Thompson and van Berlo Split Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands Rounds in Austin

Pro Class

With qualifying canceled due to severe weather on Saturday, the starting grid for Race 1, held at 8:00 a.m. CDT on Sunday morning, was set by championship points. The starting order for Race 2 was determined by each driver’s fastest lap in Race 1. As a result, in the morning event, Sebastian Priaulx (United Kingdom) sat on the pole position in the No. 3 Kelly-Moss Road & Race Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car while with teammate Kay van Berlo (Netherlands) beside him. When the young driver from Guernsey – and winner of the first race in series history at Sebring in March – brought the field to the green flag in tight, side-by-side formation. It was van Berlo who took the lead charging uphill into Turn 1 and began to pull away. Priaulx would fall into the clutches of those behind him, unable to put full power down on the 500+ Hp normally aspirated rear-engine racer. 15-minutes into the race, van Berlo – who won Race 2 at Sebring – was ahead of Parker Thompson (Canada) by more than four-seconds. As the remaining top-five battled behind them, and on a drying track, the leading pair pulled away. A late yellow flag bunched the field for a green flag with ten-minutes remaining. van Berlo grew the lead to almost two-seconds before Thompson formed his attack and was less than one-second behind the Dutchman entering the final lap. Thompson closed and overtook van Berlo for the win in the final sector of the circuit. The podium for Race 1 was Thompson, van Berlo and a surging Priaulx in third-place.

It was Priaulx’s late charge that earned him the fastest race lap and pole position for Race 2. The Pro class point’s leader entering the event pulled into the early lead in Race 2 as Leh Keen (Atlanta, Georgia) in the No. 12 311RS Motorsports entry and Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) in the No. 53 Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car battled behind. The field remained consistent until van Berlo – who started in fourth-place – closed the gap to the leaders and overtook for the top position at the end of the backstraight. He would never be seriously challenged again as Priaulx and a local favorite Dickinson closed out the top-three. Thompson was in fourth-place.

Comments after the race

Parker Thompson, Driver, No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Winner, Race 1.
“Kay was really good on cold tires so on the restart he pulled away but I slowly tracked him back in. He made a little mistake going through [turns] 17, 18, 19 and I threw it in and we got the job done. I think the JDX car was the fastest on track. We deserved to be on the pointy-end of the field today.”

Kay van Berlo, Driver, No. 3 Kelly-Moss Road & Race Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Winner, Race 2.
“I felt I had to set something right for the team. I just wanted it to be a clean race. I made it up to P2 and after that it was remembering we had a 45-minute race and I had to save the tires. I closed the gap to Priaulx and my first opportunity I made my move. It worked out pretty well. From there onwards it was a matter of taking care of the tires and not making any strange mistakes. We brought it home. A good way to finish the weekend. It was a difficult weekend with so many different conditions. It requires the driver to shift from one style of driving to another.”

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Pro-Am

Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) was the Pro-Am class race winner of both rounds at COTA. He now stands as the only driver to win the class at every round of the championship thus far. Metni was originally placed in second at the conclusion of Race 1 but post-race technical inspection of the No. 69 BGB Motorsports entry of Thomas Collingwood (Canada) found the car did not meet the camber requirement set by series officials. As a result Metni’s No. 99 Kelly-Moss Road & Race Porsche was moved to the win with Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) in the No. 65 Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche and Curt Swearingin (Chattanooga, Tennessee) piloting the No. 17 ACI Motorsports machine in second and third. The trio would repeat the order in Race 2.

Pro-Am 991

In Race 1 on Sunday morning, Matt Halcome (Dallas, Georgia) piloted his No. 55 Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, type 991. 2, to victory. Not only did he lead his fellow Pro-Am 991 class competitors, he bettered the field of Pro-Am type 992 cars. Jeffrey Majkrzak (Orono, Minnesota) – No. 29 – and Grady Willingham (Birmingham, Alabama) – No. 21 – finished off the podium in both rounds.

Matt Halcome, Driver, No. 55 Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Winner, Race 1 and 2.
“This morning was pretty rough in the first race. It was super slick with no grip in the front end but the second race was great weather. The track got a little greasy toward the end but it was a good time. We are happy with our results this weekend.”

An archive of the event can be found on the Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube channel (youtube.com/porschemotorsportnorthamerica). Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands will be held at Watkins Glen International in New York on June 24 – 27.

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Porsche Carrera Cup North America by the Cayman Islands is the premier one-make race series in the United States and Canada utilizing a combination of the latest Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car, type 992, and MICHELIN® Pilot® Sport Cup N3 racing slick to challenge the best road and street race courses on the continent. As with all national Carrera Cups worldwide, the inaugural season of the championship is scheduled to host 16-rounds. Each 45-minute race counts toward a season-long driver and team championship in each of three classes: Pro, Pro-Am and Pro-Am 991.

For more information on Porsche Carrera Cup North America by The Cayman Islands can be found at www.PorscheCarreraCup.us.

Source link : https://newsroom.porsche.com/en_US/2021/motorsport/porsche-carrera-cup-north-america-cayman-islands-austin-cota-rounds-3-4-911-gt3-cup-24369.html

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Publish date : 2021-05-03 03:00:00

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