Maxson Rebounds for Race 2 Win at Watkins Glen

Photo: Jessica Johnk/Porsche

Tyler Maxson returned to victory lane in Saturday’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America round at Watkins Glen International in a controlling run for the championship leader.

Maxson, in his No. 77 Topp Racing Porsche 911 Cup, scored his fourth victory of the season, finishing 6.620 seconds ahead of Race 1 winner Janne Stiak in the No. 40 ACI Motorsports entry.

It came after Maxson was forced to the pits due to a puncture in Friday’s race while leading at the time, which opened the door for Stiak to claim a breakthrough victory.

However, the 19-year-old German was unable to match the pace of Maxson, who extended his points lead in the process.

Nearly half of the 40-minute race was run behind the safety car following a hard impact with the barriers for the No. 53 JTR Motorsports Engineering Porsche of Rob Walker at the Bus Stop on Lap 2.

While Walker climbed from the car under his own power, lengthy barrier repairs resulted in the race restarting with only 20 minutes on the clock.

Maxson held nearly a three-second lead at the time of the early race yellow.

Callum Hedge, meanwhile, completed the overall and Pro class podium in third, after pressuring Stiak.

A similarly fierce fight between Jared Thomas and Aaron Jeansonne for fourth saw it go the way of the Kellymoss driver after Thomas was assessed a ten-second post-race penalty for failure to leave room on the restart that also involved the No. 78 Topp entry of Cole Kleck.

It dropped Thomas, in the No. 96 JTR entry, from fourth to sixth in the classification.

Kleck, meanwhile, completed the top-five, also benefiting from Thomas’ penalty.

Pro-Am class honors went to the No. 54 ACI Porsche of Patrick Mulcachy, in a weekend sweep, while Matt Smith also doubled up with two wins out of two starts in Masters.

The No. 45 Ruckus Racing Porsche Scott Blind finished second after starting from the rear of the field as a penalty for incident responsibility in the first-lap pileup on Friday.

Marco Cirone completed the Masters class podium in third.

RESULTS: Race 2

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