Sebastian Hopkins (Team Parker Racing) has won the opening race of 2024 on his Porsche Sprint Challenge GB championship debut. Max Coates (Team Omologato with Graves Motorsport) took the second race at Snetterton. Hopkins, a new star in the making, returned to the top step of the overall podium for the weekend’s final encounter.

The new season welcomed the arrival of an all-new car. Driving the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport were a roster of racers in the RS Pro and RS Am categories. Competing alongside, entrants driving the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport were split into CS Pro and CS Am categories.

Reece Somerfield (Breakell Racing) and Matthew Kyle-Henney (Clean Racing) were two different winners in the RS Am category. Meanwhile, Oskar Dix (Team Parker Racing) secured a trio of CS Pro category wins. Newcomers Darelle Wilson (AALCO with JWB Motorsport), Karim Sekkat (Breakell Racing), and Paul Porter (Team Parker Racing) took to the winner’s rostrum in CS Am.

Qualifying
Following dry running in Friday’s practice session, Saturday’s 30-minute qualifying session saw wet conditions. Hopkins set the pace early on – he bettered his initial offering with a lap time of 2:05.370, enough to take the first pole position of the season. His second fastest time also secured pole for the season’s second race.

Kyle-Henney would start the weekend’s first two races ahead in RS Am. Underlining his speed and consistency, newcomer Dix was the top CS Pro driver. Meanwhile, Jonathan Beeson (Graves Motorsport) would lead his CS Am category rivals in both the weekend’s first and second encounters.

Race one
The first race of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon in dry conditions, but with damp patches. When the lights went out, Coates made the best start, accelerating into the lead before the first corner. Hopkins was relegated to second. Toby Trice (Clean Racing) also made a good getaway, moving up from sixth on the grid to third. Further back, an incident between Ben Mulryan (Race Car Consultants) and Samuel Harvey (Xentek Motorsport) led to their retirements. Mulryan’s stricken car scrambled the Safety Car.

At the restart, less than 10 minutes remained on the clock. Hopkins put pressure on leader, Coates, while Trice was chased by Ethan Hammerton (Team Omologato with Graves Motorsport), Thomas Bradshaw (Toro Verde GT) and Will Jenkins (Team Parker Racing). Bal Sidhu (Xentek Motorsport) provided action with an overtake on RS Am rival, Jakob Tofts (Graves Motorsport). In their CS Am category fight, Sekkat slipped back behind Beeson and Wilson. On lap seven, Somerfield passed Edward Stanton (Toro Verde GT) for the lead in RS Am.

Attentions turned to the overall race lead when Hopkins found a way by Coates to take the lead. Just behind, Trice slipped back to fifth, losing places to Hammerton and Jenkins. Meanwhile, in the RS Am category, Somerfield maintained his category advantage. Dix led CS Pro, and Wilson got ahead in CS Am. In the closing stages of the race, Bradshaw snatched fifth putting Trice back to sixth.

At the flag, Hopkins enjoyed a maiden win, taking victory on his championship debut. Coates was second, with Hammerton coming home in third place. Somerfield, Stanton and Kyle-Henney formed the RS Am category podium. Dix and Barbie Sports Ambassador, Caitlin Wood (Clean Racing), created the CS Pro category podium. Wilson, Beeson and Sekkat stood on the CS Am rostrum.

Race two
The weekend’s second race took place in damp and slippery conditions on Sunday morning. Coates made his second good start of the weekend, pulling ahead of pole-sitter, Hopkins, to lead. Jenkins also made a good start, moving into second, with Bradshaw pushed back to third and Hopkins now relegated to fourth. Somerfield adopted the lead in RS Am, ahead of Kyle-Henney. Meanwhile, Dix was leading in CS Pro, and Sekkat moved up to head CS Am.

On the second lap, Hopkins, Jenkins and Bradshaw engaged in a close battle. Bradshaw went wide in his fight with Hopkins, and the latter grabbed second, with Jenkins now pushed back to third. While the order remained unchanged in the RS Am category, Dix led Wood and Harvey in CS Pro. Sekkat was now ahead of Beeson in CS Am, with Wilson slipping back. In their continuing fight, Jenkins overtook Hopkins for second when the latter ran wide, meanwhile, Coates further extended his lead – it now stretched to 4.5 seconds.

With nine minutes of racing remaining, Hopkins began to put Jenkins under increasing pressure. In RS Am, a dice between leader Kyle-Henney and Somerfield also developed. Hopkins got a good exit from Murrays to run side-by-side with Jenkins along the Senna Straight. Hopkins committed to the outside line for Riches, and he clinched second spot through the corner. Shortly afterwards, Kyle-Henney replicated the move, using the same wider racing line through Riches, to pass Somerfield for the lead of RS Am.

In the final few laps, Bradshaw overtook Robert Cronin (Parker Classic Works) for fourth at the Brundle and Nelson complex. Coates took the chequered flag to record the second win of his Porsche racing career, Hopkins finished second, with Jenkins third. Kyle-Henney topped the RS Am category podium, Somerfield was second in the category, with Stanton in third. Dix, Wood and Harvey were the top three in CS Pro. Sekkat, Beeson and Wilson formed the CS Am podium.

Race three
The final race of the weekend took place in tricky, wet, conditions. Hopkins made a clean start to snatch the lead into the first corner. Pole-sitter Coates was relegated to third when Jenkins got ahead for second at turn one. Beeson and Wilson made contact at Riches resulting in Beeson’s retirement, but Wilson continued his race. On the run towards turn two, Jenkins challenged Hopkins for first, and he briefly got ahead until Hopkins retook the lead. Coates then passed Jenkins for second.

At the end of the opening lap, Kyle-Henney led Somerfield from Stanton in the fight for RS Am glory. Dix was ahead once more in CS Pro, while Sekkat had the advantage in CS Am. However, Kyle-Henney soon slipped back – he lost out to Somerfield and Stanton before falling into the grasp of Tofts. As rain began to fall heavily, a battle developed between Oliver Cottam (Xentek Motorsport), Tofts, Oliver Meadows (Parker Classic Works) and Kyle-Henney. The quartet swapped positions, with Meadows emerging at the front.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, the rain further intensified. Coates closed on leader, Hopkins. Meanwhile, Cronin and Hammerton engaged in a dice for sixth overall, with Cronin gaining the advantage. In the final five minutes of the race, Somerfield and Meadows fought. Meadows got an overlap at Brundle but missed the corner and slid across the grass before rejoining ahead of his rival and maintaining the RS Am category lead.

At the flag, Hopkins took his second win of the weekend to cement an impressive championship debut. Coates crossed the finish line in second place with Jenkins third. Meadows, Somerfield and Tofts formed the RS Am podium. Dix won again in CS Pro, he was joined in his podium celebrations by Harvey and Wood. In only his third ever race, novice, Porter, took CS Am glory ahead of Sekkat and Wilson.

Following the race, Meadows was given a time penalty of one second for gaining an advantage. This reversed the finishing positions of the top two in RS Am, handing Somerfield category victory in the revised results. The next stop for the championship is Oulton Park in Cheshire on the weekend of 22-23 June. Follow the latest Porsche Sprint Challenge GB news directly from Porsche Motorsport via Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) – @PorscheRaces_GB – where users can share experiences via the hashtags #SprintChallengeGB.

Championship positions*

RS Pro:
Sebastian Hopkins - Team Parker Racing - 31
Max Coates - Team Omologato with Graves Motorsport - 27
Will Jenkins - Team Parker Racing - 17

RS Am:
Reece Somerfield - Breakell Racing - 29
Matthew Kyle-Henney - Clean Racing - 23
Edward Stanton - Toro Verde GT - 18

CS Pro:
Oskar Dix - Team Parker Racing - 33
Caitlin Wood - Clean Racing - 22
Samuel Harvey - Xentek Motorsport - 15

CS Am:
Karim Sekkat - Breakell Racing - 26
Darelle Wilson - AALCO with JWB Motorsport - 23
Paul Porter - Team Parker Racing - 20