Porsche One-Make Title Fight Heats Up Heading into VIR

Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by the Cayman Islands has come down to a three-man charge for the Pro class championship entering the penultimate weekend of the premier one-make series’ inaugural season.

This weekend’s visit to Virginia International Raceway will provide 28 drivers across three classes the opportunity to reach victory lane.

Having left the three-round weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway back on top of the standings, early-season points leader Seb Priaulx gained a 44-point advantage over Kelly-Moss Road and Race teammate Kay van Berlo.

The Brit nudged ahead with two wins at The Brickyard while the Dutchman had an off-weekend with a best finish of third place in the last race of the Porsche Sportscar Together Fest.

Priaulx has three wins and seven pole positions in the No. 15 Porsche while the No. 3 of van Berlo has scored five wins and one pole position through 11 rounds.

Canada’s Parker Thompson gained the most at Indianapolis. He enters VIR trailing Priaulx by only 57 points in the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

Three victories and two other podium finishes have placed Thompson into the title fight with 150 points (25 points for a victory, 5 points for pole) remaining up for grabs for the season.

The trio has pulled away from the remainder of the top-five, but potential race winners run deep into the class.

A third-place finish at Indianapolis coupled with two, fourth-place finishes in the other two rounds at Indy give veteran Leh Keen a solid fourth-place in the 311RS Motorsport Porsche with 159 points.

Riley Dickinson remains in striking distance in fifth-place with 148 points piloting the No. 53 Team Hardpoint Porsche to five podium results thus far in 2021.

Pro-Am Title Fight Tightened

The two-race victories at Indianapolis by Efrin Castro and a win there by Curt Swearingin has tightened the Pro-Am class contenders as well.

The class, designated for drivers 40-years-old or older entering the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 992 race car, is a three-car battle with 67 points separating the top-three challengers.

Alan Metni earned seven victories in the first 11 rounds despite missing Round 9 due to a conflict.

He has driven the No. 99 iFly Kelly-Moss Porsche onto the podium in all but that ninth-round including four straight wins to start the year and an additional three straight with a second place breaking the streaks in the middle of the year.

It was only at Indy where the silver machine failed to win at least once.

That was all it took however for Castro in the No. 65 Team Hardpoint Porsche to move within 39 markers of Metni.

A win in race three at Indianapolis by Swearingin strengthened his third-place position in the No. 17 ACI Motorsports Porsche – he trails Castro by 28 points.

Halcome Leads Pro-Am 991 Class Field into VIR

Matt Halcome has held the Pro-Am 991 class lead – for drivers racing the previous generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, type 991.2 – since Round 2 at Sebring International Raceway in March.

He has accumulated 228 points in the No. 55 Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche with five wins and four other podium results.

His Goldcrest teammate Grady Willingham in the No. 21 pushed passed the third Goldcrest-entered machine of Jeff Majkrzak when Majkrzak moved into the Pro-Am class after the purchase of a Type 992 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car prior to Indianapolis.

The Alabamian is now in second-place with 168 points.

While holding the widest margin of any class championship leader, the title chase continues into the final two event weekends for the class which will be ended at the conclusion of the 2021 race season.

Majkrzak remains in third-place while Joseph Lombardo sits in fourth-place having scored his first two professional race victories at Indy driving the No. 92 for Kelly-Moss.

However, Lombardo will miss VIR because of another commitment providing Craig Conway a chance to move into the top-three behind the wheel of the No. 97 Irish Mike’s Racing machine. Both Lombardo and Conway have 105 points entering VIR.

Practice for all classes gets underway Friday at 8 a.m. ET with Saturday hosting both the 30-minute qualifying session and 45-minute Race 1 (3:30 p.m.).

Sunday will have Race 2 taking the green flag at 12:15 p.m. All events can be seen live at PorscheCarreraCup.us with IMSA Radio providing commentary.