Thompson Wins Race 1; Closes Points Gap Entering Title Decider

Parker Thompson emerged victorious in the opening Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands round of the weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to close the points gap to championship leader Kay van Berlo to five points with his fifth win of the season.

Thompson inherited the lead of the race as pole-sitter Laurin Heinrich spun in Turn 1, backing his No. 12 311RS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car into the barriers with a brake problem.

Heinrich climbed out of the car under his own power and was uninjured.

The incident, which came halfway through the 40-minute contest, brought out a safety car and handed the lead to Thompson in the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche.

Heinrich, who is ineligible for championship points, led the field to green and immediately opened up a gap over Thompson, who passed the No. 53 Kelly-Moss Racing car of Riley Dickinson for second position on the opening lap.

Dickinson later went off into the grass along the front straightaway, rejoining the field behind the top-10. He would later climb his way back up to fifth.

Van Berlo came home second overall in the No. 3 Kelly-Moss machine, while Trenton Estep claimed the final step of the Pro class podium.

After only a few laps of green flag running, the field once again fell under full-course caution as an adversing sign was recovered along the front straight.

The race resumed with five minutes remaining. Thompson held onto the overall lead, finishing 0.548 seconds ahead of his Dutch title rival.

Between the two caution periods, Efrin Castro made his way past Alan Metni’s No. 99 Kelly-Moss machine to take the Pro-Am lead. Metni finished second in class, with ACI Motorsport’s Curt Swearingin taking third.

In the Am class, John Goetz led from lights-to-flag, finishing 17th overall and claiming victory for the No. 57 Wright Motorsport crew over the No. 43 of Mark Kvamme.

The championship is set to be decided when Race 2 gets underway Friday at 11:55 a.m. ET, with live coverage on PorscheCarreraCup.us, Peacock and IMSA.tv.

RESULTS: Race 1