Mystery Monday: Charlie Eastwood – “Being part of the Porsche family is fantastic. I’d love to do Le Mans with them…”

I was then thrilled to get the call from Porsche saying I’d made the final 12 among the scholarship applicants and inviting me for an interview. Porsche! I mean the brand, the prestige, the history, the pedigree…

I made sure I was as prepared as I possibly could be. And then I thought I’d blown it by going to completely the wrong place for my assessment on the day. I ended up in Towcester and needed to be at Silverstone. Somehow, I got there in time and obviously gave a good account of myself – in the car, in the fitness tests and in the interview – as I made it to the final four. To be announced as the winner at the annual Porsche Awards at the end of last year was sensational. No one knew how the others had done until the night, but apparently I was 1.5s quicker than anyone else in teeming rain, so that’s what swung it for me.

That was just the start of my relationship with Porsche. The plan was to race for two years in the Carrera Cup GB on the British Touring Car Championship package. The 991 Cup cars are proper bits of kit and the first sportscar of any sort I’d ever driven.  

The season really has gone better than expected. I’m leading the rookie championship and lying third in the main series. To have had four second-place finishes in the past four races, all to reigning champion and Redline Racing team-mate Dan Cammish, is amazing. I’m sure a maiden win is not too far away.

I managed to find something extra after the summer break. We came to Snetterton full of confidence and to finish second twice, once with fastest lap, was great. It wasn’t as if we’d packed a load of testing in; that’s not allowed. It’s almost like flicking a switch – to find that extra tenth or two is all about nailing every corner of every lap. Doing it once or twice is easy, you have to do it all the time. After doing it again at Knockhill, Cammish admitted that my results represent the most he has ever been pushed. High praise indeed.

During the six-week break in the Carrera Cup GB I also came to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed. What an unbelievable event. There wasn’t time to be star struck by any of the legends because they were everywhere. If I saw one I saw a thousand! Porsche always play a big part in the Festival, with a stunning array of their competition cars. That’s typical Porsche, to be honest. They really get it. It was very cool to charge up the hillclimb in the Cup car; it’s fast and narrow and you don’t get much track time to perfect your runs. It taught me a lot, actually. To have been second only to Olly Clark’s monstrous Subaru Gobstopper in the qualifying run for the Shooutout was something else, and then to get fifth overall against cars with four-wheel-drive and tonnes more power was a great feeling. I’ll be at the Festival every year now, if I’ve got anything to do with it.

Talking of Goodwood, I’d love to race at the Revival Meeting. I’m very much in to motorsport history – in terms of drivers and cars – and Goodwood does that so well. I’m just starting out in my motorsport career and relish mixing with and talking to aces from the past and seeing beautiful and iconic cars. It might be a bit late for the 2016 Revival, but if anyone has a spare seat I’ll be there like a shot!

I’m thrilled to be part of the Porsche family and would happily race a Porsche for the rest of my career. I’m inspired by people like Nick Tandy, who’s been a great help to me, and Earl Bamber. They’ve made the most of the tie-up and enjoyed a great deal of success, including last year’s Le Mans victory. My plan is to win the Carrera Cup GB in year two, move to the Supercup and then develop my sportscar-racing CV, via GTE and, ultimately, LMP1. To race a full-blown, top-class Porsche prototype at Le Mans would be out of this world.…

Charlie Eastwood was talking to Henry Hope-Frost