Porsche Pyramid Drivers Enjoy Success in Daytona

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Porsche Motorsport Pyramid drivers enjoyed a considerable amount of success at Daytona International Speedway last month, either in the four-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener or Rolex 24 at Daytona IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship curtain raiser.

Reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro class champion Riley Dickinson celebrated victory (pictured above) in his Pilot Challenge debut alongside fellow Pyramid drivers Michael McCarthy and Brady Golan at the wheel of a Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

It didn’t stop there as inaugural Carrera Cup North America champion Seb Priaulx claimed GTD Pro class pole for the Rolex 24 in AO Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R and topped it off with a podium finish in the race alongside 2022 Carrera Cup Germany champion Laurin Heinrich and factory ace Michael Christensen.

Parker Thompson, the 2022 Carrera Cup champion, meanwhile, claimed GTD pole for the race as well.

In total, more than 40 drivers who each have substantial experience in Porsche single-make racing competed in either race, with an additional eight teams who are regular entrants in the Porsche single-make race series were represented in the two top races on the card at Daytona.

It included overall Rolex 24 winner Matt Campbell, who started off on the Porsche Pyramid in single-make series in Australia.

“Daytona was a very good result for Porsche, obviously,” said Porsche Motorsport North America President and CEO Volker Holzmeyer.

“To capture the brand’s 19th overall victory at one of the greatest endurance races in the world was very rewarding as was earning the GTD Pro class pole position with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“However, it was most gratifying for Porsche Motorsport North America to watch three of our Porsche Motorsport Pyramid North America drivers, Riley, Michael and Brady, win in the intensely competitive GT4 field of the Michelin Pilot Challenge.

“To be the first time any of them had ever shared a race car or heard any strategy than ‘full attack’, speaks well of the training they have received, and well of our Motorsport Pyramid system which they all have worked their way through.

“This is very gratifying and a testimony of the platform we have created from Porsche Club track days up through the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America and into open competition with the SRO and IMSA.

“To count over 40 drivers on the entry lists for these two events, the majority in the 24 Hour, who have spent significant time in the system is more than noteworthy.”

Dickinson made his Pilot Challenge debut alongside McCarthy and Porsche Sprint Challenge USA by Yokohama driver Golan.

“The aggressive nature of the drivers around you is the same as I have seen throughout my career in the Porsche one-make series,” he said.

“What is different is that it isn’t always the same driver or the same car around you. I had to learn how to judge that.

“The other thing is this was a four-hour race instead of a 40-minute race. So, I had to adapt and learn and be there at the end.

“On the final stint, I got in and they said: ‘maximum fuel save’ and I replied ‘what is that?’ I have never fuel saved in my entire life because I came out of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, and we didn’t have to do that.

“I had to learn on the fly there, but I guess I did OK because we made it.”

Kellymoss co-owner Andy Kilcoyne admitted the deal came together late to run the trio in the Pilot Challenge race but it paid off big time.

“It is pretty cool to watch these kids that have worked so hard at their craft get the opportunity at the next level,” he said. “It is great to see. I am really proud of them.

“Trying to take them out of the sprint racing mentality and into the discipline of endurance racing was a little bit of a struggle.

“They are fierce competitors and want to put down fast laps and do well but they did a great job of doing what they needed to when they needed to. That proved to be the difference.”

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