Dickinson Wins Race 1 at Watkins Glen for Kellymoss

Riley Dickinson jumped to the lead early and controlled the first race of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America weekend at Watkins Glen International on his way to a Friday victory for Kellymoss.

Ryan Yardley led the 30-car field to green, but it was Dickinson who was on the attack early in his No. 91 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, overtaking Jimmy Llibre for second position and setting his sights on the Topp Racing driver ahead.

The Kellymoss driver took the lead of the race in a bold move out of the Bus Stop chicane and began to open up a gap behind before an early safety car.

On the restart, Yardley challenged Dickinson for the lead, with Llibre also pressuring for position. Dickinson, however, once again pulled away, surviving another brief late-race full-course yellow to take the checkered flag 1.852 seconds over Yardley by the checkered flag.

Llibre finished on the final step of the overall and Pro class podium for ACI Motorsports ahead of JDX Racing’s Zachary Vanier. Tyler Maxson completed the overall top five for Topp in the No. 77 Carrera Cup car as the highest finishing rookie in the field.

Alan Metni gave Kellymoss another class victory in Race 1, holding off a charge from JP Martinez to secure the Pro-Am victory. Patrick Mulcahy was third in class for GMG Racing.

After starting from the class pole, Scot Blind won in the Masters class, finishing the race 15th overall in his No. 45 Ruckus Racing Porsche.

The field was first halted under a full-course yellow after Marco Cirone spun into the braking zone of the Inner Loop, making contact with the left-hand side barriers and nearly collecting Peter Atwater, who took to the runoff to avoid contact from the spinning ACI driver.

Atwater, however, would later be handed a drive-through penalty for pit speed after initially diving for the pits following the incident.

Dickinson led the field back to green with just over 19 minutes remaining, though the field fell under caution again in the final 15 minutes for debris to be cleared from the race track at Turn 8, setting up a late shootout to the flag.

A further incident involving Richard Edge’s No. 18 ACI Porsche and rookie Rob Walker was determined to be inconclusive by racing stewards. Similarly, a late on-track incident between James Sofronas and Michael McCann resulted in no action being deemed necessary by race control.

In the early stages, Michael de Quesada spun his No. 11 Alegra Motorsports Porsche after a reported incident with the Pro-Am-leading No. 99 Kellymoss machine of Metni, but managed to make it back to pit lane.

Jared Thomas spun and recovered after looping his No. 96 JTR Porsche around at the Toe of the Boot in Turn 7 after tangling with the No. 8 McCann Racing entry. Thomas spent time in the pits following the incident and rejoined the field behind the field, which was behind the safety car for the second time.

Race 2 of the Carrera Cup North America weekend will go green at 8 a.m. EST Saturday morning with live coverage available on PorscheCarreraCup.us, Peacock, and IMSA’s YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Race 1