How Porsche chose its next British junior star

It is a bold strategy, given what’s at stake. Newly crowned Ginetta GT4 Supercup champion Adam Smalley is about to head out for his first run in the new Type 992 911 GT3 Cup car for Porsche GB’s Junior shootout.

But it’s not just his first time in the car on this particular cold, cloudy November day at Silverstone, it will be his first outing in a Carrera Cup machine full stop. Unlike his fellow finalists – British GT4 champion Gus Burton, Porsche Sprint Challenge GB title winner Theo Edgerton and Formula Ford 1600 frontrunner Alex Walker – Smalley had elected not to test the car beforehand.

“All the finalists have a proven track record and are quick drivers, so I wanted to show my potential and the purest form of myself,” he says. “I was completely brand new to it and I’d never sat in the car prior to the shootout. That way I showed all the engineers my ability.”

It was undoubtedly a gamble, especially given the 911 GT3 Cup is a unique car to master and Smalley had spent the past five seasons racing Ginetta machinery, therefore was very much accustomed to the Yorkshire manufacturer’s approach. But it was a gamble that paid off handsomely. Smalley sufficiently wowed the judging panel and landed the Junior prize: £85,000 towards each of the 2022 and 2023 Carrera Cup seasons and a wealth of different opportunities with Porsche.

One of the most impressive elements of Smalley’s performance was the way in which he listened to the feedback he was given from his engineer, Porsche GB technical team manager Eddie Corr, and his driver coach for the day, 2021 Carrera Cup runner-up Lorcan Hanafin. For his first run, Smalley had no idea what to expect.

“Because I’d never driven the car, I was driving it how I thought best and they told me to adapt it,” says Smalley. “I then found 1.5 seconds.”

Hanafin – who admits it felt a little “strange” to have gone “full circle” in the space of just two years, moving from taking part in the 2020-21 shootout to helping judge the 2022-23 contest – was suitably impressed.

Runner-up in 2021 Carrera Cup GB Hanafin was on hand to coach Smalley and his other competitors

Photo by: Porsche Motorsport

“The first and second runs were completely different,” says Hanafin, who is actually two years younger than 21-year-old Smalley. “Everything we told him, he listened to and adapted his driving style to exactly how it needs to be. It was very impressive.”

Smalley adds: “You need to be fast but a big part of it is how you work with the team and how you develop.” And that’s one element he certainly showcased on that November day.

Given the size of the opportunity on offer, and how it could lead on to a future factory drive, you would expect Smalley to have felt under pressure to perform. But, instead, he generally had a more relaxed mindset.

MacNaughton says that deciding who should make the final is sometimes harder than choosing the new Junior. Around 50 entries were received this time around, which were whittled down to 12 who were interviewed by members of the Porsche team

“I just tried to enjoy it,” he recalls. “I really wanted to win and didn’t want to put any pressure on myself. I knew I was up against some tough competition but didn’t worry about anything and did my own thing. But it’s not until you get to the hotel that night and sit down for a meal with everyone and think, ‘This is very serious’. You wake up, put on your Porsche coat and the nerves do kick in at that point.”

It is, after all, a very intense day. The driving is just one aspect of an assessment that ensures Porsche is picking the right person as its new Junior. Nothing is left to chance and extensive media and fitness tests are all part of the shootout.

Louise Goodman puts the finalists through their paces with a series of quickfire questions – including one about Porsche’s GTE Pro performance in the World Endurance Championship the previous weekend that leaves some of the contenders squirming their way through an answer – along with a range of other interview scenarios, while in the Porsche Human Performance Centre the fitness section includes press-ups, front and side planks, inverted rows, VO2 max, grip tests, BATAK reactions test… the list goes on. There was also a new element to the shootout this year, with the finalists each undertaking a psychometric test beforehand.

“That was something we introduced through the year as a bit of a pilot and we will definitely be including that element over the next two years,” explains Porsche GB motorsport manager James MacNaughton. “It was very useful. With the added pressure drivers now have on them, sports psychology and making sure your head is in the right place, as well as driving skills and physical fitness and the way they speak to people, is as important as everything else.”

Smalley and his competitors were subjected to interview scenarios

Photo by: Porsche Motorsport

But that attention to detail does not begin with the shootout itself, it’s also evident in the earlier stages of the competition. MacNaughton says that deciding who should make the final is sometimes harder than choosing the new Junior. Around 50 entries were received this time around, which were whittled down to 12 who were interviewed by members of the Porsche team and then the final four had to be chosen. And, as with many tough decisions, a spreadsheet came in handy.

“That first interview is the part where we’re wanting to understand and sit face-to-face and see what they’re like,” says MacNaughton. “We do realise how important it is for those drivers and want to make sure we’re making the right choice for us and for them. We have a spreadsheet and all the people who sit down and interview take notes and we’ll score each applicant and come away with a score at the end.”

From there, the finalists can be chosen and MacNaughton makes sure he is surrounded by a team of trusted experts to help make the call on the next Junior. It is a process that clearly works brilliantly given that each of the past four Juniors have gone on to be crowned Carrera Cup champion, Harry King – the other driver coach for this shootout – having joined predecessors Josh Webster, Charlie Eastwood and Dan Harper in achieving the feat. But MacNaughton stresses that “every year is individual” and Porsche is not just looking for a “carbon copy” of drivers who have succeeded in the past.

“We’re looking for the best person for the job,” he continues. “A big part of the selection process is what they’re like in the car. You could have someone who is a fantastic person in terms of fitness, is very level-headed and brilliant in front of a camera but, if they can’t drive a car, that’s not good. The driving is still a big part of it, but we’re not necessarily looking for the fastest person on the day.

“We know the amount of time someone has had in the car makes a big difference as well. If we get someone who comes in and has done three days of testing, they might be faster but they will have different things to improve on to a person who has no testing. It’s a very bespoke assessment for each of the drivers – it’s more bespoke than anything else [that was tested].”

And that is again how Smalley was able to impress on the day. MacNaughton says he “came across very, very well” and was ranked top in each of the areas, albeit with it being “quite tight” in some of them. Not that Smalley knew about his success when the assessments had concluded.

“I remember phoning my dad and he said, ‘How was it?’” reflects Smalley. “I felt I hadn’t left anything on the table. But I didn’t think for a moment that I would win it. You had no idea what everyone else had done – and, not having driven the car before, there was no reference. No matter the outcome, I could be happy with what I did. I was thinking, if I’ve won it, fantastic and, if I haven’t won it, well done to the person who did because they must’ve done a good job.”

As it turns out, it was Smalley who had done the good job. But now the hard work really begins – after all, he has got four very successful Juniors’ footsteps to follow in. And you can be sure that Smalley will be just a little more familiar with the Carrera Cup machine than he was for the shootout by the time the season gets under way.