Estep Scores First Pole of Season; Van Berlo Fourth

Photo: Porsche

Trenton Estep broke Kay van Berlo’s four-race pole streak Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with the MDK Motorsports driver storming to the top qualifying position for Saturday’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands race.

Estep, in the No. 6 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, reeled off a best lap of 1:24.925 in qualifying at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to edge out the No. 53 Kelly-Moss Road and Race entry of Riley Dickinson by 0.169 seconds.

Van Berlo qualified fourth, with Parker Thompson in the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche also making a late-session improvement.

Estep’s pole-winning time came following a red flag for Hutton McKenna, whose Wright Motorsports Porsche stopped on course in Turn 9, which set up shootout to the checkered flag with less than ten minutes left on the clock.

Leh Keen and Dimitri Dimakos will roll off from fifth and sixth, respectively, in their 311RS Motorsport entries, both competing in the Pro class.

Pro-Am class pole went to the No. 65 Kelly-Moss Porsche of Efrin Castro, who set the 11th quickest time overall in the 32-car field.

Mark Kvamme, meanwhile, made it a double pole for MDK, with the Bronze-rated driver taking top qualifying honors in the Am class for drivers over the age of 57.

The first 40-minute race of the weekend gets underway Saturday at 11:50 a.m. PT (2:50 p.m. ET) with live coverage on Peacock and PorscheCarreraCup.us.

RESULTS: Qualifying

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