32 Entries for Carrera Cup Season Opener at Sebring

Photo: Jessica Johnk/Porsche

A total of 32 cars are set for this week’s pair of season-opening Porsche Carrera Cup North America races at Sebring International Raceway, as Porsche’s top North American single-make series kicks off its fifth season.

The entry list, split between the Pro, Pro-Am and Masters classes, features a mix of new and returning drivers, with 2023 overall champion Riley Dickinson headlining the Pro category.

The Texan, who won 11 of the 16 races that season, has been reunited with Kellymoss in the newly-numbered No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car.

It is one of four cars in Pro fielded by the Madison, Wis.-based team, which includes Mazda MX-5 Cup graduate Aaron Jeansonne, Wesley Slimp and Ashley Freiberg.

While 2024 champion Loek Hartog does not return, last year’s runner-up Ryan Yardley, is back for more in the No. 78 Topp Racing Performance Porsche alongside new-for-2025 teammate Tyler Maxson, while fellow 2024 standout Zachary Vanier is part of a four-car effort from JDX Racing.

The JDX lineup also sees Sabre Cook, Paul Bocuse and Madeline Stewart as drivers in Pro.

ACI Motorsports has six cars entered across the three classes, with Yves Baltas and John Jodoin in Pro, JP Martinez and Marco Cirone in Pro-Am and Richard Edge in Masters.

Michael McCann is back with his McCann Racing squad in Pro, while reigning Pirelli GT4 America Am class champion Jaden Lander makes the step into the single-make series with Rotek Racing.

Alegra Motorsports is set to return to the grid with Michael de Quesada, while former IndyCar driver Matheus Leist is with Nolasport.

JTR Motorsports Engineering, meanwhile, will field Jared Thomas, which completes the 19-car strong Pro class.

Cirone is in a six-car Pro-Am class for Sebring that also includes GMG Racing’s James Sofronas and Patrick Mulcahy, as well as defending class champion Alan Metni and Rotek’s Brady Behrman.

Series stalwart Matt Halcome nor 2024 class champion Chris Bellomo are not on the Sebring entry although there are seven strong candidates vying for Masters class honors.

It includes GMG’s Kyle Washington, Scott Blind of Ruckus Racing, Nolasport’s Michael Auriemma, Todd Parriott of Kellymoss, as well as Peter Atwater and Rob Walker, both driving for JTR Motorsports Engineering.

Carrera Cup track action begins on Wednesday with two 40-minute practice sessions, with qualifying on tap for Thursday morning, ahead of Race 1 at 4:55 p.m. EDT. Race 2 gets underway Friday at 6:15 p.m., with both rounds to be broadcast live on IMSA.tv, Peacock and Porsche Motorsport North America’s YouTube channel.

Pre-Event News & Notes:

***Sebring International Raceway is a long-standing favorite on the Carrera Cup North America calendar, opening the season every year since 2021. A year ago, Loek Hartog and Gustav Burton split the weekend’s overall wins.

***Carrera Cup North America has traditionally preceded the season with a test at Sebring, and this year was no exception. Teams and drivers visited the track for two full days, March 3–4. Yardley and Topp led the way with a best time of 2:02.042 overall and in the Pro class. Yardley completed 122 laps during the two days.

***In all, 12 drivers set times that bettered the the 2024 pole qualifying time at Sebring (2:03.291), including drivers from Topp (Yardley and Maxson), Kellymoss (Dickinson and Jeansonne, JDX (Vanier and Bocuse), JTR (Thomas), ACI (Llibre and Baltas), Alegra (de Quesada), Nolasport (Leist) and Accelerating Performance/Ibiza Farms Motorsports (Cooper).

***Two drivers on the entry list this week call Florida home. De Quesada is a Florida native who calls Tampa home, while 17-year-old Bocuse lives with his family in Orlando.

***Carrera Cup North America has, throughout its history, been an opportunity for international drivers to compete. Through four seasons, each championship driver has come from a different country: Seb Priaulx (Great Britain), Parker Thompson (Canada), Dickinson (United States) and Hartog (The Netherlands). This season’s grid represents five different nationalities.

***In addition to a strong line-up of established teams, Rotek Racing joins the Carrera Cup North America grid for the first time in 2025. Led by Robb Holland, Rotek is the winningest team in GT America powered by AWS. Lander and Behrman will conduct the season with Rotek.

***Additionally, longtime Porsche racers GMG Racing have committed to a full Carrera Cup North America season for the first time with championship-winning driver Sofronas, with Mulcahy making his series debut alongside.

***Three drivers will utilize the Mobil 1 Female Driver Development program to augment their racing in 2025. Cook, who has been part of the program since its inception three years ago returns, joined by JDX Racing teammate Stewart and series newcomer Freiberg. The program provides motorsport training and seminars and subsidized entry fees to all drives, while high performing drivers have an opportunity to earn a free set of Yokohama tires each race event.

***PenFed Credit Union has joined Carrera Cup North America as a presenting partner, represented on each of the cars on the grid during the first two rounds (Sebring and Miami) and the final two rounds (Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and Circuit of The Americas).

***Tire partner Yokohama returns for a second season with the Yokohama ADVAN A005 slicks for dry sessions and the Yokohama ADVAN A006 for rain races. Each Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car will be fueled with Exxon Mobil Synergy Supreme + gasoline during on-track sessions. Each driver wears a custom Sparco suit during races, with the quickest qualifier starting from the Race Brew Pole. Eboost earns status as official drink of the series.

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