Dickinson Dominates Sebring Season Opener

Riley Dickinson converted pole position into a commanding win in the opening round of the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America season at Sebring International Raceway.

The 20-year-old Texan led the field to green in his No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car and controlled the gap behind to McElrea Racing’s Tom Sargent before extending to a nearly eight-second advantage by the end of the 40-minute race.

Sargent moved his way passed the No. 9 JDX Racing machine of Will Martin, who completed the overall podium.

MDK Motorsports’ Jason Hart came home in fourth, while Dan Clarke came out on top in a tight battle for fifth position.

Dickinson will attempt a clean sweep of the weekend in this afternoon’s Race 2, where he will start on pole position after setting the second-fastest time in yesterday’s qualifying session.

Moisey Uretsky claimed the Pro-Am class win in his No. 44 Accelerating Performance Porsche after inheriting the lead from then-class-leader Efrin Castro.

Castro’s race was interrupted by contact with the Pro class JDX car of Elias De La Torre at the hairpin around the halfway mark.

The Kellymoss driver held on to second place in class for much of the race before suddenly losing pace in the closing laps, ultimately finishing fourth in Pro-Am.

Marco Cirone finished runner up in the class ahead of the No. 99 Porsche of Alan Metni in third.

Scott Noble, meanwhile, claimed Am class honors in a 1-2 finish for MDK, with team owner and defending class champion Mark Kvamme finishing second.

Despite multiple cars having off-track excursions, green flag running was only interrupted by occasional local yellows.

The most dramatic of which appeared when Michael Merritt’s No. 63 Am class Porsche lost a wheel at Turn 7 after just three minutes. He limped his McCann Racing car back to the pits and eventually rejoin the race, finishing three laps behind the winners.

Race 2 is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. ET. Live coverage on Porsche’s new PorscheCarreraCup.us website, Peacock, IMSA.tv, and IMSA Radio.

RESULTS: Race 1