The 2022 season has proved to be a big step forward for Adam Smalley, as he not only became the Porsche GB Junior Driver, but also joined Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline in its iconic liveried 992-style 911 GT3 Cup car.

With the halfway point of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB season approaching, Adam has enjoyed success, taking victory at Donington Park in the opening race of the season and following up with three straight podium finishes at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park. Those performances leave the Lancastrian a solid third in the championship standings, just four points off top spot, with ten races still to run.

In addition, he has also represented Porsche GB at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, literally flying past Lord March's house, and made his debut in the Porsche Supercup in front of 142,000 fans at the British Grand Prix. In his own words, here is how his season has gone so far...

Adam Smalley

“It's been a crazy few months. Since winning the Porsche Junior shootout things have gone very well. We're three rounds into the championship and we're third in the standings. Going back to November, winning the Porsche Junior shootout was a dream come true and, since then, I've chosen to race with Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline in the Carrera Cup GB, and it's been great so far.

“We put a good pre-season programme together, with quite a few test days. Donington Park opened the season, so it was the first time we could see where we were against our rivals, and we qualified third and won the opening race. That was a dream come true and since then, we qualified second at Brands Hatch, and third at Oulton Park, with further podiums, so it has all gone well.

“There's lots of competition this year, with several national champions in the series, so it's very tough. We're happy with third and I've learnt quite a lot so far. We've had some very strong races, I'm learning every time I get in the car, so I am confident for Knockhill.

“I recently had my first race in the Porsche Supercup at Silverstone which was fantastic and prior to that weekend, we were at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, so it's not been much of a summer break, but it's been incredible.

“Goodwood was an amazing experience, with a very memorable last run up the hill which has gone viral on social media, and a lot of people are still talking about it. Part of the Junior programme is that you get to do cool events like that, turning up, driving the car for three days up the hill, and mixing with people that you would never normally think.

“I've never been to Goodwood before, and I was in the assembly area with the Porsche factory drivers, along with Jenson Button and Travis Pastrana, so it's a wide variety of people that normally wouldn't be in the same place. I've never been somewhere like that before and I don't think there's anywhere else where that will happen really. Working with the Porsche guys and being in a relaxed environment where you've not got the pressure of the whole race weekend around you was quite refreshing.

“It's very different to a race weekend, it's not like you're going to go there and do some laps on the on the Wednesday test, then the practices and qualifying. You do so many laps in circuit racing, but with the hillclimb, the thing that I found was different was that's it. We only got a few runs up the hill; two on Friday, two on Saturday, then two on Sunday. You don't get any chance to test and there's not much room for error. I knew I needed to put on a good performance so gave it my all and I've got a huge reaction from it. Seeing a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car going fully airborne was quite cool, so I didn't leave anything on the table.

“The Porsche Supercup round was good, we had zero testing that weekend and no expectations, but came out with a strong result in the end. I have to say a big thank you to all the sponsors and Chris Hodgen who made it happen, because it was it was quite a tight turnaround. We hadn't done any of the testing: there was a two-day official test a few weeks previously, so I was going into practice not sure which gears I needed and where the braking points were.

“Last time I raced on the Silverstone GP circuit was in Ginetta GT5 in 2019. There was a lot for me to learn in a very short space of time, but I thought we got on top of it quite quickly. Qualifying didn't go our way with the weather conditions, which was out of our control. We made some good progress and to finish 12th doesn't sound like the strongest result but, considering the circumstances for us, it was good.

“The race was fantastic, I made very good progress on lap one and managed to maintain that position throughout the race. I set my fastest time during the last few laps of the race, which shouldn't really happen, but it was just because I was learning and becoming more familiar with the circuit in my car. Competing on an F1 weekend was very special and was a wholly different atmosphere from the TOCA package. We threw ourselves into the deep end against arguably the best Porsche drivers there are in the world, just to see how we'd end up and we put on a strong performance, I learnt a lot over the course of a weekend, which I can use to aid my Carrera Cup GB campaign."