Catching Up With Adam Carroll

Its 2005, race two of the first ever weekend of the GP2 Series at Imola. Young Northern Irishman Adam Carroll is stalking Alexandre Premat for the lead and gets a terrific run out of the Rivazza, sticking a nose inside into the Variante Bassa chicane and forcing Premat to concede. As the Frenchman bounces over the kerbs into his path, Carroll gives it the full beans and his Super Nova machine performs an exquisite four-wheel drift to avoid a collision and take the lead at the same time. This was a special talent indeed, as further wins at Monaco and Spa demonstrated.

Unfortunately, budget constraints meant that Carroll, now 31, was never able to follow his competitors that day – Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr. among them – into the realm of Formula One, despite conducting extensive testing for Honda. But following short spells in the DTM and IndyCar, and a successful stint in A1GP which brought Ireland the title, Carroll has now found his feet in sportscars, sharing the Gulf Racing UK Porsche 997 RSR with Porsche Supercup regular Ben Barker and Michael Wainwright in the European Le Mans Series. 

Carroll drifts past Premat on GP2's first weekend. (Credit: GP2 Media)

Joining his 2005 rivals Nicolas Lappierre and Gianmaria Bruni among the ranks of the manufacturers remains the long-term goal, but for now, Carroll is simply enjoying the cut and thrust of endurance racing.

“Of course [a manufacturer seat] would be great, but it’s never easy out there in terms of how many good drivers there are and people in good positions generally hold onto them for a long time,” says Carroll, who remains involved in single-seaters coaching young GP3 racer Ryan Cullen. “The sportscar world is very strong and as you can hear in the background that’s what real racing cars should sound like. I hope the fan-base will grow a little bit, especially with Porsche coming back and all the big manufacturers fighting at the front for Le Mans and in the GT class it’s the same, it’s so competitive.

“At first when you jump into GTs from single-seaters, you say look at it and say ‘it’s a big heavy road car, it’s a waste of time,’ but I tell you what, when you drive one they’re really impressive. You don’t have any downforce compared to a single-seater, so when you have over 500 bhp you’re really going fast! And it’s flat out all the time, so I really enjoy it. I’ll keep working hard over the next few years and then we’ll see where it leads to.”

Carroll celebrates Team Ireland's first win in A1 GP in Mexico
2008. He would go on to win the title the following year. (Credit: A1 GP)

Last season with Gulf in a GT3 McLaren was his first full season of racing since his A1 days, but you could hardly have noticed it. A daring pass on Edward Sandstrom at the final corner of the Monza season opener to steal third place by a mere 0.028 seconds was Carroll at his best, despite it being only his third ever GT race and his third in as many different cars, having previously raced a Vita4One BMW in abysmal conditions at Silverstone and subbed for Stephane Ortelli in the WRT Audi at Donington.

There has been a lot for Carroll to learn, not least how be lapped, a rare sight during his single-seater career but an elementary feature of multi-class racing and, as Carroll points out, a skill which is arguably just as important as the act of overtaking itself.

“That’s where you have to be really smart, if you’re a good listener and you’re very aware of what’s going on around you then it can only be a plus,” says Carroll. “You have to be fully aware because as much as you’re looking forwards, you have to be aware of what’s happening behind you as well. We’re just as fast as the LMP2 cars in a straight line, but obviously through the corners they’re just a bit quicker, so you have to judge how close one is and how much room you’re going to give them without losing too much time. You can’t stop and wave them past!"

Carroll attacks the Maggots-Becketts complex at Silverstone
last season in the GT3 McLaren. (Credit: Gulf Racing UK)

The going will undoubtedly be tough for Gulf this year in a Ferrari-heavy GTE class, with information sharing between the Porsche and their second car - an Aston Martin Vantage - somewhat problematic, but as far as Carroll is concerned, the pressure is off. And as some sterling cameos in Formula Renault 3.5, Auto GP and FIA GT1 over the years have shown, that's when he's at his best.

“The Porsche does everything you need it to do and I’ve really enjoyed driving it so far. We turned up at Ricard and the car did well over 1000km, which was pretty impressive. It just went round and round and round, everything was fine straight out of the box. 

"It’s a proven car in the 2012 spec, so all I can aim for is to get the most out of what we’ve got and at least I know at that point that there’s no more I can do." 

Whatever happens this season, write Adam Carroll off at your peril.