Walmsley looking to build on 2025 progress

Lydia Walmsley is looking to make another switch in 2026 after finishing second in the Clubsport Pro category in her debut season in the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB Series.

The 23-year-old from Kesgrave in Suffolk managed four race wins across the six weekends, including one in the final round at Brands Hatch in October.

Her step up to rear-wheel cars followed several seasons racing Minis and she is now hoping to move over to the RS Pro category next year.

"In an ideal world, I'd like to move up to the RS Championship - if anyone's tuned into our racing this year, you'll notice it's two split grids, so I would like to move up to the front grid," 23-year-old Walmsley told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"Unfortunately, that does come with more money involved, but I'm working hard to try and secure that budget.

"I guess we'll keep working at it until crunch time, about March, and we might have to re-evaluate, but fingers crossed everything will go nice and smoothly and we'll be on the RS grid next year."

Walmsley, who began in karting at the age of seven, said having such a successful season this year had been "incredible".

She continued: "I couldn't really have asked for too much more.

"Obviously it wasn't quite (winning) the championship, but if you'd told me at the start of the year that I'd finish second overall, I think I'd have been very, very pleased.

"It's been such a change for everyone, including my sponsors. My team has evolved into something bigger and we've all coped with it very well. I'm very proud of everyone involved."

In 2024, Walmsley became the first female driver to achieve a podium finish in the JCW Mini Challenge Championship.

And she says adapting to a 3.8 litre, 425 horsepower Porsche had been far from straightforward, requiring a totally different mindset.

Moving into the RS category will involve more adjustments as she would be stepping into a 500 HP machine.

"The way you drive it is totally different, even the physical aspect, because it's so much hotter, you're basically sat on the engine because it's behind you. Even things like that, it's just been a big change," she said.

"Because I'd done front-wheel drive for so long, you kind of get complacent, I suppose, and then you get thrown into a completely different car and you have to drive it in a completely new way and it makes a different part of your brain work.

"It's been a challenge to keep that consistent really. I'd get halfway through a race and for some reason I'd then start reverting back to front-wheel drive driving, so kind of knocking that out of my brain has been quite a challenge."

Despite that, she says race weekends were the "easiest part of the whole thing" with the business side of competing for more difficult.

However, she added: "It's now looking towards a career in the future rather than just having a bit of a bit of fun on a Sunday, so I wouldn't change it for the world.

"And I think it drives you to be a better person as well in all aspects of life."