Thompson Wins Race 2 as Priaulx, Van Berlo Hit Setbacks

Parker Thompson claimed his third win of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands season as the top two in the championship, Sebastian Priaulx and Kay van Berlo, both encountered setbacks in race two at Indianapolis.

Thompson beat pole-sitter Priaulx into the opening right-hander at the start of Sunday morning’s 45-minute contest and held the lead through a pair of Full Course Caution periods to remain in front at the checkered flag.

The JDX Racing driver, who finished second to Priaulx in race one on Saturday, is now only one point behind second-placed van Berlo in the standings after the Dutchman retired.

Van Berlo was running fourth behind Riley Dickinson, Priaulx and Thompson when he pulled his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup to one side with an unspecified issue on 18 minutes.

This caused the first caution of the day and looked set to hand Priaulx an enlarged points cushion over van Berlo after the British driver dominated the weekend’s opening race on the Indianapolis infield course.

Priaulx tailed Thompson after the restart on 26 minutes, with third-placed Dickinson holding off a charging Leh Keen.

A second caution occurred just five minutes later when Pro-Am competitor Alexander Marmureanu spun at the last corner and came to a halt next to the outer wall.

The ensuing restart with nine minutes to go saw Dickinson tap Priaulx into a spin at the opening turn, dropping the championship leader out of podium contention.

Priaulx managed to fight his way back into the top ten, but a potential 25-point score – including his five bonus points for taking pole – had been shaved down to 12 points.

Dickinson, who had advanced to second after the incident, was handed a drive-through penalty for causing a collision that set him back to 12th at the end.

Dickinson’s sanction promoted Keen to second, while Thompson went on to take victory by a clear 4.8-second margin.

TJ Fischer completed the overall podium after getting past Keen’s 311RS Motorsport teammate Ryan Gates who settled for fourth.

Sebastian Carazo was fifth, in front of Pro-Am class winner Efrin Castro who added to his Saturday triumph with another flag-to-flag drive from pole position.

Castro finished 1.5 seconds ahead of Tim Pappas, who recovered from a spin to re-enter the podium positions and finish six-tenths up the road from Alan Metni.

Priaulx’s Kelly-Moss Road & Race Porsche crossed the line just under three-tenths behind Metni’s iFly/Kelly-Moss machine.

Despite losing his chances of a podium, Priaulx nonetheless managed to extend his championship lead over van Berlo to 31 points.

Pro-Am 991 honors went to Joseph Lombardo who performed a brilliant sweep around the outside of pole-sitter Matt Halcome to take the lead after seven minutes.

Lombardo controlled the rest of the race from there, while points leader Halcome went on to lose a further two positions to Conor Flynn and Grady Willingham.

RESULTS: Race 2