Hucknall businessman Carl Cavers enjoying successful venture into motorsport

A Hucknall man who recently realised his dream to compete in motorsport, has enjoyed a superb start to his 2022 Porsche Visit Cayman Islands Sprint Challenge GB campaign.

Carl Cavers, who lives in the town, has taken four category victories from the first five races to lead the Amateur category of the championship by seven points.

The Sprint Challenge is a race series that sees both amateur and professional drivers competing in identical Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport cars and racing around some of Britain's most famous tracks. While all the drivers race on the same grid, the two categories each have their own points structure and championship table.

Cavers is in his third season in the championship and had never taken a category victory before the start of this year although he had been on the podium.

However, this changed emphatically during the season opener at Silverstone last month. Cavers delivered a dominant display to win his class in all three of the weekend's races from Rupert Laslett and Timothy Creswick.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, he said of the victories: "It felt absolutely brilliant but not just for me but for my driver coach Lewis Plato, he was over the moon; I think he was more excited than I was.

All the guys on the team, all the technicians that support me, that have been with me for the last couple of years to get those results it was a fantastic weekend, it really was. And it just gave us a lot of confidence that we've got the car setup right, my driving style's improved, the coaching is bringing it along massively; we're definitely in the fight for the Am championship this year."

At the second round Cavers and Laslett shared a victory and a second place apiece at Thruxton in Hampshire, the track with the fastest average speed in the country.

However, it could have been a double victory for Cavers but for a spin in the second race.

"I was actually leading the second race as well, and it was only a mistake in the first complex, where I span the car because I took a bit too much curb trying to be a bit too aggressive. I was pulling him (Laslett) back but not enough laps left to do it in; it was my silly error really in the second race that cost us the first place, these things happen in motorsport you just learn from it and move on to the next race."

Carl won all three races at the opening round of the Sprint Challenge at Silverstone last month. Photo courtesy of Carl Cavers.

Mr Cavers who is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sumo Group, a British video games holding company, only began his racing career two years ago in 2020.

Asked about what made him take up the sport, he said: "Basically as a 50 something male that's raced pushbikes all his life you always need something that's adrenaline fuelled and I've always had a passion for cars, always had sportscars, always enjoyed following the racing and I just decided that was the time.

"Both my boys had got to a certain age. When I started racing my eldest was at university my youngest was just doing his A-Levels so suddenly your weekends aren't family orientated anymore so they're free, so why not do racing?

"This year I've focused on Porsche Sprint Challenge and British Endurance Championship and obviously everything's improved, driving's improved and setting up the car and everything so it's translating into some fairly decent results.

"It was a great way to start the season winning the first three rounds and then winning the round at Thruxton which just extended the championship lead a bit which was great."

The series travels to Croft in North Yorkshire this weekend (25 & 26 June) to support the British Touring Car Championship. This means that one of the races will be broadcast live on ITV4.

Carl added: "It's a very tricky track there's a lot of opportunities for driver mistakes, I've not been to Croft when it's not rained. Because it's narrow there's not a lot of tolerance in having any mistake whatsoever. I think Croft's going to be an interesting weekend."

For more information about the Porsche Visit Cayman Islands Sprint Challenge GB, click here.