Porsche Motorsport GB has revealed its plans for the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season, at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone. Drivers, teams, sponsors and guests gathered during the penultimate weekend of the 2023 season to gain an insight into the year ahead. The fastest single-marque GT racing championship in the UK is set to continue its successful format, which has proven to consistently generate packed grids, and close, exciting racing in all three categories – Pro, Pro-Am and Am.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB enters its 22nd season in 2024, its third with the 510 hp ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup. Launched in 2021, the latest generation of racing 911 is used in 11 Porsche one-make championships globally, and Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. The championship will also continue to play a pivotal role in fostering young racing talent, in particular with the arrival of a new Junior driver for 2024 / 2025 – set to be announced at November’s Porsche Night of Motorsport.

Since its inception in 2003, Porsche Carrera Cup GB has continued to occupy its traditional position as part of the TOCA package, racing in support of the British Touring Car Championship, with live terrestrial television coverage on ITV. The combination of a busy paddock, packed grandstands, and live broadcast TV delivers the most attractive proposition in British motorsport.

The season commences in April at Donington Park, and in total comprises 16 races across eight weekends. It stops at some of the most challenging circuits in the UK, including Thruxton in Hampshire and Knockhill in Scotland, before culminating with its traditional finale at Brands Hatch in October.

Provisional 2024 calendar:

27 / 28 April Donington Park (National) Rounds 1 & 2

11 / 12 May Brands Hatch (Indy) Rounds 3 & 4

8 / 9 June Thruxton Rounds 5 & 6

27 / 28 July Croft Rounds 7 & 8

10 / 11 August Knockhill Rounds 9 & 10

24 / 25 August Donington Park (GP) Rounds 11 & 12

21 / 22 September Silverstone (National) Rounds 13 & 14

5 / 6 October Brands Hatch (GP) Rounds 15 & 16

2024 regulations

Consistent rules and regulations have kept Porsche Carrera Cup GB a clean and fair championship, while also ensuring a high level of familiarity for drivers and teams.

As introduced in 2018, reverse grids for the second race of each weekend remain for the 2024 season. Following the first race, a number between four and six is selected at random, and this number determines whether the first four, five or six drivers across the line for the first race will have their grid positions reversed for the second. All other competitors will form on the race two grid according to their finishing position in race one. As introduced in 2019, should a competitor fail to finish in race one, they will take up a grid position for race two immediately behind the last finisher in their category from race one. Both races continue to feature a standing start.

The points structure also remains unchanged across all three categories. As before, to reward qualifying performance, there is a weighting for Pro category drivers in the first race. This partially offsets any penalty for a reverse grid placing in the weekend’s second encounter. The fastest qualifiers in each category receive two championship points, and one championship point remains goes to the driver who posts the fastest race lap in each category. The Teams and Rookie championships will be calculated on the same overall points basis as in 2023.

Continuing another popular incentive, champions in all three categories – Pro, Pro-Am, Am – and Teams champions, continue to receive the use of a Porsche road car for one year. Adding further to the championship’s unparalleled prize package, the driver with the highest number of fastest laps in each category (Pro, Pro-Am, Am and Rookie) at the end of the season will receive a TAG Heuer chronograph watch.

The number of Porsche exclusive tests has increased from four in 2022 to seven in 2024. Porsche test days provide the opportunity to run strictly in the company of 911 GT3 Cup cars, ensuring that the slower vehicles typically found on a general test day to do not hamper driver progress. This allows drivers to fully exploit the speed of their cars, finessing their skill in an environment fully supported by Porsche. Two pre-season tests will be joined by five in-season tests taking place at circuits that feature on the 2024 calendar. Entry costs are included in the 2024 championship registration fee.

Drivers nominate their category – Pro, Pro-Am, or Am – before the season starts, ensuring that they’ll enjoy close racing regardless of the stage of their career or experience level. In a continuation from 2023, competitors are permitted to register a formal protest of a driver's category up to round seven of the season. In the event of a protest, a panel of Porsche experts will review the available evidence, with the power to re-categorise drivers should it be deemed necessary.

While a change to a driver's category does not affect the championship or entrant points they have already earned, the driver does have their existing category points revised. The new summary reflects the number of points they would have earned in the new category had they been competing in it from the beginning of the season.

Incentives package

Porsche wishes to attract brightest rising stars in British motorsport, so it provides an unrivalled incentives package designed to do just that. As introduced in 2022, the overall 2023 champions in selected high-profile British championships will qualify for a half-price championship entry fee for Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

Qualifying championships are:

Porsche Sprint Challenge GB - Pro and Am category champion
British GT - GT3 and GT4 overall champion
FIA British Formula 4 - Overall champion
Ginetta GT Championship - GTP Class Pro champion
Ginetta Junior Championship - Overall champion
MINI Challenge Championship - JCW class champion
Porsche Club GB Championship - Class 1 champion

For any drivers interested in competing in the championship there will be an opportunity to test the GT3 Cup and to learn more about the championship at the annual Taster Day at Silverstone in November. Drivers who complete a season entry form alongside paying the relevant championship entry fees before December qualify for the maximum early registration reward, up to the value of £4,000.

Porsche GB 2024 / 2025 Junior:

The 2024 season welcomes the arrival of a new Porsche Carrera Cup GB Junior for the next two seasons. The Junior programme offers one of the most coveted prizes in British motorsport, contributing a massive £85,000 per year towards the racing budget of the recipient. It is designed to nurture young racing talent, fostering the entry of promising young drivers into the Porsche Motorsport pyramid.

Following the footsteps of former successful candidates, including Harry King (2020 / 2021), Dan Harper (2018 / 2019), and Adam Smalley (2022 / 2023) – the latter of whom arrives at the Silverstone weekend primed to secure title glory in his second year of Porsche racing – the new Junior will gain the opportunity to supercharge their professional racing career.

Porsche Young Driver Development Programme

Running alongside the Junior programme, the Porsche Young Driver Development Programme offers Rookie drivers the opportunity to benefit from elements of the Porsche GB Junior programme. Eligible drivers compete for an end of season prize pot of more than £35,000, including a TAG Heuer chronograph watch for the driver with the highest number of fastest laps. They also gain invaluable training throughout the course of the season.

Qualifying drivers will receive engineering support from the Porsche Carrera Cup GB technical team, media training and a ‘Tyre Masterclass’ delivered by Michelin. In addition, they receive three free sets of Michelin slick racing tyres, exclusive Porsche branded clothing, access to Porsche Human Performance experts at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone, and the opportunity to represent Porsche at selected events.

Safety enhancements

Driver safety is always a priority for Porsche and, as part of this, the in-car flag signalling system adopted by Carrera Cup GB in 2022 continues for 2024. This electronic system is integrated into the vehicle's dashboard display, alerting drivers to safety flags and the deployment of the Safety Car, providing a direct visual link between Race Control and the driver.

‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup:

The 2024 season uses the ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup, introduced to Porsche Carrera Cup GB in 2022. Porsche has built more than 5000 Cup cars to date and this latest iteration is powered by a 4.0-litre six-cylinder boxer engine producing 510 hp and 470 Nm torque. The GT3 Cup engine is a sealed unit with a run time of 100 hours. The Cup features a six-speed sequential gearbox and uses an electronic actuator for faster, seamless gear shifts – this results in a total gearbox run time of 120 hours with inspection services required at 30, 60 and 90 hours.

Double-wishbone suspension on the front axle is one of the chassis highlights, while the rear uses a traditional multi-link design. Testing driver skill, braking is provided by a non-ABS Brembo system with six-piston calipers at the front and four-piston calipers at the rear. The exterior makes extensive use of aerodynamics, delivering high levels of downforce, in part due to an aggressive carbon fibre rear wing with ’swan neck’ mounts, familiar from the 911 RSR. The wheels – 12 x 18’’ front and 13 x 18’’ rear – are shod with Michelin N3R slick racing tyres, developed by tyre partner Michelin exclusively for the latest GT3 Cup.

Drivers continue to benefit from a 10.3’’ full-colour TFT dashboard display, backlit digital touch panel and a multifunction quick-release carbon fibre steering wheel with illuminated buttons. All ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup cars arrive from the Porsche factory finished in a base colour of GT Silver Metallic.

The ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup is priced at £177,900 plus VAT and delivery. Orders can be placed from 1 November through Porsche Motorsport GB and in conjunction with a championship registration fee. A comprehensive mandatory spares package is priced at £7,750.