Sebastian Job from East Grinstead in Surrey kick-started his bid for a record fourth Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB championship title by taking victory in the season opening race at Silverstone. The triple champion (2021, 2023 and 2024) started from pole position but was chased all the way to the virtual chequered flag in Round One. In the reverse grid race Luke McKeown from Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex drove ahead to rekindle his rivalry with Job from last season.

The opening weekend of the new season also saw an exciting battle for Am category glory. Aidan Walsingham from Bath in Somerset finished ahead of Christian Szaruta from London in the first race of the day. However, their positions were reversed in the second race with Szaruta taking Am victory. Porsche Carrera Cup GB’s Charles Rainford from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB’s Jacob Tofts from Harlow in Essex enjoyed their own battle, underlining the similarities between sim racing and the real world.

Job and McKeown return to winning ways in Pro

Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing’s Job was the early Pro category pacesetter in the 10 minute qualifying session on the iRacing platform. Job’s time of 54.539 was 0.060 seconds quicker than the best effort of William Chadwick from Wrightington in Wigan, forming the first 27 car grid of the new season. Job led at the start of the first 25 minute race with Chadwick slotting into second. Luke Pennington from Bideford in Devon initially held third, but McKeown snatched the position at Becketts.

In the early stages of the race McKeown forced Chadwick to drive defensively but the pair still kept leader Job in sight – just half a second covered the top three. New for 2025 is the reversal of the top eight finishing positions from Race One to establish the grid for Race Two – up from six places in previous seasons. An important fight for eighth soon developed with former Am category racer Leo Gariboli from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire maintaining the strategic position.

McKeown closed on Chadwick again towards the end of the race, however he could not find a route through, Job, McKeown and Chadwick created the first Porsche podium of 2025, former race winner Peter Berryman from Corby in Northamptonshire grabbed fourth spot on the finish line. The top eight finishers from Race One were reversed for Race Two, with Gariboli starting from pole position.

Gariboli led at the start of Round Two, but attentions quickly turned to former Porsche Esports Sprint Challenge GB champion, Matt J Caruana from Reading in Berkshire. Caruana drove from row two on the grid to take second at Becketts on the opening lap, but as he looked to advance to the overall race lead he came under attack from David Williams from Leicester in Leicestershire. Following contact, Williams was delayed while Caruana continued in second, Gareth Higgins advanced to third.

With five minutes of the race complete, McKeown ran side by side with Berryman for fourth, eventually taking the place from his Apex Sim Racing teammate. As Chadwick mounted a challenge on Berryman for fifth, McKeown overtook Higgins for third, and shortly afterwards he got inside of Caruana at Copse to take second. With eight minutes of racing to go, McKeown completed his charge by passing Gariboli for the lead at Luffield. Caruana tried to chase him through but following a close fight Gariboli retained second place.

In the final few minutes of racing Chadwick and Caruana made contact, Chadwick went off while Caruana was slowed, this allowed an opportunistic Job to adopt the final Pro category podium spot. On the penultimate lap real world racers Rainford and Tofts finalised a close battle, Rainford got ahead at Brooklands with a dive to the inside line. At the flag McKeown took victory with Gariboli second and Job third.

Szaruta and Walsingham top Am category battle

Szaruta qualified as the highest placed Am for Round One and would start the race from the fifth row on the grid. Tom Stevens from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire was the next best challenger on the seventh row, Walsingham started two places further back. The category order remained static at the start of the weekend’s first race, but by the midpoint the top two Am racers found themselves fighting over the same piece of simulated Silverstone circuit.

When Walsingham attacked Szaruta at Becketts it allowed Pro category racers Eric Grove from Birmingham and Alexander Davidson from Menstrie in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, to gain places overall. Walsingham emerged ahead of Szaruta as a result of the scrap, despite his best efforts Szaruta could not recover the position. Walsingham took Am category victory with Szaruta in second and Stevens in third.

Walsingham led Szaruta from Stevens at the start of Round Two, but within the first five minutes Szaruta was ahead. With 10 minutes of the race remaining the Am trio found themselves driving line astern in their battle for category glory, and thirteenth overall, but ultimately there would be no changes of position. Szaruta crossed the line to win in Am, Walsingham was second with Stevens finishing in third.

Following the weekend, for an incident between William Chadwick and Luke McKeown in qualifying, five seconds was added to the Accumulated Penalty Time (APT) of McKeown. The same penalty was applied to Alexander Davidson for an incident with Charles Rainford. An incident between Peter Berryman and Luke Pennington in Race One saw two seconds added to the race time of Berryman, the same penalty was applied to Scott Moakes for an incident with Daniel Cofield.

An incident between Caruana and David Williams in Race Two saw two seconds added to the race time of Caruana. An incident between Caruana and Chadwick saw a further 10 seconds added to the race time of Caruana. Finally, Jacob Tofts saw five seconds added to his race time following an incident with Isaac Price.

Rounds three and four of the championship take place on 26 January on Snetterton’s longer 300 layout. Keep up to date with RAFA Racing Club Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB news via the dedicated Instagram feed – @PorscheRaces_GB – and the Porsche Motorsport Hub: https://racing.porsche.com

Championship positions:

Pro

1st - Sebastian Job - 20

2nd - Luke McKeown - 18

3rd - Gareth Higgins - 11

Am

1st - Christian Szaruta - 20

2nd - Aidan Walsingham - 18

3rd - Tom Stevens - 12