Podium finish for Tipperary driver Nicole Drought in Portugal
Satisfactory end to tough weekend
Nicole Drought made her European GT debut at the weekend when she competed in the opening rounds of the European Supercar Series at Portimao in Portugal.
The six time motorsport champion from Roscrea paired up with Lucas Fothergill in a Porsche 718 GT4, running with the Protech Motorsport team.
The weekend started well, with Nicole showing P7 overall and P2 in class in official testing on Friday but an ABS issue meant the team had a bit of work to do. Despite their best efforts, the problem recurred in qualifying, with Nicole lucky not to have a big shunt when the brake pedal went solid mid-session.
Race two was used as a test session but the problem was still not sorted so Nicole retired the car. The team worked all night on the car before finding a broken wire on a sensor at 2am.
Nicole and Lucas started the car last on the grid but by the flag had climbed far enough to take third in class. This was subsequently changed to P2 when a car ahead failed technical scrutiny, making it a good end to a tough weekend.
Nicole was joined at the Portimao circuit by some work colleagues and sponsors, and her father brought all of the staff from his Roscrea-based Owain Drought Car Sales business. Nicole and Lucas now plan to test the car ahead of the second round in Jarama in Spain on June 5/6/7.
Nicole said, "That was tough. It's hard to get your confidence back when you've had brake issues but obviously it's great to come away with P2. To sit in the Pitlane signing autographs and to climb onto the Portimao podium - well, that's just the stuff of dreams!
“A big thanks to my commercial partners and to the Protech team, who never stopped working to trace the problem all weekend. Our running was limited so both Lucas and I are keen to get back behind the wheel again and get some mileage under our belts before Jarama".