Vanier Wins Race 1 at Road Atlanta

Zachary Vanier claimed his second career Porsche Carrera Cup North America win after making up early ground and surviving a restart in Race 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

After climbing a position to third, the Ontario native slipped into first aboard the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car while stablemate Alex Sedgwick and Pro class points leader Loek Hartog were fighting for the race lead at the Turn 10 complex.

Vanier later survived a yellow flag restart to solidify his win at the 2.54-mile road course, with Hartog settling for second in his No. 24 Kellymoss Porsche, 1.078 seconds back.

Ryan Yardley took his No. 78 Topp Racing Performance entry to a podium finish with Sedgwick coming home in fourth. Meanwhile, Era Motorsport’s Dan Clarke rounded out the top-five.

Efrin Castro took the win in Pro-Am after moving his way past class pole-sitter Marco Cirone in the opening stages to put his No. 65 Kellymoss machine at the head of the category.

Cirone later lost further ground to Alan Metni to make it a Kellymoss 1-2 in Pro-Am, with the ACI Motorsports driver in third.

ACI’s Richard Edge climbed from fifth to first in the Masters class before the race’s full course caution period and maintained his advantage after the restart to take the class win.

The field fell under caution in the opening ten minutes after a spin from Madeline Stewart collected Sabre Cook, leaving Stewart’s No. 82 JDX Porsche stranded and spilling fluid at Turn 10, and Cook’s Kellymoss entry stuck in the gravel trap.

Race 2 goes green at 10:55 a.m. EDT on Friday with live coverage available on Peacock, IMSA.tv, and porschecarerracup.us.

RESULTS: Race 1