Podium finish for Jodie Sloss on Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain debut

Jodie Sloss had an impressive debut in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, securing a podium finish, pole position, and fastest lap in the CS Am class, demonstrating her speed and racecraft throughout the weekend.

Photo credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Jodie Sloss enjoyed a superb debut in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain as she stood on the podium in the CS Am class. Competing for Eden Race Drive, Sloss adapted to the new car quickly and claimed pole position in class by three tenths of a second. Although she retired from race one after a spin at Sheene curve, Sloss claimed the fastest lap of the race.

Running in second position for the majority of race two, late-race contact saw her finish in third position. A fourth-place result completed a strong weekend for the Scottish driver who displayed both impressive speed and racecraft at Brands Hatch.

Sloss stepped up to compete in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain after an impressive partial season with Forsetti Motorsport in the GT Cup Championship. Driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT4, Sloss was a multiple podium finisher in Group GTH and was looking to build on the knowledge gained in the multi-class series. Now driving a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport for Eden Race Drive, Jodie was reunited with the team who she competed with in the Porsche Open Cup during the 2023 season.

Unlike a number of her rivals, Sloss had recent experience competing on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit with the Kent track hosting an earlier round of the GT Cup Championship. Competing in a similar specification of machinery, Sloss was therefore hopeful of a fast start in Friday’s pair of practice sessions.

Sloss made significant progress during the course of the two sessions, adapting superbly to the Eden Race Drive prepared machine. In the first session of the day, Jodie completed 15 laps and placed fourth in the CS Am class. Showing exceptional speed on the Grand Prix loop during session two, Sloss ended the day second fastest in class while finding close to two seconds of lap time improvements throughout Friday’s running.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and Sloss was quickly on the pace as she set her first flying laps. By lap four of the session, Jodie had already surpassed her fastest time from Friday and she was immediately challenging for provisional pole position in the CS Am class.

On her second set of tyres, Sloss improved further and set an exceptional time of a 1:32.716 which secured her pole position in class by three tenths of a second, while also lapping quicker than CS Pro driver Will Rochford.

Photo credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Lining up on pole position for the opening race of the weekend, Sloss faced the challenge of a standing start in the powerful Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Getting off the line was a challenge for Jodie and she fell to fourth in class, however she knew her pace was strong and could use her racecraft to make up the lost positions. On lap two, a decisive move at Surtees moved Sloss up to third as she overtook Karim Sekkat to move into a provisional podium position.

Now chasing Jonathan Beeson for second, Jodie’s pace was excellent and on lap four, she made a move on the CS Am championship leader to gain the runner-up position. Sloss then set the fastest lap of the race within class and this allowed her to chase down leader Darrelle Wilson.

As she continued to reduce the margin, Sloss was pushing hard and a mistake at Sheene curve sent her into the gravel. Unfortunately she was beached and therefore this brought a premature end to her debut race in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain where she had claimed pole position and the fastest lap of the race.

Grid positions for race two of the weekend were based on the second fastest times from qualifying and therefore Jodie lined up third in the CS Am class. It was a much better start from the Eden Race Drive debutant as Sloss moved ahead of Karim Sekkat into second position at the conclusion of the first lap.

Darrelle Wilson was once again in the class lead and a fast start from the AALCO with JWB Motorsport driver had seen Wilson put the CS Pro class car of Will Rochford between himself and Sloss.

Jodie’s pace in the early stages of the race was once again strong as she applied good pressure to Rochford despite her inexperience in the series. On lap five, an incident between two CS Pro class drivers ahead moved Jodie up two overall positions, while she also able to overtake Rochford with an important pass for position. Now running directly behind Wilson, Sloss was making the CS Am class leader defend and this brought Sekkat, who had also passed Rochford, back into contention.

At the end of lap seven, Sloss was running just two tenths of a second behind her rival and continuing to show great speed. Overtaking was difficult on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, however by remaining within half a second of her rival, Jodie was also in position to capitalise on any potential mistake from the race leader.

Wilson was able to open out his advantage in the closing stages and Jodie came under attack from Sekkat, with an incident on the penultimate lap shuffling Sloss back to fourth position. With just one lap remaining, there was little time to close back in on a podium position with Jodie taking the checkered flag in fourth position, later promoted to third after a penalty for issued to Sekkat for the earlier contact.

Photo credits: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Following her first ever podium finish in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Sloss lined up from third on the grid for the final race at Brands Hatch. Jonathan Beeson elected to start from the pit lane which elevated Jodie to second position as the lights went out.

It was a challenging start for Sloss as she fell behind Paul Porter to end lap one in third position. Sekkat was also able to move ahead on lap two with an opportunistic move as the CS Pro machine of Sam Harvey also overtook Sloss.

Nonetheless, Jodie fought back well in the early stages of the contest and was able to overtake Porter on lap three. Light rain then began to start falling at Brands Hatch and posed a further challenge to the drivers as they worked hard to judge the grip levels. It was only a passing shower and lap times were predominantly unaffected, with Sloss beginning to close in on Sekkat and CS Am class leader Darrelle Wilson.

The two drivers ahead continued to battle for the race lead with Sloss keeping a watching brief and eager to capitalise on any mistakes ahead. As the race entered the closing stages, Jodie started to come under pressure from Beeson who was showing good speed after his pit lane start.

On the penultimate lap of the race, Beeson drew level with Sloss as the drivers crossed the line and the Graves Motorsport driver was able to complete the move into Paddock Hill bend. Therefore, Sloss ended the final race of the weekend in fourth position within the CS Am class to complete an encouraging debut event in the series.

It was an excellent debut weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain for Sloss who displayed superb pace for Eden Race Drive. Claiming pole position and one fastest lap in the CS Am class, Jodie showed great potential in her first start in the highly-competitive one-make championship.

Sloss will now be aiming to secure sufficient budget over the winter to put together a full-season programme of racing for the 2025 season.