A total of 52 Porsche Cup Cars are entered for this epic race event! (So many Cups you can’t even see the front of the grid)
Road America was once again a bustling site for the Porsche Sprint Challenge by Yokohama series, which brought together its North America and USA West championships for a joint event at Elkhart Lake. Additionally, the fan-favorite track played host to the second of four Porsche Endurance Challenge North America races in its inaugural season of competition.
Across the three championships – which totaled to seven races on the weekend – more than 100 Porsches took to the longest racetrack on the circuit at 4.048-miles, all battling for points as the season nears its end.
Porsche Endurance Challenge North America (Enduro)
(Edit – BRracing) – The anticipation building up to the Enduro built over the five preceeding days, as teams could get a sense of the times the series drivers were turning, but also the lap times being generated by the Pro’s. After the first Enduro at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), many teams had enlisted some of the fastest Pros on the planet to team up w them in the 2-driver format. Qualifying times were very tight (combination of the fastest laps from each of the drivers). BRracing missed pole (Blake M, Riley D) by just a few hundredths, Josh and Robb (two full amatuers), were the quickest of the non Pro=am teams.
The race would feature a split start, w the Cups taking the green flag first, followed by the large Cayman GT4RS Clubsport group. The Cups their green flag, and then the Caymans followed. However, about 100 feet after the start/finish line, there was a major accident at the front of the Cayman group. Five Caymans were damaged beyond repair, and this caused a RED Flag to be issued for the event. However, unlike normal rules, due to the time limit of when the track can be used (no track activity beyond 5:30pm), the clock did NOT stop, and kept running while the red flag was out. It took nearly 20 minutes to clear and clean the track, and with minimum driver time of 22 minutes, this threw all the normal driver time strategies out the window. This would come into play at the finish.
He kept the lead and went on for the win, but faced fierce pressure from Nik Romano – whose Porsche he shared with Therese Lahlouh – which was on the same strategy. Fresh from her first Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama podium at Watkins Glen, Lahlouh again impressed to run at the front before handing over to her teammate.
Romano loomed large in Hayes’ mirrors in the closing laps, but could not prevail before the checkered flag. Elliott Skeer and Aaron Jeansonne finished third, about 2 seconds off the lead to make it a double podium for Charlie Hayes Racing, and BRracing, with Blake McDonals and Riley Dickenson finished fourth, also about 2 seconds behind Elliott. Elliot and Riley were closing on the lead group by about 2 seconds or more a lap, but ran out of laps when the checkered flag fell.
Despite the wreckage at the start, the remaining Cayman competitors settled in during the race and it was Ian Porter with Rafa Racing Team by JDX who also captured the win in a standalone effort.
The duo of Michael Clark and Loek Hartog scored the runner-up position with Rob Walker in third.Porsche Sprint Challenge North America
Jared Thomas notched his eighth and ninth wins of the season in the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup class, and did so with fun “intersquad” flair particularly on Sunday. After sailing to the win on Saturday from pole position – and in a new race car after an incident in the last round at Watkins Glen International – Thomas battled door-to-door for the lead with series newcomer Jeansonne (Charlie Hayes Racing).Thomas, owner of JTR Motorsports Engineering, fields Jeannsonne’s entry in a separate single-make series (Pro Spec-Miata) and was sure to show off his Porsche skills to his protégé. Thomas made a switch back move on Jeansonne about 10 minutes into the sprint race, looking to his outside before diving to the inside, to make the winning pass.
In his Sprint Challenge debut, Jeansonne finished on the podium twice with third place on Saturday and second place on Sunday behind his team boss. He swapped podium spots with Paul Bocuse, who finished second in Race 1 and third in Race 2 for MDK Motorsports.
Scott Blind with Ruckus Racing made significant strides in his fight for the 992 Masters class championship with a win and runner-up finish. Blind entered Road America just 21 points behind Mark Boden, whose best finish this weekend was third. Blind’s second-place result on Saturday came behind part-timer Peter Atwater, while Kyle Washington and Rob Walker also took home podium trophies.
In the 991 GT3 Cup class, Dimitri Dimakos with Honey Badger Motorsports scored both victories, although the true championship battle was between podium finishers Niels Meissner and Tony Malito. The pair were separated by only 19 points ahead of Road America, and Meissner finished one position ahead of Malito in both rounds.
In the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport class, Endurance Challenge winner Ian Porter led another weekend sweep, while the female trio of Loni Unser, Chloe Chambers and Caroline Candas spiritedly battled in both sprints for the remaining podium positions.
All three brought momentum to Road America – Chambers coming off an F1 Academy win in Barcelona, Candas being the most recent class winner from Watkins Glen, and Unser finishing runner-up in the same race for her best finish of the season.
All three ladies ultimately scored a podium at Road America. Unser finished second in Race 1 and third in Race 2, Candas finished third in Race 1 and Chambers finished runner-up in Race 2.
The 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport Masters class lineup shuffled throughout both races at Road America, with Alain Scalzo of Scalzo Autosport and William Peluchiwski of Kellymoss earning the victories. The points were crucial for Scalzo, who continues to chase Michael Clark in the championship. Clark lucked into second place on Saturday following a crash ahead of him and finished fourth on Sunday to maintain a large points advantage going into the finale at Sonoma. Patrick Dempsey, meanwhile, finished second for his first Sprint Challenge podium on Sunday. The trophy comes after hard- fought battles all weekend with fellow Cayman Masters drivers, even one that resulted in a last-lap incident taking away what could have been a double podium weekend.
Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West
Blake Mcdonald of BRracing and Anthony Mcintosh of JTR Motorsports Engineering split Porsche 992 GT3 Cup Pro-Am class victories among the USA West competitors at Road America.
Mcintosh controlled most of Race 1 on Saturday, with McDonald attached to his rear bumper, before McDonald made his late move for the win (an amazing set of moves, starting in Turn 5 after the long back straight, with Blake causing Mcintosh to cover defensively, by guarding the inside of Turn 5, this allowed McDonald to get a run out of Turn 5 and run alongside going up the hill into Turn 6. Mcintosh stayed on his line, giving McDonald just enough room to make the turn, and they excited Turn 6 side by side heading into Turn 7, McDonald stayed on the outside as they entered the turn, but had a nose on Mcintosh, and as they excited Turn 7, McDonald now had a half car overlap ahead of Mcintosh, allowing McDonald to take the inside line for Turn 8, and when they excited Turn 8, McDonald took the lead, and held the position to the finish, his sixth win of the season, to expand his championship points lead.
The PASS
However, in Race 2, Mcintosh returned the favor early into the bout by going deep into Turn 1, forcing McDonald wide on the exit, and the two ran nose to tail for the remainder of the race, providing Mcintosh the victory on Sunday. Casey Dennis powered to a podium finish in Race 1 and was poised for the same in Race 2, but a battle with John Dubets in the closing minutes saw both drivers run wide in Turn 1 and Dennis ultimately spin. Dubets then pulled to pit lane just ahead of the checkered flag, giving way to teammate Patrick Mulcahy (GMG Racing) for third place and his first podium of 2024.
In the 992 Masters class, Kevin Woods swept his third consecutive weekend with BRracing, even finishing top three overall on Sunday. The remaining podium positions mirrored each other in both races, with Kyle Washington (GMG Racing) finishing second and Laura Ely (BlackSheep Racing)finishing third.
Michael Gaulke with Competition Motorsports also swept his Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport Masters class at Road America, doing so even after an unpinned hood forced him to start from the back of the pack in Race 2.
Josh (BRracing) continues to impress, with such drastic improvement, both in overall lap time (faster), consistency, and race craft. Last year, Josh would have been somewhere mid grid, or about 18th or so, and now Josh is fighting for the podium.
On Sunday, Josh made his best start ever, and was solidly positioned in 4th overall, when he got tagged in the rear on the entry to Turn 14, causing his car to spin. Josh recovered, put his head down, and solidered on to the finish, near the end turning laps nearly equal to the leaders.
This track demands so much from the driver, and the level of focus and attention is beyond any other track. BRracing spent 7 days here (on track from Monday thru the end of Sunday), and the commitment by our customers / drivers is so evident, with their gains and results showing. I think one of the cars turned a total of over 240 laps…just think about that (don’t think about the amount of tires and fuel consumed)! Weather played in our favor, this was such a GREAT event. Can’t wait to get at this again.
