Road Atlanta Weekend Notebook

Photo: Porsche

***As was the case at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this weekend’s season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta features three 45-minute races to end the inaugural season of Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands.

***A total of 32 cars are entered this weekend following the withdrawal of the No. 54 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Tim Pappas, which appeared on the initial entry list released last week.

***Ninety points remain up for grabs in the three remaining races, with 25 points for a win and 5 points for pole positions. 

***Seb Priaulx, Kay van Berlo and Parker Thompson are the only three drivers with a mathematical chance of the drivers’ championship in Pro, with Priaulx holding a 71-point lead over van Berlo and 81 ahead of Thompson. 

***Priaulx, who has earned ten poles out of 14 races, has claimed four wins and six additional podiums compared to van Berlo’s six wins and three further podiums and Thompson’s three wins.

***Series manager Brian Blocker said the three-way fight for the Pro class title heading into the final weekend is a “remarkable testimony” to its customer teams, partners and drivers. “I expect to see the most intense competition we have had all year… and that is significant when you see how hard everyone has raced all season,” he said.

***Pro-Am is led by Kelly-Moss Road & Race’s Alan Metni, who leads Efrin Castro of Team Hardpoint by 39 points and Curt Swearingin by 81 markers. Metni missed one race of the triple-header weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to his Lamborghini Super Trofro North America commitments that same weekend

***Matt Halcome, who has earned seven class wins this season, enters the weekend with an essential lock on the Pro-Am 991 championship, with a 75-point lead over Grady Willingham. A start for the Goldcrest Motorsports driver will seal the title. 

***The No. 53 Team Hardpoint Porsche of Riley Dickinson has been moved to the back of the grid for Race 1 due to being under the minimum ride height for the Pro class. 

***Eight trophies will be awarded including The Al Holbert Cup for the overall winner of Carrera Cup North America and The Caymankind Award for each class champion. In addition, Porsche will award over $100,000 USD in total prize money and parts credits.

***Road Atlanta marks the last race for the Pro-Am 991 class, with the previous-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machinery no longer eligible in 2022. The type 992 Porsche Cup car will be exclusively run in the single-make series starting next year.

***MRS GT-Racing has another new driver at the wheel of its No. 14 Porsche this weekend with Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland Leon Koehler making his series debut. It marks the return of the No. 14 entry to the series for the first time since the fifth race of the season at Watkins Glen International.

***311 RS Motorsport and GPX Lab have joined forces to create the “311 RS Motorsport Driver Development powered by GPX” program in the hunt for a driver partnership to launch the program next year. The program combines GPX’s professional-grade driving simulators and live-remote coaching services to allow a driver to enter the next phase in their career.

“Their program and the way they go about it aligns with GPX, so much so even our corporate colors are the same,” said GPX Lab founder Jeff Segal. “I’ve known Leh [Keen] for years having competed with him in Grand-Am & IMSA, and Ryan [Gates] since 2014 during a trip to the Nurburgring. We are friends but take our respective crafts seriously, which is why it makes sense to launch this partnership.”

***Flying Lizard Motorsports is set for its second start of the season after debuting at Road America earlier this year. It will enter the No. 68 Porsche for Chris Bellomo in the Pro-Am 991 class. Program manager Darren Law explained that “other commitments” prevented the team from contesting additional races this year.

***Dylan Murry will be competing in both the three rounds of Carrera Cup North America as well as the ten-hour Motul Petit Le Mans. Murry has been a full-season competitor in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in a Ligier JS P320 Nissan entered by Riley Motorsports.

***Wright Motorsports is the only team competing in Carrera Cup North America, IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and WeatherTech Championship competition this weekend.  Wright is fielding Porsches with chances of the GS and GTD class titles this weekend.

“Running in three series under the IMSA umbrella requires a great team of people on and off-track to keep everything seamless and successful, and we’ve done it,” said team owner John Wright. “Our focus will again be to execute as best we can and see how the season ends.”

***Race 1 of the weekend gets underway Thursday at 12:10 p.m. ET, with Race 2 slated for a 4:45 p.m. start, also on Thursday. The season-ending round takes place Friday at 11:15 a.m. All three races will be streamed live on PorscheCarreraCup.us and IMSA.tv featuring IMSA Radio commentary.

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