A strong points haul from the first two races of the 2006 Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch last weekend (Sat/Sun 8th/9th of April) left Damien Faulkner satisfied with his performance and that of his Team SAS International car. The 2005 Carrera Cup champions' pair of podium finishes mean that he heads for the next two rounds at his home event at Mondello Park in a very strong position.

The short Brands Hatch Indy circuit is notoriously hard to pass on so a good grid position is necessary for a strong race result and Faulkner achieved his goal by taking his Team SAS Porsche to second on the twenty one car less than a tenth of a second slower than pole sitter Tim Harvey and importantly ahead of main championship rival Richard Westbrook.

When the lights turned green poleman Harvey and third qualifier Westbrook got away better than Faulkner who had to slot into third place ahead of his SAS team mate Jason Templeman. Westbrook slipped past Harvey on lap five but Harvey learned his lesson quickly and defended strongly when Faulkner tried to do the same. A race long tussle ensued with Faulkner trying everything he knew to get past the English driver but following thirty laps of frustration The Donegal driver had to settle for third place.

Third on the grid for race two meant the prospect of more time spent behind Harvey as the Porsches lined up in the race one finishing order. The race ran in grid order for the first five laps before Faulkners pressure finally led to a mistake by Harvey. Once in to second the SAS car closed on the leader and Faulkner again began to look for an overtaking opportunity but despite race long pressure none came and the Irish driver had to settle for second.

Following race two Faulkner was particularly pleased with the consistency of his car which had allowed him to put so much pressure on Westbrook. "That's the most competitive we have ever been at Brands Hatch and I am very happy with that. The car had great pace and was the most consistent car out there which allowed me put so much pressure on the leader and this bodes well for the rest of the season. The weekend has been very positive and we can really look forward now to Mondello in two weeks time where I have previously won five out of seven Porsche races and should be really strong again."

The championship moves to Mondello Park on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd of April with Faulkner sitting third in the championship just seven points off leader Westbrook.