Sebastian Job (East Grinstead) and Luke Pennington (Bideford) have provisionally secured championship glory in the Pro and Am categories respectively, at the penultimate weekend of RAFA Racing Club Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB.

At a digital Donington Park, Graham Carroll (Edinburgh) took pole position for the weekend’s first race. The Scotsman maintained his lead into the first corner and built a comfortable gap during his charge to the chequered flag. With his championship challenge in mind, Job delivered a mature drive to finish fourth, netting himself a healthy number of points. In Am, Pennington took his ninth win of the season to further extend his category championship advantage.

Job started Round 14 from third on the grid but quickly assumed the race lead, driving untroubled to a sixth win of the season. The result sees the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing star provisionally crowned as the first Esports Carrera Cup GB triple champion (2021, 2023 and 2024). Pennington crossed the line ahead in Am but a post-race penalty relegated him to second behind Scott Moakes (Meppershall) – enough to make Pennington provisional Am champion with two races to spare.

Qualifying
Job looked in charge throughout the day’s earlier Practice session, however, Peter Berryman (Corby) seemed to have the measure of him in the first part of qualifying. Berryman and Job were separated by just 0.020 seconds around the 2.48-mile Donington Park Grand Prix circuit. A rare error from Job on his final run allowed Carroll to snatch pole position. Pennington underlined his speed to start ahead in Am once again.

Race one
Carroll made a clean getaway at the start of the weekend’s first race to lead the pack into Redgate, with Berryman second and William Chadwick (Wigan) in third. At the Fogarty Esses, several drivers received warnings for cutting the track, and this forced some to slow in order to avoid receiving automatic time penalties from the iRacing system. The order at the end of the opening lap was Carroll from Berryman and Chadwick. Pennington, Crofton Woodhatch (Bath) and Moakes were ahead in Am.

As Chadwick attacked Berryman for second, the latter was forced to drive defensively, slowing the progress of both drivers and allowing Carroll to build an early lead of around half a second. Keen to avoid any incidents that might harm his championship bid, Job was happy to watch the Chadwick and Berryman battle from a safe distance in fourth. However, Job’s championship rival, Luke McKeown (Brighton), was carving his way through from the final row of the grid – up seven places in the first 10-minutes of racing.

With 15 minutes of the race remaining Matt Emery (Nutfield) and Leo Gariboli (Hemel Hempstead) engaged in a close fight for tenth. Emery passed on the inside at the Melbourne Hairpin, and soon the advancing McKeown overtook Gariboli too. McKeown’s next target became Jacob Tofts (Hatfield Heath) – the pair ran side-by-side down the Craner Curves, and eventually McKeown got ahead. Gariboli would also pass Tofts at the Melbourne Hairpin.

Next, McKeown set after Emery and nosed ahead at Coppice, but Emery got back ahead on the Melbourne Loop. The dice continued onto the final lap – McKeown went to the outside at Goddards which gave him the inside line for Redgate, and there the move was finally complete. Emery came under immediate attack from Gariboli, and following contact the former slipped down the order.

At the flag, Carroll took his third win of the season, Berryman was second and Chadwick third. Pennington, Moakes and Dylan Platt (Bangor) created the Am category podium. McKeown rose a total of 12 places to finish ninth. Following the race, James Parker (Bristol) received a five-second time penalty for making contact with Oliver Ettridge (Nuneaton).

Race two
The grid for the second race was formed by reversing the top six finishing positions from race one. Gareth Higgins (Exeter) started from pole with Pennington alongside. Job and Chadwick created the second row with Berryman and Carroll on row three. Higgins got the perfect launch to lead into the first corner, while Job displaced Pennington to snatch second. Further into the opening lap, Job moved for the lead at the Melbourne Hairpin but Higgins fought back, taking the inside line at Goddards, only for Job to overtake at Redgate.

With Job now leading the race, attentions turned to Emery as he overtook returnee Alexander Davidson (Menstrie), completing a six-place gain from his starting position. Just behind came the fighting trio of Gariboli, Tofts and Chadwick – Tofts emerged ahead of both to retain ninth spot. Meanwhile, in an intense battle for fourth, Carroll and Berryman had contact. They were joined by McKeown who split the pair to leave Berryman trailing.

At the midpoint of the race, Pennington succumbed to Carroll and McKeown, and Berryman then began to attack the Am leader for fifth. Underlining his pace, Carroll passed Higgins for second, and McKeown followed him through to grab the final podium place. However, just as he had earlier in the race, Higgins returned fire, getting back ahead of McKeown at the last corner. However, on the following lap Higgins was forced to the outside at the Hairpin where he lost the position for good.

With five minutes remaining on the clock, Berryman had further contact, this time with Pennington. The Am leader fell back down the order as a result but importantly he retained his category lead. Berryman continued his race but he came under attack from Chadwick. This new battle would go down to the final corner of the last lap, where Berryman ultimately finished ahead of his rival in sixth.

Job crossed the line to be crowned provisional Pro category champion, while Carroll came home second with McKeown in third. Pennington took the Am category win on the road to become provisional Am champion, joined on the category podium by Moakes and Adam Cox (Woking). However, a number of post-race penalties would alter the final race order in both categories.

Following the race, five seconds was added to the race time of Graham Carroll for contact with Peter Berryman. Leo Gariboli had five seconds added to his accumulated penalty time (APT) for an incident with William Chadwick, and Luke Pennington suffered the same fate for an incident with Peter Berryman and Luke McKeown. For a different incident between Peter Berryman and Luke Pennington, five seconds was added to Berryman’s APT, and five seconds was also added to Pennington’s race time.

With penalties applied, the revised result for Round 14 saw the Pro category podium topped by Job, with McKeown now second and Higgins third. Moakes was promoted to Am category victory with Pennington relegated to second, while Cox retained third. Both Job and Pennington remain provisional category champions until after the completion of Round 16.

The final two races of the season take place on the longer Grand Prix circuit at Brands Hatch on 5 May. Keep up to date with RAFA Racing Club Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB news via the dedicated Instagram and Twitter feeds: @PorscheRaces_GB

Championship positions:

Pro

1st - Sebastian Job - 122
2nd - Luke McKeown - 92
3rd - Graham Carroll - 87

Am

1st - Luke Pennington - 139
2nd - Scott Moakes - 103
3rd - Crofton Woodhatch - 58