Thruxton makes dramatic Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB debut with two new winners.
Reading, Great Britain. Peter Berryman from Corby in Northamptonshire and Leo Gariboli from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire roared ahead as the UK’s fastest circuit – Thruxton – made its Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB debut. The 2.4 mile Hampshire venue is familiar to the championship’s real-world counterpart, Porsche Carrera Cup GB, with drivers reaching speeds of 160 mph. Berryman took his first win of the season in Round Five, Gariboli enjoyed a maiden overall victory in Round Six.
The Thruxton races were punctuated by dramatic incidents in both categories. Tom Stevens from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, and Aidan Walsingham from Bath in Somerset emerged ahead in the Amateur battle. Porsche Carrera Cup GB’s Charles Rainford from Tunbridge Wells in Kent put his real-world driving experience to the test starting from reverse grid pole position in Round Six. Meanwhile two podium results helped Sebastian Job from East Grinstead in Surrey to further extend his championship advantage.
Berryman and Gariboli are new winners in Pro Berryman was the driver to beat in qualifying, his time of 1:08.856 would see him start the first race at Thruxton ahead of Gariboli, with Alexander Davidson in third and Job in fourth. Berryman got a good start to lead into the first corner, Gariboli maintained second as Job moved up to third. As the pack navigated the Club chicane for the first time several cars made contact, this mixed up the order and led to a handful of retirements.
As the leaders continued unaffected, Berryman was able to control the race from the front and gradually pull clear. Fresh from Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup victory the day before, Job put Gariboli under pressure. With 10 minutes of racing remaining, Job got a good run out of Allard and overtook Gariboli at the Campbell, Cobb and Seagrave complex. However, the dice for second delayed Job allowing Berryman to extend his lead to an unassailable 1.5 seconds.
Berryman completed an impressive lights-to-flag victory – his first win of 2025, with Job taking the flag in second and Gariboli in third. Rainford would cross the finish line in eighth, with the top eight finishers from Race One reversed for Race Two, the real-world race winner would start from reverse grid pole position alongside Matt Caruana from Reading in Berkshire.
Rainford was slow away at the start of Round Six and quickly suffered a spin ending his hopes of victory. Luke McKeown from Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex emerged ahead of the field out of Noble, he was followed by Chadwick and Davidson, but in a repeat of the first race there were dramatic incidents with contact for several drivers on the opening lap. As the race continued Chadwick got alongside McKeown at the start of the second lap but the order would remain the same.
Job attacked Davidson for third and fourth, but the Oracle Red Bull Sim Racing driver came away empty handed, instead Gariboli moved up to third with Davidson now in fourth. With 15 minutes remaining Gariboli attacked Chadwick for second, in turn Chadwick attempted to pass leader McKeown but at the chicane there was contact between them, this allowed an opportunistic Gariboli to snatch the overall race lead. Davidson was now in second with Job running third and fighting McKeown – Job would cement third place a lap later.
With six minutes to go McKeown now found himself under attack from Chadwick and Berryman, the latter got ahead but there was more drama when Chadwick and McKeown touched on the approach to the first corner. Chadwick was sent into the side of an innocent Caruana, he subsequently struck the barriers while McKeown continued in fifth and Chadwick made his retirement. With just two laps to go Job overtook Davidson for second but he would soon slip back behind.
Gariboli crossed the line to take a maiden overall victory, his first Pro category win since stepping up from Am category championship glory in 2023. Davidson finished the race in second with Job completing the virtual podium in third, enough to see his championship advantage extended at the top of the table.
Stevens and Walsingham shine in Am category battle Aidan Walsingham from Bath in Somerset started ahead of his Am category rivals in Round Five, however an incident at the Club chicane on the opening lap resulted in his retirement. With the race order upset Scott Moakes from Meppershall in Bedfordshire found himself leading the Am battle from Jakub Urbanczyk from London – up from last place on the grid. Urbanczyk soon engaged Moakes with the former taking the category lead at Club. Am leader Urbanczyk came under fire from Stevens who snatched the category lead. Urbanczyk was then involved in another tense scrap with Guy R Edwards from Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey and Moakes, Urbanczyk initially lost ground but he eventually found a route back ahead. At the flag Stevens was the season’s fourth different winner in Am, Urbanczyk finished second with Edwards in third but following post race penalties the final order would be Stevens from Edwards and Sam Fitzpatrick from Corby in Northamptonshire.
The second race of the Thruxton weekend saw several incidents on the opening lap. Edwards picked his way through the melee to lead in Am, Adam Cox was in second with Christian Szaruta from London running third. Szaruta soon diced with Cox for second but the latter would keep the position, Walsingham was up to third having started on the penultimate row of the grid.
By the midpoint of the race Walsingham – still recovering from his Race One retirement – was up to second with Cox relegated to third. Before the flag fell Walsingham completed his mission, taking an impressive Am category victory after gaining a total of fifteen places. Walsingham was followed home by Edwards and Cox, with his result the winner assumed the Am category championship lead from Szaruta and is now tied on points with Edwards.
Following the weekend an incident between Oliver Ettridge and Sam Fitzpatrick on the opening lap of the first race saw five seconds added to the race time of Fitzpatrick. Jakub Urbanczyk was given a 10 second penalty for an incident with Gareth Higgins on the same lap. Jacob Tofts was handed a two second penalty for an incident with Luke Pennington, Jakub Urbanczyk received the same reprimand for an incident with Scott Moakes on lap seven.
For making contact with Adam Cox on lap eight Scott Moakes was given a 10 second penalty. Five seconds was added to the race time of Adam Cox for impeding Luke Pennington. In addition, an incident between Jacob Tofts and Oliver Ettridge resulted in 10 seconds being added to the race time of Tofts. And a two second penalty was handed to Luke Pennington for an incident with Christian Szaruta.
Luke McKeown saw 10 seconds added to his race two time for an incident with Matt Caruana, the same penalty was applied to Charles Rainford for contact with Oliver Ettridge. Daniel Cofield received a five second penalty for an incident with Tom Stevens, and finally 10 seconds was added to the race two time of William Chadwick for an incident with Matt Caruana. Jacob Tofts has now accumulated a total of 32 seconds of Accumulated Penalty Time (APT) and will not be permitted to participate in the next qualifying session of the season.
Rounds seven and eight of the championship take place on 23 February on Oulton Park’s Island circuit. Keep up to date with RAFA Racing Club Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB news via the dedicated Instagram and X feeds – @PorscheRaces_GB.
Championship positions:
Pro 1st - Sebastian Job - 55 2nd - Luke McKeown - 39 3rd - Leo Gariboli - 37
Am 1st - Aidan Walsingham - 40 2nd - Guy R Edwards - 40 3rd - Christian Szaruta - 39
