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Porsche Carrera Cup North America Miami highlights new faces at the front


Porsche Carrera Cup North America, Miami Gardens, Florida. Rounds 3 & 4

Miami Gardens, Florida. The Porsche Carrera Cup North America returned for the second season to South Florida as a support race for the Formula 1 ® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, May 3 – 5. The first of three weekends supporting the Grand Prix World Championship saw the competition in the premier one-make series in North America deepen even further across all three classes – Pro, Pro-Am, Masters – all of which use the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (type 992). The pair of 40-minute-plus-one-lap races witnessed a split in overall Pro class winners and Pro-Am class victors, including a first career win for Zachary Vanier (Canada) in Sunday’s Pro class and only a second for Sunday’s Pro-Am class winner, Moisey Uretsky (Miami, Florida).

Round 3. Saturday. May 4, 2024.
Saturday’s first race in Miami, run in a cooling evening, saw intense battles throughout the 35-car field. However, it was at the sharp end of the field, in the Pro class, where fans witnessed a three, and sometimes four, car deep battle for the overall race win. Ultimately, it was Loek Hartog (Netherlands) who stood on the top step of the podium having stayed near the front and out of trouble. It was the second win of the year for Hartog, having driven his No. 24 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to victory lane in race one at Sebring International Raceway in March. The result moved the young Dutchman into the points lead; thanks also to a post-race penalty to Gus Burton (United Kingdom). Hartog was just ahead of Zachary Vanier (Canada) who earned his best career finish in the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche. Veteran driver Michael Cooper (Huntington, New York) was third in the Baby Bull No. 88. All benefited from penalties handed down by race officials to two frontrunners. Pole sitter and winner on track Alex Sedgwick (United Kingdom) was penalized 10 seconds for changing lanes in his No 98 JDX Racing Porsche before the green flag. That dropped him to 15th overall after leading the entire race.

The race would finish under caution after Jimmy Llibre (Dominican Republic) spun and backed the No. 2 ACI Motorsports Porsche into the wall after fighting for the race win with 15 minutes remaining. The damage to Llibre’s car complicated its removal from the circuit, keeping the race from restarting. Not only did this impact Llibre’s day as well as competitors pushing for late race gains in position, but it tightened the field magnifying the 10-second penalty that had been assessed to Sedgwick. It would also massively impact Burton in the No. 20 MDK Motorsports Porsche. Burton, the winner of the second round at Sebring and points leader entering Miami, was also assessed a 10-second penalty for contact with Ryan Yardley (New Zealand) with 30-minutes remaining in the race. Yardley suffered damage and a tire puncture ending his day in the No. 78 Topp Racing Performance Porsche. Burton would fall to 20th.

Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) used the Miami venue to reestablish his presence in the Pro-Am class. The two-time Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro-Am class champion won the class in the No. 65 Kellymoss Porsche just ahead of teammate Jordan Wallace (Annapolis, Maryland). Wallace was making only his third Porsche Carrera Cup North America race start. Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) won both Miami rounds in his class in 2023 and repeated the performance in race one in Miami on Saturday in the No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche. The two-time class champion bettered Chris Bellomo (Portola Valley, California) and Tom Balames (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan).

Round 4. Sunday. May 5, 2024.
While not a traditional street circuit, the track around Hard Rock Stadium still imposes its concrete wall will on anything that gets too close. That was no truer than in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America’s round four on Sunday, May 5. As the field of 36 – down two from the original entry list – came to the first of 19 corners, drivers went three and even four wide, physics dictated the outcome. Weary of Saturday’s 10-second penalty for a lane change violation, pole sitter Alex Sedgwick (United Kingdom) held the line just long enough to let Zachary Vanier (Canada), who started just behind him in third place, move the No. 9 JDX Racing entry around and into the lead. But as Sedgwick, Jimmy Llibre (Dominican Republic) and Michael Cooper (Huntington, New York) followed Vanier into the right-hander, a melee broke loose in the middle of the field. Seven cars would not make it around to score a single lap: Jordan Wallace (Annapolis, Maryland), Michael Verhagen (The Netherlands), Alan Metni (Austin, Texas), Madeline Stewart (New Zealand), James Sofronas (Villa Park, California), Thomas Collingwood (Canada) and Carlos de Quesada (Tampa, Florida) and hold the field under caution for half of the scheduled time.

Action resumed after 20 of the 40-minute race had been logged behind the Porsche 911 GT3 RS Safety Car, but only for a short period of time as veteran Dan Clarke (Indianapolis, Indiana) was pushed into the outside wall damaging the left front of his No. 64 MDK Motorsports-readied machine and necessitating another caution period for clean-up. With only five-minutes (and one lap) remaining on the clock, Vanier fought to hold off Sedgwick and Ryan Yardley (New Zealand). Sedgwick, eager for his first win the series, pushed his No. 98 machine around his JDX Racing teammate but having crossed over the track limits, relinquished the spot back to avoid an official penalty. The checkered flag would fall over Vanier for his first series victory narrowly ahead of Sedgwick and Yardley. In fact, the top-five would finish within two seconds of the leader with Sebring race two winner Gus Burton (United Kingdom) in fourth place and Cooper in fifth.

Moisey Uretsky would use his Miami hometown support to his advantage scoring the second Pro-Am class win of his career in the No. 44 Baby Bull Porsche. Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) locked himself in as the “Master of the Masters class” again fending off all challengers to score a fourth consecutive Miami podium.

• Pro class winners.
o Race 1. Loek Hartog, No. 24 Kellymoss.
o Race 2. Zachary Vanier, No. 9 JDX Racing
• Pro-Am class winners.
o Race 1. Efrin Castro, No. 65 Kellymoss.
o Race 2. Moisey Uretsky, No. 44 Baby Bull Racing
• Masters class winners.
o Race 1 & 2. Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports.

• On point.
o Pro class. Loek Hartog, No. 24 Kellymoss
o Pro-Am class. Marco Cirone, No. 84 ACI Motorsports
o Masters class. Matt Halcome, No. 55 ACI Motorsports
o Entrant. Kellymoss

Highlights.
• Hometown heroes. Miami-area and Florida residents had mixed results at their home event. Moisey Uretsky of Miami charged to a Masters class victory in race two on Sunday driving the No. 44 Baby Bull Porsche scoring his second career Carrera Cup North America win. Angel Benitez – also of Miami – had one of the most impressive runs of the weekend in race two. Despite the limited green flag time he ran from 26th on the starting grid to 11th overall in the No. 5 MOMENTOP FMS Motorsport x RGB Racing Porsche. Key Largo’s Elias De La Torre ran to fifth on Saturday and sixth place on Sunday in the No. 4 JDX Racing Porsche. Veteran race winner Carlos de Quesada of Tampa was 31st on Saturday and taken out of the first turn melee on Sunday, being listed as 36th in the No. 22 Alegra Motorsports Porsche. Jimmy Llibre and Efrin Castro of the Dominican Republic each had a large contingency of fans on site. Castro earned the Pro-Am class victory for Kellymoss in race one on Saturday and a third place on Sunday. Llibre was in the mix for the Pro class victory both days but he would end each in frustration on the flatbed wrecker in race one and a ninth place run on Sunday. Miami’s David Tauty did not to participate in his hometown race after being unable to make repairs to his No. 68 MOMENTOP FMS Motorsport x RGB Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup as a result of a qualifying incident.

• Impressive comeback. Following an incident in qualifying on Saturday morning, John Goetz (Weston, Connecticut) was unable to start race one in the No. 57 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. He was allowed to enter a backup, but as the backup car was trailered off property, there was no way to get the car into the paddock, prepped, through technical inspection and on the grid for the first race just hours later. However, the Kellymoss crew was able to get the backup ready in time for Sunday morning’s race. Despite limited track time – and none in the backup machine – Goetz achieved a podium finish in race two.

• Early withdrawals. Three drivers scheduled to compete in Miami were forced to withdraw their entries before the start of the first race of the weekend. GMG Racing pulled the No. 32 of Kyle Washington (Indio, California) so that he could focus on his participation driving a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the SRO America series at Sebring International Raceway. David Tauty (Miami, Florida) was forced to pull the No. 68 MOMENTOP FMS Motorsport x RGB Racing entry following an on-track incident near the end of the 30-minute qualifying session on Saturday prior to race one. John Goetz would miss race one but return for race two.

• Broadcast. All 2024 races are archived on Porsche Motorsport North America TV: (https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica).

• Online. Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America: www.PorscheCarreraCup.us

• Next Up. June 7 – 9, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montréal, Canada, Rounds 5 and 6.

Quotes.
Loek Hartog, No. 24 Kellymoss. Pro Winner, Race 1.
“It was a not so good day for us that we turned into a race win. We started P5 [fifth place] and managed to stay out of trouble. I carved my way up to P2 [second place] but I was aware that the leader had a penalty, so I just cruised behind him. It was a good day for us.”

Zachary Vanier, No. 9 JDX Racing. Pro Winner, Race 2.
“Definitely not how I thought my first win in Porsche Carrera Cup would have come but, of course, I am super happy with it. It is such a cool place to get my first podium as well as my first win within the same weekend of the Miami Grand Prix. I have to give this to the team and all my partners. It is a really big effort from them, a really good way to bounce back from Sebring. We will use this for momentum into my home race in a month’s time [Montreal, June 7 – 9]. Kudos to my teammate Alex [Sedgwick] as well; a one-two for JDX Racing. A big shoutout to our team owner, Jeremy Dale. Unfortunately, he had to fly home this morning for some personal reasons, so this one feels really good to get the one-two for him.”

Efrin Castro, No. 65 Kellymoss. Pro-Am Winner, Race 1.
“Everything went well. Thanks to God. We executed our plan. In the beginning I lost a couple of spots, but we kept our head down and continued pushing. My teammate, Jordan [Wallace], kept me honest. He kept pushing. I am fortunate we finished the race under yellow because it secured my position, and we came out with a win.”

Moisey Uretsky, No. 44 Baby Bull Racing. Pro-Am Winner, Race 2.
“Every single lap was important. Every restart was important. Miami is a great atmosphere. I love the race. I wish it was a little more clean but definitely made the end super exciting. Happy we got first place in Pro-Am.

Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports. Masters Winner, Race 1 and 2.
“Anything that can happen in racing will happen. This race was a crazy one. I can’t say enough about the MDK crew and, most importantly, my wife Meg who came down to support me this whole weekend. It has been a fabulous weekend, and I can’t wait to go to Montreal and do it all again.”

• To the point.
Current Porsche Carrera Cup North America Championship Point Standings.
http://results.imsa.com/?season=24_2024

• Broadcast. All races air on the Peacock streaming app, IMSA.tv and PorscheCarreraCup.us and are archived at:
https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica.

• On the web. www.PorscheCarreraCup.us.

  • Image courtesy of Porsche Motorsport North America.

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