Hattrick of podiums for Katia Loggie on Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain debut
- LIAM REDFORD
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
Katia Loggie made an excellent start to her debut campaign in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain by securing three podium finishes in the CS Am class. Racing with Toro Verde GT, Loggie took significant strides forward across the weekend to finish all three races in third place within class.
Katia Loggie made an excellent start to her debut campaign in Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain by securing three podium finishes in the CS Am class. Racing with Toro Verde GT, Loggie took significant strides forward across the weekend to finish all three races in third place within class. Loggie came within one second of a runner-up spot in race three to underline her progress at Donington Park.
Loggie’s move into Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain represented a significant step up for the young Scottish driver. Katia’s circuit racing journey began only in 2023 when she started her career in the Vertu Mini Challenge Trophy. Loggie spent two seasons in the one-make championship and took significant strides forward as she learnt new circuits and built up her confidence in the car.
Now linking up with experienced Porsche squad Toro Verde GT in the CS Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Loggie is taking the next step on her motorsport journey. Moving from a front-wheel-drive touring car to a rear-wheel-drive GT car is a sizeable transition, however Katia is aiming to continue her progress throughout the campaign.
With the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain grid split into four classes, this will also new a new experience for Loggie. Since the calendar features shorter circuits such as Brands Hatch Indy and Knockhill, managing this traffic will be vital during qualifying and while on older tyres during the latter portion of the races. These extra challenges will enable Loggie to develop her skills, while she targets strong finishes from the outset of season.
On-track action began on Thursday with two free practice sessions ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning. Loggie improved by over one and a half seconds during the course of the day while setting the third fastest time in the CS Am class with a quickest lap of a 1:13.172.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and with a 30-minute session, Loggie was looking to continue her progress from testing. Despite a red flag mid-way through the session, Katia took significant strides forward to qualify in third within the CS Am class. Loggie’s quickest time of a 1:11.678 was just half a second away from class pole, while being over a second faster than her best lap from Thursday.
For her Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain debut, Loggie lined up from third position on the CS Am grid. It was an excellent start for the Toro Verde GT driver who quickly moved into second place behind fellow Scottish racer Hannah Chapman. Loggie was looking confident in the early stages, before the race was red flagged on lap three following an incident for Aimee Watts.
Following barrier repairs at the Old Hairpin, the race was restarted over a revised duration of 15-minutes. On the restart, Katia fell behind Paul Porter and settled into third position within the CS Am class. Crucially, Loggie was pulling away from Alister Weston behind and this strengthened her provisional podium position within class.
Although Loggie was unable to match both Chapman and Porter ahead, she was continuing to improve and on lap eight, she set a personal best lap time. Loggie’s consistency was key as she adapted to a new car and in the closing stages of the race, she had to manage a number of the faster RS Pro cars making their way through. Katia drove smartly and as a result she secured her first podium finish of her career with a third-place result in the CS Am class in race one at Donington Park.
Race two of the weekend was held on Sunday morning with Loggie starting from third in the CS Am class. Katia made a good start and remained in third position at the end of the first lap, with the safety car then deployed as the car of Jacob Tofts required recovery.
Loggie made a fast restart and this enabled her to pull clear of Alister Weston behind, while focusing forward on second-placed driver Paul Porter. The Toro Verde GT driver was again enjoying a very consistent race as she continued to learn the car and manage the tyres in a race situation.
Into the second half of the race, Loggie once again had to deal with traffic as the overall race leaders moved their way through. Loggie drove smartly as she continued to build the gap to Weston, before the Graves Motorsport driver retired from the race. Completing another clean race at Donington Park, Loggie secured a second podium finish of the season with a third-place result.
Looking to end her debut Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain weekend on a high, Loggie lined up third on the CS Am class grid for race three of the weekend. The Toro Verde GT driver made a clean start and held her position on lap one, while avoiding a series of incidents ahead of her. As the safety car was deployed at the end of the first lap, Loggie was running in a solid third position in class.
When the race resumed, Loggie did a nice job to let the faster RS Pro class car of Jacob Tofts move ahead without losing too much time. As Katia got into her rhythm, she quickly set her fastest race lap times of the entire weekend. By lap 10, she was running half a second faster than in either of the first two races and this was enabling her to catch Paul Porter.
By lap 12, she was over a second faster than she had lapped in races one and two and Loggie was now closing in on her qualifying time. The margin to Porter was reducing by around one second per lap and at the end of lap 13, the Team Parker Racing driver had an advantage of just 1.4 seconds. With one lap remaining, the margin was cut to just a second however Loggie just ran out of time to shape for a move. Nonetheless, it was an extremely positive end to the event as Katia took significant strides forward throughout race three.
In just three days of on-track action at Donington Park, Loggie took huge strides forward working with the Toro Verde GT team and driver coach Abbie Eaton. Standing on the podium in all three races was an excellent achievement and Loggie will be targeting further strong results as Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain returns at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 10th/11th May.
