PSCGB: Top-5 finish for Hannah Chapman at Donington Park
- LIAM REDFORD
- Apr 21
- 5 min read
Reigning Porsche Sprint Challenge CS Am class championship Hannah Chapman secured a top-5 finish as she stepped up to the RS Am class at Donington Park, making substantial progress over the course of the event despite entering the weekend with no experience of the car, and overcoming technical issues to score points in all three races
Reigning Porsche Sprint Challenge CS Am class championship Hannah Chapman secured a top-5 finish as she stepped up to the RS Am class at Donington Park. Despite entering the weekend with no experience of the car, Chapman made substantial progress over the course of the event as she challenged her more experienced rivals. Overcoming technical issues to score championship points in all three races, Chapman showed great determination on her return to the series.
Following an incredible late push to secure sponsorship in the days leading up to the event, Chapman secured her spot on the RS Am class grid for the season opening event. Stepping up from the CS Am class, Chapman was looking to make an impact on her debut in the top-level category. Remaining with Xentek Motorsport, Chapman was relying on continuity to ease her transition into the RS Am class despite no previous testing opportunities.
The 2025 season was a breakthrough year for Chapman as she switched to rear-wheel-drive machinery for the first time in her career. Securing 14 victories in 18 races, Chapman dominated her respective class while regularly competing with her more experienced CS Pro class competitors. Chapman ended the season with nine straight class victories and this form provided her with the encouragement to take the next step on the Porsche motorsport ladder.
On-track action at Donington Park began on Thursday with two free practice sessions for the drivers to gain familiarity with the car and circuit. Chapman’s first ever laps in the more powerful RS class machine came during this session and after two red flags disrupted the rhythm of the drivers, few representative lap times were completed.
This led to an even greater learning curve for Chapman in the second session of the day. Completing 17 laps during the session, Chapman fought technical issues on her way to the ninth fastest time in the RS Am class with a best lap of a 1:10.971.
After a challenging opening day in her new RS class machine, Chapman was searching for consistent improvements in Saturday morning’s qualifying session. By the halfway point, Hannah had already found over one second from her fastest free practice time. Gaining a further four thousandths of a second on her next set of tyres, Chapman set a quickest time of a 1:09.556 which placed her in ninth position within the RS Am class.
For her debut in the RS Am class on Saturday afternoon, Chapman lined up from 18th position overall, ninth within class. Chapman made a good start as she overtook Matthew Briers while Reece Somerfield passed both drivers in his Breakell Racing machine. It was an encouraging start to the race for Hannah who began applying pressure to Richard Hosking who was just ahead.
On lap four, Chapman was faster than the next eight drivers to underline her speed despite her inexperience in the car. Her lap time of a 1:09.167 was almost half a second quicker than her qualifying time as she continued to gain confidence with each passing lap. Two laps later, Chapman gained one position in the overall classification to 17th as Oliver Cottam slowed with a technical issue.
As Chapman continued to pressure Hosking for eighth in class, her persistence paid off as she made a nice move on the CCK Motorsport driver on lap nine. Hosking then came under pressure from Briers which allowed Chapman to run a series of fast lap times to escape the battling duo. On lap 13, Chapman was inside the overall top-15 following an issue for Ethan Hammerton, before misfortune struck the reigning CS Am class champion. As a technical issue developed on Chapman’s car, she lost pace and as a result, Hosking was able to reclaim eighth spot in class.
Despite running at a reduced speed, Chapman remained out on track and this was a smart move as class rival Will Rochford encountered an issue of his own in the closing stages. As a result, Chapman moved back up to eighth and successfully saw the chequered flag on her RS Am class debut. Finishing in 17th position overall, eighth within class, Chapman displayed encouraging pace to rival the top-5 drivers within her respective class.
Following the first race of the season, a decision was made to upgrade class rival Matthew Kyle-Henney from RS Am to RS Pro and as a result, Chapman was promoted to seventh position in the final race one classification.
The second race of the weekend was held on Sunday morning with Chapman starting from 18th position overall, eighth in the RS Am class, courtesy of her second fastest qualifying time. It was a challenging start for the Xentek Motorsport driver who pitted at the end of the opening lap as she brought her car to the attention of her crew. After the team did a good job to resolve the issue, Chapman rejoined the race one lap in arrears and she worked on getting up to speed.
Chapman was now running in eighth position within class and her main objective was now to gain further experience and improve her lap times. On lap seven, the race entered a safety car period after the car of Matthew Briers required recovery. When the race resumed on lap 12, Chapman was running amongst her fellow RS Am class rivals and this enabled her to bank further knowledge while racing around her more experienced rivals.
On lap 13, Chapman set a new fastest lap time of a 1:09.275 and after finding another tenth of a second, the Xentek Motorsport driver was now matching her speed from race one. Despite running a lap down, Chapman continued to set fast and consistent lap times in the closing stages and the Scottish racer took the chequered flag in 22nd position overall, while securing further championship points for a seventh-place result in the RS Am class.
For the final race on Sunday afternoon, the grid positions were based upon the results from race two with Chapman lining up from 17th position overall, seventh in the RS Am class. Due to the discrepancies in performance within the respective classes, Chapman was moved ahead of the CS class drivers on the grid. As the lights went out, Chapman got a great launch and immediately passed class rival Richard Hosking for sixth position in class.
Chapman ended lap one in 16th position overall, sixth in class, as she targeted a top-5 finish to end the weekend. Her speed in the early exchanges of the race was strong as she built a small gap to Hosking behind while remaining in touch with RS Pro class competitor Lydia Walmsley. On lap four, Matthew Briers spun into the gravel at Redgate corner and this necessitated a safety car period while his car was recovered.
The race resumed on lap eight and Chapman was eager to make further progress. As the drivers approached the chicane, contact ahead of Chapman involving Lydia Walmsley and James Seale saw both drivers hit the barriers. As a result, the race was red flagged and unable to be resumed with substantial damage to the tyres. Therefore, Chapman was qualified in 14th position overall, while securing an excellent fifth place result within the RS Am class.
It was a challenging weekend for Chapman stepping into the more powerful RS class machine, however she adapted well and made significant progress over the course of the event. A fifth-place result in race three was a positive end to the event for the Xentek Motorsport driver who competed well against more experienced drivers.
Chapman will now be looking to secure the budget to return to Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain when the series resumes at Oulton Park on the weekend of June 6th/7th.
