Porsche Sprint Challenge Event – Laguna Seca Raceway – Jun 21-23, 2024
(Content courtesy of SportsCar 365 – June 26, 2024)(Image courtesy of @ktmedia_photography)(4 of the top 8 cars at the start are BRracing customers)
For Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama, it was a tale of two races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during the series’ fourth doubleheader of the season. Laguna Seca marked the beginning of the second half of the season, and nearly 25 cars took part in the event weekend, which was headlined by the IndyCar Series.
At the front of the pack, all eyes were on James Li for Racewerkz and Blake McDonald for BRracing, competing for the overall 992 GT3 Cup Pro-Am victory. Entering the weekend, Li had scored back-to-back wins, yet McDonald still topped the class’s championship standings, and qualified on pole for Race 1.
While Li started second in Race 1 behind his rival McDonald, he quickly took the lead on the first lap and drove to a dominant win. However, the rest of the competitors were tested not only by the circuit and its limits but also by each other. Several instances involving contact sent drivers spinning, even in the closing minutes, with lapped traffic altering the Pro-Am podium. McDonald ran second throughout the race but, in trying to avoid a collision between slower cars on the final lap in the Corkscrew, was narrowly overtaken by Casey Dennis for the position and finished third.
Drivers cleaned up their act on Sunday for Race 2, however, which allowed for an entertaining race between McDonald and Li. McDonald (BRracing), was again on the pole for the start of Race 2. The latter (Li) stalked McDonald as the laps ticked by but pushed a bit too hard midway through the race, taking a spin in the Corkscrew and dropping him down the order. McDonald collected the win with Dennis in second place again, while James Sofronas rounded out the podium in third. (Edit – BRracing – at the end of the weekend, Blake increased his overall lead in the series to 75 points over Li, with three events remaining)
In the 992 GT3 Cup Masters category, Kevin Woods (BRracing) ran nearly uncontested en route to a weekend sweep. Woods’ dominance came as a result of excellent qualifying efforts. The BRracing driver started third in Race 1, four cars ahead of his next closest competitor, and fourth in Race 2, with two cars between him and second place.
While Woods could not be reached, Jim Walsh put on one of his best driving performances by clinching runner-up on both Saturday and Sunday in the 992 GT3 Cup Masters class. Steve Miller finished third in Race 1, while Laura Ely recovered from contact and a subsequent spin on Saturday to complete Sunday’s podium. (Edit – BRracing – as a result of Kevin’s wins in both races at Laguna Seca, and the struggles of his competitors, his lead now stands at 77 points with 3 events remaining ( a race win and pole are worth a maximum of 61 points)
Bad luck struck twice for Michael Gaulke in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport Masters class, as he was poised for a double victory at Laguna Seca but walked away with two fourth-place finishes.
After crossing the finish line first in Race 1, Gaulke was penalized for incident responsibility with another competitor that revoked his win. And while leading Race 2, he pulled his Porsche off track on the final lap with an issue, handing the win to Richard Kinsey after the two had previously engaged in a great battle for the lead midway through the race.
Gaulke still keeps his lead in the championship standings, while Kinsey inched closer with two wins this weekend.
Also maintaining his championship lead was Eli Kogan, who scored both Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport Pro-Am victories at Laguna Seca with four rounds remaining.
Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama takes a summer break from the racetrack before returning to Road America on Aug. 9-11 as part of a joint event with its Porsche Sprint Challenge North America counterpart. That series, however, has a trip to Watkins Glen International in upstate New York on July 5-7 before heading to Wisconsin.
Porsche Sprint Challenge race replays are available on the Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube Channel.
(Edit – BRracing)
In addition to Blake’s and Kevin’s outstanding drives and wins, both Sam and Josh produced outstanding results at the Laguna Seca PSC event. Sam finished 5th in both Saturday’s and Sunday’s race. Sam’s results were even more amazing given that his transmission decided to stop working in Practice #1, and the BRracing crew scrambled to get the transmission replaced. Sam missed Practive #2, and had to go directly into qualifying with virtually no laps in practice. That also put him at the back of the pack during qualifying, and he had to find the perfect time to pull off a flying lap. Sam did just that, and put himself in P5 for Race #1.
Josh’s rise in performance since joining the BRracing program a year ago has been nothing short of amazing. Laguna presented another opportunity to showcase his driving skills, and produced his best result of the year, finishing in 4th place, just off the podium, and chasing down 3rd place for most of the race.
Mark also produced an amazing result. Joining the growing contingent of BRracing customers, Mark joined the program just a month before the Laguna Seca event. Putting all his focus on developing and learning as fast as possible, the Laguna event represented Mark’s first foray into Porsche Sprint Challenge racing. Finding as much time as he could to test and practice before the Laguna event, he ran a very clean set of races, and on Sunday, was part of the pack, and passed another competitor. Outstanding achievement. This is such a great set of customers, and great team. Can’t wait to get out and play again at the next event at Road America (which will also be the second Enduro event of the season as well).
Conclusion – it takes an amazing team, every single member to produce an outstanding team that produces outstanding results. Hats off to all the great BRracing team members – we’re building something special here.
