Two third places at Snetterton, Norfolk, in the latest rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB have given Donegal driver Damien Faulkner the break he has been fighting for at the head of the championship. Having entered this weekend with a slender seven point advantage the reigning champion's two podium's have increased his lead over Tim Harvey to a massive forty points as Harvey failed to finish either race.

Qualifying was disastrous for the SAS International driver as his team struggled to find a dry set up leaving him languishing in a very uncharacteristic sixth place. Things seemed to be looking up however as rain fell before the start of Saturday's race giving Faulkner some hope of overcoming his handling disadvantage and producing a strong result.

Faulkner was to turn out to be the star of the race but not before he had made things even more difficult by stalling on the grid and dropping to thirteenth place. With the bit firmly between his teeth the championship leader was already back in contention, in fifth place, by the start of lap four, but then endured another set back with a massive high speed spin at the end of the lap. The spin would have dropped him back down to eight place if not for a coming together between guest driver Robert Huff and Tim Harvey which put both drivers out and promoted Faulkner back to sixth.

Continuing his meteoric progress Faulkner was comfortably the fastest driver on the track lapping over a second quicker than the rest of the field for most of the race. By the closing stages the championship leader had worked his way up to third and wiped out a fifteen second deficit to the leaders, with some help from a pace car period. With a podium place ensured and Harvey out of the race the SAS sponsored driver was happy to back off and settle for the points for third place and the bonus point for fastest lap.

With Sunday's race taking place on a dry track Faulkner knew he would again struggle with his set up and while always comfortable in third he was unable to mount a serious challenge for a race win. Chief championship rival Harvey retired from the race with an electrical problem allowing the Irish driver to complete an un-eventful race in third place and increase his championship lead to forty points, easily the biggest margin he has held all season.

Speaking after race two Faulkner said, "As far as the championship is concerned this weekend has been very successful. We have a bit of a buffer now so we don't have to worry so much about Tim, which will mean a different approach is possible at Knockhill. I still have to keep one eye on the championship situation but we can now look a bit more towards taking the SAS Team Parker car back to the top step of the podium.

Saturday's race was brilliant. The conditions allowed me to do extraordinary things in a race where I should not have even been in the points. The stall at the start was a real disaster but it could have been worse as I was lucky to survive my off at Coram. I went so far off the track I though I was going to need a ticket to get back in. We were over a second faster than the rest of the field for most of the race and ended up with fastest lap by over half a second. With the team keeping me informed of Harvey's situation it was common sense, considering the conditions, not to push even harder to try and get the race win which I think otherwise would have been possible."

After running neck and neck with Harvey all season Faulkner finally has the break he was looking for and will head to rounds 15 and 16 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Knockhill on September 2nd & 3rd looking for an overdue return to the top step of the podium.