Sargent to Make Surprise Return to Carrera Cup for Long Beach

Photo: Proton Competition

Tom Sargent will make a surprise return to Porsche Carrera Cup North America competition this weekend at Long Beach following a complete driver shuffle at GMG Racing.

The U.S.-based Australian, who is a Porsche Motorsport North America Selected driver, has been called up by the James Sofronas-owned team amid Sofronas being ruled out of the event after sustaining seven broken ribs in a non-racing related accident.

Sargent, however, will take over driving duties of Kyle Washington’s Porsche 911 Cup car for Rounds 3 and 4 of the season, with Sofronas’ sub set to be determined by later today following an impromptu young driver shootout at a nearby track in California.

The 22-year-old, who drives for GMG in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, is coming off LMGT3 class victory in his European Le Mans Series debut last weekend in Barcelona at the wheel of a Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.

While Long Beach will mark Sargent’s first race in the new-for-2026 Porsche 911 Cup car, he scored two runner-up finishes, including the fastest lap and pole for Race 2 at the wheel of a McElrea Racing entry, in Carrera Cup’s most recent appearance on the Southern California streets in 2023.

Only four other drivers who raced that year will be on the grid in the single-make series this weekend, which features a 24-car entry list.

Following a sweep of Rounds 1 and 2 at Sebring, Topp Racing’s Tyler Maxson holds a 19-point lead over Kellymoss driver Aaron Jeansonne, with series rookie, Callum Hedge, of JDX Racing, third in the standings, a further six points back.

Hedge holds previous experience of Long Beach, in Indy NXT competition, having finished fourth in the 2024 race.

Track action begins on Friday with two 30-minute practice sessions, followed by qualifying in the afternoon. Race 1 is set for the green flag at 9:05 a.m. PST (12:05 p.m. EST) on Saturday, with Race 2 on Sunday at 11:20 a.m. PST (2:20 p.m. EST).

Both 40-minute contests will be streamed live on Peacock as well as the IMSA and Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube channels, featuring commentary from Ryan Myrehn and Arjuna Kankipati.

Pre-Event News & Notes:

***Only five drivers who raced at Long Beach in 2023 return for this year’s edition of the race. In addition to Sargent, Sabre Cook and Alan Metni return in the Pro class. Cook was a rookie and finished 12th in her appearance at that race, while Metni scored a Saturday win in the Pro-Am class that season (and also won in 2022). Marco Cirone is now in Masters, but was the Sunday Pro-Am winner in 2023, with Chris Bellomo also returning as a past competitor.

***Will Martin’s victory in the 2023 event, at 20 years, 27 days, remains the youngest winner in series’ history. Janne Stiak (ACI Motorsports) and Paul Bocuse (Kellymoss) are both younger and could have a chance of breaking that record this weekend.

***Some Carrera Cup North America drivers choose to focus on the ANDIAL Cup, comprised of traditional road courses, and forego Long Beach, Miami and Circuit of The Americas, run in conjunction with Formula 1 or IndyCar. Others, like Pro-Am driver Steve Wetterau, show up in those unique events. Wetterau will drive for Kellymoss this weekend not far from his home in Newport Beach, Calif. 

***The entry list is littered with drivers who call Southern California home. In the Pro class, Nikita Lastochkin resides in Los Angeles, while John Capestro-Dubets and Connor Bloum list San Diego as hometowns. The entire Pro-Am class fits the description, ranging from the coast (Mulcahy, Wetterau) to further inland (Conley). Rob Walker in the Masters class is a San Diego resident.

***While his Topp Racing teammate led the way in the overall standings, Cole Kleck got a jump on the rookie field with 50 points at Sebring. Kleck, a graduate of Porsche Sprint Challenge in the previous generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, led the way in both races at Sebring. Capestro-Dubets and Lastochkin are not far behind with 37 points each.

***The Porsche Esports Carrera Cup North America is now four races deep, and everyone is chasing Coanda Esports driver Mitchell deJong. After four races, deJong remains perfect, sweeping the season to this point. The iRacing-based championship features 40 Type 992.2 Porsche 911 Cup cars.

***Sofronas’ injuries, which were only fully diagnosed recently, could put the GMG team owner/driver out of action for the next Carrera Cup North America event in Miami as well.

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