Perez Bags a Porsche Carrera Cup Drive for 2018

Chesterfield’s 18 year old race ace Seb Perez,  has taken a big step forward in his drive to become one of the Country’s best racing drivers, he will compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship for 2018 with Team Parker Racing and teammate Nottinghamshire’s George Gamble.

The news broke last week when both drivers announced their news to the World’s motorsport media and both drivers are excited and can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the new Porsche Carrera race cars for this season.

For the past three seasons Perez has competed in racing Ginetta’s, two years in the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship, last year progressing to the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Championship

Seb’s first full season in a Ginetta G40 race car back in 2015 saw him get top ten finishes at Croft and Snetterton, part of eleven top 15 places for the season. He finished 20th in the final standings.

After 25 rounds of the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship in 2016, Perez finished the championship in 10th place taking his maiden pole position, a fastest race lap and four podiums, a first and three third places.

Last year Seb finished in a bigger race car in the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Championship tenth overhaul and said at the end of the season “It’s been a super tough season but of course all part of the learning process,”

A winning combination is hoped, George Gamble from Southwell Nottinghamshire is no newcomer to Perez they were teammates last season as well that saw him finish third in the Ginetta standings and was a GT5 Champion 2014.

A prestige racing brand like Porsche will have plenty of opportunities for Perez with good prizes and sponsorship, Perez will be out in an Amigos backed Porsche this season. The new second generation Porsche Type 991 911 GT3 cars cost over £130,000 as a racing package and feature a new 4.0-litre direct injection flat-six engine producing 485 hp with enhancements to aerodynamics and safety.

The championship will be supporting the British Touring Car Championship as part of the TOCA package and televised live on ITV4, it will also include a race in Monza, which is part of the European Le Mans Series weekend.

For 2018 the championship changes, In a change to qualifying, the second race of the weekend will be decided by the result of the first race plus the addition of a number selected at random deciding whether the first four, five, or six drivers on the grid will have their positions reversed on the grid. All other competitors will start from the position they finished in the first race, with both races featuring a standing start.

There is also a new points structure across the three categories of the championship – Pro, Pro-Am and Am, Perez will compete in the Pro-Am Class.

Motorsport is no stranger to Perez Jnr, he is son of 2014 BTRDA Gold Star Rally Champion and Chesterfield businessman Steve Perez, Chairman of Chesterfield based drinks brand development business Global Brands Ltd and owner of Amigos Tequila Flavoured Beer and Kick Energy Drink Brands.

Seb has competed in many motorsports including rallying, at the wheel of a Nissan Micra rally car in the Kick Energy Junior 1000 Rally Championship. recently during his break from circuit racing Seb has been rallying in a Mk2 Ford Escort

Changing from forest tracks and rallying to circuit racing has been a learning curve for him.

Perez commented on his exciting news and said ” It’s quite a natural progression from Ginetta as we wanted to stay with the Touring Car package. I’ve driven the old Carrera and also the new one so it was interesting to compare them”, He added ” It’s fantastic to drive and is a massive step up from the Ginetta with the power and straightforward speed”

“I think I’m going to do the Pro-Am class, it’s a good place to start and will give me familiarisation with the car, being with Team Parker an incredibly experienced team with lots of years in these cars under their belt”

The Championship is ran over 8 race weekends The action starts at Brand Hatch 6th to 8th April, followed by the local round at Donington Park on 26th and 29th April.

Editorial by Paul Horton

Photography by Steve Perez