Porsche Motorsport GB today unveiled its 2022 plans at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone in advance of the final part of the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season. Teams, guests and sponsors were presented a mix of established ideas and exciting new initiatives designed to continue the focus on ensuring strong grids and close, exciting, racing for the season ahead – encompassing both Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB.
Porsche Carrera Cup GB, the fastest single marque GT racing championship in the UK, enters its milestone 20th season in 2022 and welcomes the arrival of the new 510 hp ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup and a new – yet to be announced – Porsche GB Junior driver for 2022 / 2023. Porsche Sprint Challenge GB enters its third season and continues to establish itself on the national scene, showcasing an important level in the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid with the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
All-new incentives package
Both championships combined will continue to offer a prize pot valued at over £500,000, the largest in British motorsport, but for 2022 Porsche Motorsport GB will add an innovative new incentive. Designed to continue the tradition of attracting the best talent, the overall 2021 champions in selected high-profile British championships will qualify for a half-price championship entry fee for Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB 2022.
Qualifying championships are:
British GT – GT3 and GT4 overall champion
FIA British Formula 4 – Overall champion
Ginetta GT4 Supercup – Pro class champion
Ginetta Junior Championship – Overall champion
MINI Challenge Championship – JCW class champion
Porsche Club GB Championship – Class 1 champion
Safety enhancements
Driver safety is always a priority for Porsche and new for 2022 is an in-car flag signalling system that will be adopted by both championships. 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.
Porsche Carrera Cup GB
One of 30 one-make championships globally, Porsche Carrera Cup GB continues to occupy its traditional position as part of the TOCA package – running in support of the British Touring Car Championship as it has since its inaugural season in 2003.
The championship gets under way at Donington Park in April and concludes at Brands Hatch in October with a full season of racing taking place across 16 rounds and eight weekends – including a return to Thruxton (the fastest circuit in the UK) for the first time since 2020.
2022 calendar:
23 / 24 April – Donington Park – Rounds 1&2
14 / 15 May – Brands Hatch (Indy) – Rounds 3&4
11 / 12 June – Oulton Park – Rounds 5&6
30 / 31 July – Knockhill – Rounds 7&8
13 / 14 August – Snetterton – Rounds 9&10
27 / 28 August – Thruxton – Rounds 11&12
24 / 25 September – Silverstone (National) – Rounds 13&14
8 / 9 October – Brands Hatch (GP) – Rounds 15&16
‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup:
The 2022 season will welcome the arrival of the ‘Type 992’ 911 GT3 Cup to Porsche Carrera Cup GB. Porsche has built over 4,200 Cup cars to date, this latest iteration following in the tyre tracks of its successful ‘Type 991’ predecessor while offering developments across the board. Powered by an evolved 4.0-litre six-cylinder boxer engine producing 510 hp and 470 Nm torque, the new GT3 Cup engine is a sealed unit with a run time of 100 hours.
The new Cup car features a six-speed sequential gearbox which, for the first time, uses a paddleshift with an electronic actuator for faster, seamless gear shifts – this also increases gearbox run time to 120 hours which reduces operator running costs.
Chassis highlights include – for the first time on a Cup car – double wishbone suspension on the front axle, while the rear uses a traditional multi-link design. Braking is provided by a non-ABS Brembo system with six-piston calipers front and four-piston calipers rear.
Exterior highlights include increased use of aerodynamics delivering higher levels of downforce, visually apparent through a widened front bumper with integrated splitter and a carbon-fibre rear wing with ’swan neck’ mounts familiar from the 911 RSR. A central air intake features on the bonnet for driver cooling while the carbon-fibre engine cover is removable. The wheels increase in size at both front and rear axles – 12 x 18’’ front (an increase of 1.5’’) and 13 x 18’’ rear (an increase of 1.0’’). Bespoke tyres – Michelin N3R slicks – have been developed by tyre partner Michelin exclusively for the new GT3 Cup.
Inside, drivers benefit from a 10.3’’ full-colour TFT dash display, ergonomic 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.
Closed fuel handling system:
New for 2022 is the mandatory use of a closed fuel handling system. This method of handling and transferring fuel is safer and more efficient than direct filling. Porsche Motorsport GB has developed an easily maneuverable trolley system with an integrated digital flow meter to ensure filling accuracy.
2022 regulations:
Introduced for the 2018 season, reverse grids for the second race of each weekend are a feature that remains for 2022. Following the first race, a number between four and six is selected at random. 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.
Also remaining consistent is the points structure, unchanged across all three categories, with a weighting for Pro category drivers in the first race which rewards qualifying performance and partially offsets any penalty for a reverse grid placing in the second. The fastest qualifiers in each category continue to be awarded two championship points and one championship point remains on offer to the driver who posts the fastest race lap in each category. An overall points table calculated on the same basis as in 2021 will determine the Teams and Rookie championships.
Category champions in all three categories – Pro, Pro-Am, Am – and Teams champions continue to receive the use of a Porsche for one year. Drivers 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.
Porsche GB 2022 / 2023 Junior:
The search for the Porsche GB 2022 / 2023 Junior enters its final stages with the finalist announced at the annual Porsche Motorsport awards night in November. The Porsche Carrera Cup GB Junior programme is designed to nurture young racing talent, fostering the entry of promising young drivers into the Porsche Motorsport pyramid. The Junior programme offers one of the largest individual prizes in UK motorsport, contributing £85,000 per year towards the racing budget of the Junior driver.
The opportunity has advanced the professional racing careers of former Porsche GB Juniors Dan Harper (2018 / 2019), Charlie Eastwood (2016 / 2017) and Josh Webster (2014 / 2015) – each took title honours before furthering their careers on the international motorsport stage. Outgoing Porsche GB 2020 / 2021 Junior Harry King was crowned 2020 Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion in his debut season, while over half of the current roster of Porsche factory drivers are former Porsche Juniors.
Porsche Young Driver Development Programme:
Porsche Motorsport GB is also committed to nurturing young racing talent on a wider scale. Aside from the entry fee reduction offer, taking elements of the Porsche GB Junior programme the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Young Driver Development Programme for Rookie drivers continues in 2022. Headlining the benefits, qualifying drivers have access to an end of season prize fund of over £35,000 in total for the top-placed Rookie.
Eligible drivers also receive engineering support from the Porsche Carrera Cup GB technical team, media training and a ‘Tyre Masterclass’ by Michelin. In addition, drivers get three free sets of Michelin slick racing tyres, Young Driver Development Programme branded clothing, access to Porsche Human Performance experts at the Porsche Experience Centre, Silverstone and the opportunity to represent Porsche at selected events.
Porsche Sprint Challenge GB
Porsche Sprint Challenge GB enters its third season in 2022 and for 2022 will grow its unique position in British motorsport. Continuing to run alongside the two biggest domestic championships in the UK as well as appearing alongside Porsche club racing – racing in support of the British Touring Car Championship, British GT Championship and Porsche Club GB Motorsport package – a season of six weekends and 15 rounds is planned for 2022.
The championship for both amateur and professional drivers uses the 425 hp Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport which offers drivers switchable ABS, traction control and stability control. The Clubsport is optimised for racing though it bears close similarities with its road-going counterpart via a high percentage of carry-over parts. The GT4 Clubsport’s ‘zero hours’ engine and gearbox rebuild schedule ensures lower running costs for competitors.
Revised calendar with 15 races:
New for 2022 is an increase in the number of rounds on the calendar, rising to 15 from 12 in previous seasons. Races will take place across six weekends, the same number as in 2020 and 2021, so keeping travel, time and costs similar despite the increase in available track time.
Three British GT weekends at Grand Prix circuits will host three races across the weekend with qualifying and the first race taking place on Saturday, while races two and three will run on the Sunday live-streamed online. Racing gets underway at Silverstone in May with a finale at Donington Park in September and, for the benefit of the majority of teams running cars in both championships, there are no date clashes with Porsche Carrera Cup GB.
2022 Calendar:
7 / 8 May – Silverstone GP – Rounds 1, 2 & 3 (British GT)
28 / 29 May – Thruxton – Rounds 4 & 5 (TOCA)
24 / 26 June – Croft – Rounds 6 & 7 (TOCA)
TBC – TBC – Rounds 8 & 9 (Porsche Club GB)
10 / 11 September – Brands Hatch GP – Rounds 10, 11 & 12 (British GT)
15 / 16 September – Donington Park GP – Rounds 13, 14 & 15 (British GT)
2022 regulations:
Introduced in 2020, the championship rules and points structure across both categories (Pro and Am) remain unchanged. One additional point is awarded in each category – Pro and Am – for the fastest lap during qualifying and one additional point will be awarded in each category – Pro and Am – for the fastest lap during the race. Three championship awards will be made at the end of the season: Pro, Am and Teams. An overall points table calculated on the same basis as in 2021 will determine the Teams championship.
Source. Porsche
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