Irish driver Michael Leonard, a regular in the Pro-AM Class in the British Porsche Carrera Cup, once again makes the step up to the Porsche Mobile 1 series which will support the British Grand Prix at the famous Silverstone circuit over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of July.
Leonard, the former Irish Fiat Punto Mark 1 champion, and runner up in the Irish Dunlop Supercar Championship, will lead a trio of drivers which include England’s Richard Plant and Sam Tordoff under the Naas Court Hotel banner which has been licensed by Motorsport Ireland, the governing body of the sport.
The trio will join forces with Team Parker Racing, previous winners of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and who clinched the prestigious teams’ championship crown on three occasions, two of which were won by another Irish driver, Damien Faulkner from County Donegal.
Porsche Carrera Cup GB, is a top one make racing series for the Porsche 911 and is currently one of the support series for the British Touring Car Championship using identical 911 GT3 Cup cars which are capable of generating a whopping 450 BHP.
Michael Leonard, a regular in the series, has competed in six races in the PROAM 1 category in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2012 which yielded a second placed finish at the opening round at Brands Hatch.
Plant, who won the opening race at Brands Hatch, previously raced in single seaters and was British Formula Palmer Audi champion in 2009 before taking to saloons in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.
Tordoff made his British Touring Car Championship debut in 2010 season at Brands Hatch, driving a Vauxhall Vectra for Uniq Racing with Triple Eight, before his move to Team Parker Racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and this season lies third in the championship taking his first win of 2012 in the last round at Oulton Park.
“It is an honour to be leading a team that contains the likes of Richard and Sam and we will be aiming for a big finish amongst the top Porsche drivers in the world who are coming to Silverstone” said Leonard.
“It’s a big step up from Carrera Cup GB to the Mobil 1 series, but I’m confident we can mix it with the big boys at the home of the British Grand Prix”
The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car competes in the Mobil1 Supercup, the world’s fastest international one-make Championship, which supports Formula One Grand Prix.
The 911 GT3 Cup also runs in domestic Carrera Cup Championships in Germany, Asia, France, Italy, Japan, Scandinavia and Great Britain and is designed to be the first step for drivers moving up to GT racing.
