Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America - Long Beach Preview

Long Beach, California. April 11, 2023The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America makes it second appearance of the season with rounds three and four to be held on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit on the streets of Long Beach, California. This is the hometown race for the series with Porsche Motorsport North America based at the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles in nearby Carson. Practice and qualifying for the premier one-make race series happen on Friday, April 14 with race one on Saturday and race two closing the Long Beach race weekend on Sunday afternoon.

• Capacity Crowd. 35 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars are entered at Long Beach. This is full capacity for the street event based on paddock and track space and is one greater than the debut event here in 2022. It is among the largest entry lists for any event ever held at Long Beach.
o Pro class. 20, Pro-Am class. 10, Am class. 5.
o Teams. 12 race teams are represented across all three classes.

• Point Leaders.
o Pro. Riley Dickinson, Tom Sargent (-16), Will Martin (-25)
o Pro-Am. Moisey Iretsky, Alan Metni (tied with 42), Marco Cirone (-8)
o Am. Mark Kvamme, Scott Noble (-9), Jeff Majkrzak (-13)
o Team. Kellymoss, McElrea Racing (-10), JDX Racing (-19), MDK Motorsports (-19)

• Perfect Score. Riley Dickinson enters Long Beach with a perfect score of 56 points. The third-year Carrera Cup driver piloted his No. 53 Kellymoss prepared Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car to two overall victories, the pole position and fastest race lap in both Sebring rounds.

• Team Leaders. 12 teams have entered 35 cars at Long Beach. Kellymoss has seven cars under its banner across the Pro and Pro-Am classes. MDK Motorsports brings six cars spread in all three classes. McCann Racing has three, two in Am and one in Pro-Am class. JDX Racing enters three cars, all in Pro. Topp Racing has entered two cars in the Pro class, one in Pro-Am. ACI Motorsports, GMG Motorsports, McElrea Racing, Nolasport and Wright Motorsports each bring two cars. Accelerating Performance and Rearden Racing bring one machine apiece.

• Golden State Drivers. Three drivers call California their home: Thomas Merrill (Salinas), Kyle Washington (Indio) and Chris Bellomo (Portola Valley). GMG Racing is based in Santa Ana.

• Junior Class. Eight Porsche Junior Program North America drivers are entered: Elias De La Torre IV (JDX Racing), Riley Dickinson (Kellymoss), Jimmy Libre (MDK Motorsports), Will Martin (JDX), Thomas Nepveu (McElrea Racing), Thomas Sargent (McElrea), Sean Varwig (Kellymoss) and Travis Wiley (Topp Racing).

• Command Performance. Of the 2022 Long Beach winners, Alan Metni, who won the Pro-Am class for Race 1 here last year, John Goetz (Am class, Race 1) and Mark Kvamme (Am class, Race 2) are the only returning class winners. Kay van Berlo, who won both rounds overall last year, has moved up the Pyramid and is co-driving the No. 91 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 R in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class on Saturday with Metni.

• Broadening the Field. PT Autosport, who competes under the JDX Racing banner with driver Alex Sedgwick (No. 98, Pro), is providing opportunities for racers from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. Earlier this month, the team opened online applications for its second annual Aspiring Driver Shootout, to be held at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) August 1 – 3. The Shootout winner will be granted a $100,000 racing partnership and will begin his or her progression up the motorsports ladder. 2022 winner, Henry Drury, will begin his racing program this summer.

• Broadcast. All races air on the Peacock streaming app, on IMSA.tv and at PorscheCarreraCup.us and are archived on Porsche Motorsport North America TV: (https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica).

• On the web. www.PorscheCarreraCup.us .

• Schedule. All times Pacific
Friday, April 14.
7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. – Practice 1
11:15 a.m. – 11:55 p.m. – Practice 2
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Qualifying (all classes)
Saturday, April 15.
5:15 p.m. – 5:55.m. – Race 1 (40-minute race)
Sunday, April 16.
4:20 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Race 2 (40-minute race)

• Image courtesy of Porsche.

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