Van Berlo Takes Controlling Win in First Race of Weekend

Photo: Porsche

Kay van Berlo drove to a controlling victory in the first Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands race of the weekend at Watkins Glen International.

The Miami-based Dutchman led a Kelly-Moss 1-2 finish in Friday’s 40-minute contest, which was marred by a lengthy full-course caution for barrier repairs due to an opening lap accident.

Van Berlo, who started on pole, led all 18 laps en route to his fifth win of the season.

He finished 4.489 seconds ahead of the No. 53 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Riley Dickinson, with WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca winner Parker Thompson completing the overall and Pro class podium.

With the win, van Berlo extends his lead to a 33-point margin in the Pro class standings heading into Saturday’s second and final race of the weekend.

Trenton Estep and Leh Keen completed the top-five for MDK Motorsports and 311 RS Motorsport, respectively.

Pro-Am class honors went to Kelly-Moss’ Alan Metni, who finished an impressive seventh overall.

The No. 65 Kelly-Moss entry of Efrin Castro and Nolasport’s Justin Oakes completed the podium in the category.

MDK’s Mark Kvamme picked up the Am class win in his No. 43 Porsche, edging out the No. 42 Topp Racing entry of Bill Smith by just 0.608 seconds.

Smith’s teammate Travis Wiley sustained a heavy accident on the opening lap at the Esses, which saw the teenager roll his Porsche after making an impact with the armco barriers that required repairs.

It resulted in the first half of the race running behind the Porsche safety car.

Race 2 is scheduled for a 11:05 a.m. ET start on Saturday.

RESULTS: Race 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John