Maxson Captures Season Finale Win at COTA

After clinching the Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship in Race 1, Tyler Maxson capped the season with a Pro class victory in Sunday’s finale at Circuit of The Americas, Topp Racing’s home track, aboard the No. 77 Porsche 911 Cup car.

Maxson led all 17 laps to secure his ninth win of the season, although the polesitter faced early pressure in a chaotic opening lap before establishing control of the race.

Maxson moved to the front at the start after coming under pressure from Janne Stiak and Callum Hedge into Turn 1.

He gradually pulled away from the field before fluid on the track prompted a full-course yellow with 31 minutes remaining, with Sabre Cook in the No. 37 JDX Racing entry and Alan Metni in the No. 99 car for Kellymoss stopped on track.

Racing resumed with 26 minutes left, and Maxson made a strong getaway to maintain his advantage. He ultimately secured the win by more than six seconds.

While Maxson continued to extend his lead, the battle for second between Hedge and Stiak became a focal point.

Hedge initially held off Stiak into Turn 1 on the restart, with the pair continuing to fight for position through the middle stages of the 35-minute race.

However, Hedge was handed a 10-second post-race penalty for multiple track-limit violations, dropping him out of contention for the podium and promoting Stiak to second.

Jared Thomas also benefited from the penalty, completing the Pro class podium aboard the No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche.

In Pro-Am, Patrick Mulcahy returned to the top step of the podium aboard the No. 54 ACI Motorsports Porsche.

Race 1 winner James Sofronas was caught up in an opening-lap incident at Turn 13 while driving the No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche, an incident also involved Pro class competitors Cook and Metni.

Despite the early setback, Sofronas fought back to finish second in Pro-Am, completing the weekend with a pair of podium finishes.

Steve Wetterau rounded out the class podium in the No. 58 Kellymoss Porsche, while teammate Josh Conley dropped out of podium contention after receiving a track-limits penalty.

Scott Blind completed a clean sweep of the Masters class for the weekend aboard the No. 45 Ruckus Racing Porsche.

Blind faced late pressure from Rob Walker in the No. 53 JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche but held on for the win. Joel Johnson completed the class podium in the No. 70 JDX Racing entry.

Three drivers were sidelined for the season finale following the previous day’s incident, which triggered the second full-course yellow in Race 1 before the race ultimately finished under caution.

ACI Motorsports’ Marco Cirone and Matt Smith were unable to start due to damage sustained in the straightaway pileup, while GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington was assessed a drive-through penalty that was converted to a 30-second time penalty and was suspended from Race 2 for unjustifiable risk.

RESULTS: Race 2