Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB visited a virtual Brands Hatch Indy circuit for rounds three and four of the 2022 championship on Sunday 27 February. Following an exciting season opener at Silverstone, which took place just seven days earlier, 24 of the top names in professional sim racing gathered together online for a 17-minute qualifying session followed by two 25-minute races broadcast live via the Porsche Twitch channel.

The four main protagonists from the Silverstone weekend headed a one-hour practice session with Kevin Ellis Jr setting the pace from Graham Carroll, Sebastian Job and Peter Berryman – just half a tenth of a second covering the four drivers. An equally close qualifying session saw Carroll emerge on top before he turned pole position into a lights-to-flag victory in round three, joined on the podium by Ellis Jr and Jack Sedgwick, and following a post-race penalty for Job.

The second race of the weekend was another very close affair, Ellis Jr raced to the front early on and held off Job to take his first victory of the season. The result means that four different drivers have won the first four races of 2022.

Qualifying
Finding a clear section of track to complete a hot lap of the short 1.198-mile Brands Hatch Indy circuit would provide qualifying's biggest challenge. Carroll found enough space to set a benchmark time of 44.419 in the first half of the session with Job, Ellis Jr and Berryman just behind at the top of the timesheet – 0.137 seconds initially covered the four racers.

Improvements in the final moments of the session saw Carroll break the 44.4 second barrier, his time of 44.375 enough to secure pole position and earn the championship point that accompanies it. Job would join him on the front row of the starting grid for round three with Berryman in third place and Ellis Jr fourth – all four were separated by just 0.087 seconds, further underlining the fine margins between them.

Race one
At the start of the weekend's first race Carroll maintained his lead into the first corner while Berryman made a move up the inside of Job. Further back there was drama involving Michael Weddell, resulting in his immediate retirement from the race at Paddock Hill Bend. When the cars reached Druids, Job and Berryman were still battling. Contact between the pair on the run down to Graham Hill Bend resulted in Berryman leaving the circuit before rejoining, the scrap giving Carroll the opportunity to pull clear. Job soon started to close the gap to Carroll ahead, setting the fastest lap of the race, as Ellis Jr kept in touch just behind.

Attentions now turned to an intensifying fight between Conan Wearn and Will Tregurtha for twelfth position, the pair swapping places twice before being joined by the chasing Lewis Goodway and Daniel McAuley. A recovering Berryman then joined in to make it a five car train, his most intense opposition was Goodway but his defence was finally broken when Berryman got ahead at Graham Hill.

Wearn was the next driver in Berryman's sights and when he made an error it allowed the round two winner to gain another spot, closing in on Tregurtha next. An initial attempt to pass Tregurtha at Druids was denied, but Berryman's second attack – which started at Clark Curve and finished at Paddock Hill Bend – saw him take twelfth place. Berryman now faced a big gap to his next target located approximately seven seconds further up the road.

With seven minutes of racing remaining, Job closed to within just three tenths of a second of leader Carroll – his G2 Esports Red Bull teammate. Ellis Jr remained third, 1.2-second behind the race leader, with Jack Sedgwick a further two seconds back in fourth. In the closing stages of the race the closest battle on track was for eighth place between Blair Mann, Josh Poulain and Matt Emery. Mann made a mistake as he attempted to hold off Poulain and Emery, that allowed Poulain to initially get ahead before his own mistake resulted in him dropping down the order and handing Emery the advantage.

At the flag the top three of Carroll, Job and Ellis Jr had closed up to within one second of each other, but Carroll had done enough to take his first win of the 2022 season. Job retained the fastest lap of the race and the point that it awards. William Chadwick crossed the line in sixth giving him pole position for the reverse grid to start race two. Berryman's impressive recovery drive saw him come home in twelfth position.

Following the race, for an incident at the start between Weddell, Derrick and Brown, 10 seconds was added to the race time of Derrick. For the incident between Job and Berryman at Graham Hill Bend on the opening lap, 10 seconds was added to the race time of Job. For an incident between Penn and Williams on lap two, 10 seconds was added to the race time of Penn.

As a result of Job's penalty he was relegated to a seventh place in round three, Ellis Jr was promoted to second and Jack Sedgwick to the final podium position.

Race two
The grid for the second race was determined by reversing the top six finishing positions from race one. Chadwick started on pole position with Josh Thompson alongside, Sedgwick and Ellis Jr formed the second row with Job and Carroll making up row three. When the lights went out Thompson made a good start to get alongside Chadwick at Paddock Hill. Sedgwick suffered wheel spin which immediately allowed Ellis Jr and Job through. By Graham Hill Bend, Thompson had completed his move for the lead while Chadwick fell backwards, making the early race order: Thompson from Ellis Jr, Job and Carroll.

Thompson soon came under increasing pressure from behind as he defended his lead on a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult. With 19 minutes remaining on the race clock, Ellis Jr set up a clever move at Clark Curve and made it stick by Paddock Hill Bend. Keen not to lose sight of his championship rival, Job followed him through almost immediately keeping him within just two tenths of a second of the new race leader and meaning Thompson was now relegated to third.

With 15 minutes of racing remaining, an intense fight for eighth place began which involved an out of position Berryman – he was still recovering from the incident in the first race which pitched him down the running order. As Berryman and Poulain diced for position there was contact between the pair resulting in Poulain dropping down to 20th before continuing his race. Berryman then set off after those ahead.

At the front of proceedings a mistake from Thompson finally allowed Carroll up to third at Graham Hill, while Job was still second and closing on leader Ellis Jr, although the latter seemingly had the race under his control. A determined Berryman closed up to the fight for sixth between pole-sitter Chadwick and Sedgwick – the trio running nose-to-tail as they piled pressure on one another in the closing laps of the race. Chadwick would retain his advantage at the line followed home by Berryman and Sedgwick in that order. However, in taking the chequered flag first, Ellis Jr became the fourth different winner from the first four races of the season, joined on the podium by Job and Carroll.

Following the race, for an incident between Derrick and Brown on lap four, 10 seconds was added to race time of Derrick. For the contact between Poulain and Berryman at Paddock Hill Bend on lap 13, 10 seconds was added to race time of Berryman. For an incident involving Wearn, McAuley and Goodway on lap 29, 10 seconds was added to race time of Goodway.

Rounds five and six of the championship take place on 13 March at a virtual Snetterton. Keep up to date with Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB news via the Porsche Motorsport GB Twitter feed: twitter.com/PorscheRacesGB

Championship positions:

1st - Kevin Ellis Jr - 86
2nd - Sebastian Job - 73
3rd - Graham Carroll - 71