COTA Weekend Notebook

Photo: Porsche

***A total of 26 cars are set for Sunday’s pair of Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by the Cayman Islands races. Twenty-seven cars were initially on the entry list although the Pro-Am 991 class No. 97 Irish Mike’s Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Craig Conway was a late withdrawal due to family commitments.

***The overall entry is down from the 34 cars that took part in the inaugural race weekend at Sebring International Raceway last month.

***Among the drivers not competing this weekend is Tim Pappas, who has elected to concentrate on his Pirelli GT4 America and GT America presented by AWS driving duties with Black Swan Racing and not attempt to pull triple duty. 

***Mark Thomas has replaced Jeff Kingsley at the wheel of the No. 16 MRS GT-Racing entry this weekend, in the only driver change since Sebring.

***Representatives from The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism arrived on Friday as part of its new title partner status that was announced earlier this week. 

***The season-long championship driver in each of the categories, as well as a guest, will receive a five-day, four-night stay at a luxury property in the Cayman Islands, including air transportation, and airport/ hotel transfers.  

***A number of drivers turned laps in private testing earlier this week including New Braunfels, Tx.-native Riley Dickinson, who is one of four drivers to hail from Texas. Alan Metni (Austin), Bill Smith (Dallas) and Frank Raso (Cleburne) also call Texas home.

***Topp Racing (Cresson) and Moorespeed (Austin) are the two Texan teams in the field, with Topp being the only team with entries in all three classes.

***Dickinson and members of his Team Hardpoint EBM operation visited Porsche Austin on Wednesday in the build up to the weekend. The dealership serves as the primary sponsor of the 18-year-old’s Pro class entry.

***Twenty-year-old Seb Priaulx heads into the weekend as the points leader, with the Kelly-Moss Road and Race driver holding a ten-point advantage over Kay van Berlo, who topped Friday’s time sheets in practice. 

***Both drivers claimed wins and runner-up finishes in the pair of Sebring races but Priaulx holds the lead courtesy of his double pole position, which pays five points apiece. 

***Pro-Am is being led by Alan Metni, who claimed a sweep of the weekend at Sebring while Kurt Hunt and Matt Halcome are tied for the lead with 45 points apiece in the Pro-Am 991 class. Hunt is not entered for this weekend’s races.

***While not yet announced, Sportscar365 understands that Rounds 11 and 12 of the championship will likely take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September, in what is currently the only to-be-announced event on the schedule.

***The status of the Toronto Indy event in July, however, remains in question, with the NTT IndyCar Series already having a contingency plan in place in the event of its cancelation due to the continued travel restrictions in Canada.

***Porsche Motorsport North America has launched a dedicated YouTube channel that features a number of videos focused on Carrera Cup North America as well as its involvement in other sports car racing series on the continent. 

***A total of 72 Porsche race cars are representing the German manufacturer across five series and two sanctioning bodies this weekend. It includes the second round of the USAC-sanctioned Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama, which kicked off its season at Sebring last month.

***W Series driver Sabre Cook has joined TPC Racing for the Porsche Sprint Challenge event. Cook, a 26-year-old driver/engineer, earned a pair of third-place finishes a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the SCCA Super Tour at Virginia International Raceway last weekend.

***Both 45-minute races will feature on Sunday, with Race 1 getting underway at 8 a.m. CT followed by Race 2 at 2:50 p.m. CT. IMSA.tv will carry live streaming coverage with commentary from the IMSA Radio team led by John Hindhaugh.

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