Championship Battle Tightens Entering Indianapolis

Photo: Jessica Johnk/Porsche

The battle for the Pro class title in Porsche Carrera Cup North America has tightened entering this weekend’s pair of races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Only 17 points separate leader Tyler Maxson from second-placed Aaron Jeansonne with six races to go in the IMSA-sanctioned single-make series, after the Kellymoss driver made significant headway on Topp Racing’s Maxson at Road America.

Maxson, who entered the last event with a 37-point lead, retired in Race 2 after contact with eventual race winner Callum Hedge, while Maxson finished seventh in the Miami make-up round that weekend as well.

Jeansonne, meanwhile, picked up a trio of podium finishes in Wisconsin.

JDX Racing driver Hedge sits third in the title race, 33 points behind Maxson entering this weekend at The Brickyard.

The 20-car entry list will feature the series debut of Australian Lockie Bloxom in the No. 60 JDX Porsche 911 Cup, who has made Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama starts with the Jeremy Dale-led squad alongside a parallel program in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.

The Pro-Am class title is set to be wrapped up this weekend with ACI Motorsports driver Patrick Mulcahy riding a ten-race class win streak and will compete solo at Indy.

In Masters, Marco Cirone holds a 37-point lead over defending class champion Scott Blind, in a battle that could tighten up this weekend.

Of note, GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington is set for his first start of the season after his suspension from IMSA-sanctioned competition was lifted following a Ferrari Challenge North America race in March.

The Masters class will also see the addition of Frank Vitiello in a JDX entry, although both Kevin Stadtlander and Chris Bellomo are notably absent.

Track action begins on Friday with a pair of practice sessions and qualifying. Race 1 is set for Saturday at 12:35 p.m. EST, while Race 2 takes the green flag Sunday at 11:20 a.m., with both 40-minute contests to be streamed live on Peacock as well as Porsche Motorsport North America and IMSA’s YouTube channels.

Pre-Event News & Notes:

***Carrera Cup North America makes its sixth consecutive visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Its first trip to The Brickyard was part of the Porsche Sports Car Together Fest in 2021. One year later, NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon briefly stepped out of retirement to race the Indy road course, finishing 20th and 16th, respectively, in a Hendrick Performance Group-entered Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

***The Carrera Cup North America field has completed 4,203 combined race laps for a total of 13,234.3 miles to date this season, the equivalent of 5,293 laps around the 2.5-mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

***While Maxson leads the way with five wins this season, four other drivers have won overall. Tom Sargent (GMG), Callum Hedge (JDX), Janne Stiak (ACI) and Cole Kleck (Topp) have all visited victory lane in the Pro class, while ten drivers have taken class victories, spread amongst six different teams.

***ACI Motorsports leads the way with 18 out of a possible 30 class wins to date, boosted by Mulcahy’s ten wins in Pro-Am. Topp, Ruckus Racing, GMG, JTR Motorsports Engineering and JDX have all taken home winner’s trophies as well.

***Alan Metni is the all-time leader in podium finishes at Indianapolis amongst Carrera Cup drivers, tied with Efrin Castro with seven. Metni has two Pro-Am class wins, and returns to the Pro class this weekend with Kellymoss.

***While the Carrera Cup North America season marches on, champions were crowned last weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge, a step on the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid. Karel Staut (Kellymoss), the 15-year-old phenom, earned the honors in GT3 Cup Pro-Am with Mark Boden (Fall-Line Motorsports) matching him in GT3 Cup Masters.

***Anna Cecchi (Charlie Hayes Racing) became the first woman to win a Sprint Challenge championship with her Cayman Pro-Am title, while Bill Peluchiwski (Kellymoss) scored Cayman Masters honors.

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