The new season of RAFA Racing Club Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB, the virtual championship for professional sim racers, gets underway at a simulated Silverstone on Sunday 14 January. The championship, which sits alongside Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Sprint Challenge GB and the newly introduced Esports Sprint Challenge GB, is set to embark on a busy 16 race calendar taking place across eight weekends between January and May.

For its fourth consecutive season the Esports Carrera Cup GB championship will once again operate on the iRacing platform, an online subscription-based racing simulation used by racers around the world who believe it offers the most realistic sim racing experience. More than 60 hopefuls took part in open pre-qualification in December 2023, challenging themselves against the clock to set their fastest lap time around a computer-generated 3.6-mile Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, the top 30 drivers progressing on to form the grid for the coming season.

An established format sees RAFA Racing Club Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB stopping at pixel perfect recreations of the finest circuits in Great Britain, mirroring the calendar of Porsche Carrera Cup GB which competes exclusively as part of the TOCA package racing in support of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Previous seasons have also hosted two 'wild card’ races, a special feature which makes its return for 2024, on 3 March the championship will take in one of the world’s most challenging tracks by making its digital debut at Mount Panorama (Bathurst) in Australia. The addition of the 3.8 mile circuit in New South Wales was decided via an online poll put to followers of the Porsche Instagram account www.instagram.com/porscheraces_gb, beating Monza, Barcelona-Catalunya and Laguna Seca.

New for 2024 is a partnership with RAFA Racing Club, the exclusive group for motorsport enthusiasts founded in Houston, Texas, USA by Rafael ‘Rafa’ Martinez. The enthusiast-based community provides a home for track day and motorsport enthusiasts across the world, supporting the development of aspiring individuals aiming to compete in motorsport at a professional level. Similarly, the accessible nature of sim racing makes it an important part of the modern entry-level motorsport landscape, and a first step on the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid which enables professional and amateur drivers to achieve their dreams on the racetrack.

2024 Calendar:

14 January - Silverstone (National) - Rounds 1 & 2

28 January - Donington Park (National) - Rounds 3 & 4

11 February - Snetterton (200) - Rounds 5 & 6

25 February - Oulton Park (Island) - Rounds 7 & 8

3 March - Mount Panorama (Bathurst) - Rounds 9 & 10

24 March - Knockhill - Rounds 11 &12

14 April - Donington Park (GP) - Rounds 13 &14

5 May - Brands Hatch (GP) - Rounds 15 &16

Following a successful introduction in 2023, the 30 qualifying drivers will compete in two distinct categories – Pro and Am, mimicking the format adopted by Porsche Motorsport GB's other three championships. A total of 18 racers will battle for top honours in the overall Pro category, the remaining 12 fighting for Am glory. The split provides less experienced sim racers with an opportunity to enjoy podium results and prizes of their own as they aim to develop the necessary skills to progress to Pro category competition later in their careers.

The 2024 Pro category grid will be formed by a roster of familiar racers and promising newcomers. Leading the charge is Sebastian Job, the first double champion in Porsche Esports Carrera Cup GB history (2021 and 2023), however, hoping to challenge 23-year old Job for outright title plaudits come 2023 race winners William Chadwick and Jack Sedgwick, and a string of former front-runners including Peter Berryman, Jamie Moone and Matt Emery. Having been crowned as inaugural Am champion in 2023, Leo Gariboli steps up to a Pro category campaign in 2024 and will undoubtedly prove a driver to watch.

Following open qualification, 2023 runners-up Gareth Higgins and Luke Pennington arrive as the benchmark drivers in the Am category, joined by a mixture of other familiar names including Scott Moakes, and a number of interesting newcomers. In addition, Porsche Esports Sprint Challenge GB Am category champion Oliver Ettridge joins the grid as he seeks to translate experience gained last December behind the wheel of the virtual Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR.

The 18 Pro category entrants are:

Sebastian Job
Alexander Davidson
Jamie Moone
Jack Sedgwick
Luke A Bennett
Eric Grove
Graham Carroll
Jacob Tofts
Daniel Sedgley
David Williams
Matt Emery
Gareth Higgins
Josh Thompson
Peter Berryman
Thomas Cope
William Chadwick
Leo Gariboli
Luke McKeown

The 12 Am category entrants are:

Scott Moakes
Tim Darracott
Crofton Woodhatch
Dylan Platt
Adam N Holloway
Stuart McPhaden
Guy R Edwards
Oliver Ettridge
Ryan Elliott
Daniel W Martin
Daniel Cofield
Luke Pennington

Once again the championship continues to use an accurate representation of the 'Type 992' Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, introduced to Esports Carrera Cup GB for the 2022 season, it is praised for its similarities with the same GT3 Cup used in Porsche Carrera Cup GB. Further underling the authenticity of iRacing's version of the 911 Cup car, many drivers on the Porsche Carrera Cup GB grid turn to it for practice ahead of each ‘real world’ race weekend.

Ensuring further consistency, the Esports Carrera Cup GB weekend format remains unchanged from 2023, drivers take part in a 60-minute practice session followed by a 10-minute qualifying session to set the grid for the first of the day's two 25-minute races. Consistent with 2023, after each round, the top three overall finishers in their category (Pro and Am) in each race will receive prize money – £150 for first, £100 for second and £50 for third.

In addition, healthy end of the season prizes also remain, the top three overall Pro category championship finishers receive their share of a £27,600 fund; £7,500 for first, £5,000 for second and £2,500 for third place. The top three Am category drivers also receive their share; £3,250 for first, £2,500 for second and £1,250 for third. Finally, champions in both categories are invited to join drivers from Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB at a glittering Porsche Night of Motorsport awards ceremony where they take to the stage to receive their physical trophies.

The new season gets underway on Sunday 14 January 2024 at 14:00 GMT with live coverage and professional commentary featuring David Addison, part of the dedicated ITV commentary team on BTCC weekends who call Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Sprint Challenge GB races, David is a Porsche owner and a sim racing advocate. All eight weekends will be broadcast live on the Porsche Twitch (twitch.tv/porsche) and YouTube channels (youtube.com/Porsche).