Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands brings 43 identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars to its season-opening rounds this week at Sebring International Raceway. In only its second season, the premier one-make series will set a world standard for entries for a single region on the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid with Rounds 1 and 2 of the 16 race schedule. In a near-even distribution of entries across the three classes – Pro, Pro-Am and Am – the full field will be comprised of the newest Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car, the type 992, at the Sebring, Florida event, March 16 – 17.
The opening weekend celebrates several milestones for the Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA)-managed race series. The popularity of the development series is evidenced by its growing list of partners. Deluxe Corporation, a leading business solutions company focused on finance and payroll services joins the established list of marketing partners for the 2022 race season. A new three-class format introduces the “Am” category to the grid while the length of each race has been changed to 40-minutes.
What’s New.
40-Minute Races. In 2022, all Porsche Carrera Cup North America rounds will be 40-minutes in length. This is a decrease of five-minutes from the inaugural season. The shortening of the races allows ten additional minutes to be added to other sessions each weekend, maximizes tire performance and more closely aligns the series with other one-makes around the globe – most of which run 30-minute rounds.
Am Class. Beginning with Round 1 at Sebring, the third class for the Porsche Carrera Cup North America will be known as “Am”. The category will be restricted to drivers 56-years-old and older. The class, which uses the type 992 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car as do all classes in the championship, provides drivers with more life experience the opportunity to contend against equally experienced drivers for race wins, podiums and the class championship.
The Entry.
43 Entries. Pro. 17, Pro-Am. 16, Am. 10
With 43 cars, the 2022 entry list for Sebring is the largest single-region, one-make series Porsche has ever assembled globally. It marks an increase of eight cars over the inaugural race weekend here last March. Unlike the debut in 2021, all Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars on the grid are type 992 making the “Super Sebring” weekend the largest gathering of the newest generation of the rear-mounted, normally aspirated 4.0-liter “Cup” car.
In pre-season testing, held March 7 – 8 at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course, Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) led the timesheets with a lap of two-minutes, 2.254-seconds in the No. 53 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Dickinson moves to the 2021 Championship-winning entrant, Kelly-Moss Road and Race, this year. 2021 Pro-Am class Champion Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) also joins Dickinson at the Wisconsin-based race team to defend his crown in the No. 65. The pairing shares the team with 2021 Pro class runner-up Kay van Berlo (Netherlands) in the No. 3 Kelly-Moss-prepared entry. In total, nine Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars will be made race-ready under the banner of the team owned by husband-wife principals Andy Kilcoyne and Victoria Thomas.
In all, 18 race teams have Porsche race cars entered across the three classes – two more than at the test session a week ago. Goldcrest Motorsports has five cars entered between the Pro-Am and Am classes including 2021 Pro-Am 991 class Champion Matt Halcome (Dallas, Georgia). ACI Motorsports (four), Topp Racing (four), JDX Racing (three), Wright Motorsports (three), 311RS Motorsports (two), Irish Mike Racing (two) and MDK Motorsports (two) each return to seek a title in 2022. BGB Motorsports is back with a one-car team. Debuting a single car each will be: Accelerating Performance, Alegra Motorsports, Mark Motors Racing, McCann Racing, Nolasport, Octavio and Premier Racing.
On Track.
The high visibility Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Michelin Pilot Challenge and FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will condense the Porsche Carrera Cup North America into a two-day event. Practice and Qualifying sessions will be held on Wednesday, March 16. The two, 40-minute races will be run on Thursday, March 17. Round One will take the green flag at 9:15 a.m. ET/6:15 a.m. PT while Round Two will start at 1:25 p.m. ET/10:25 a.m. PT leaving very little time for repairs or corrections if something goes wrong in the first race.
Troy Bundy, One-Make and GT Sport Manager, Porsche Motorsport North America.
“The success of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands both on the track and off has been overwhelming. We have the largest field any Porsche one-make has had for a single region. We are growing our social platforms, increasing the amount and regularity of content for our fans and, in addition to offering online streaming of our races at porschecarreracup.na, we now have an app streaming partner in Peacock. These are all very positive signs of the health of the Carrera Cup concept here in the United States and Canada.
Year One, we worked to establish the series as a true steppingstone with the best teams and drivers fighting it out in the best one-make car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, sold as a turn-key unit. Year Two, we are focused on the growth of the series in every aspect for partners, customers, the tracks and the fans. We are looking at everything we touch to make sure ensure we delivers a much value as possible to our competitors, teams, partners and fans.
Source. Porsche
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