Dickinson celebrates championship with win on hometown stage.

Austin, Texas | October 21, 2023 | Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America provisional champion Riley Dickinson scored his tenth race win of the season at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) today. It was a hometown win for the 21-year-old from New Braunfels, Texas and an opportunity to celebrate his Pro class championship with friends and family at the Austin, Texas track. Adding to the sweet taste of victory for the driver of the No. 53 Racing For Children’s Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car was the dramatic, first lap pass on pole sitter Tom Sargent to take the lead in the 35-minute plus one lap, race. The penultimate round of the year saw longtime Porsche entrant James Sofronas (Villa Park, California) win the Pro-Am class in the No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche. The Am class continues to be the nailbiter of the class championship as MDK Motorsports teammates Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) and Scott Noble (Dallas, Texas) exchanged the lead on track to push the title chase into the last race of the year. Kvamme extended his chances for the Am championship in the No. 43 into tomorrow’s finale but remains 10 points out of the lead behind Noble.

The second race of the weekend, and final race of the year, will start on Sunday, October 21 at 10:50 a.m. CT/ 11:50 a.m. ET.

• Pro class winners.
o Race 1. Riley Dickinson (No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
• Pro-Am class winners.
o Race 1. James Sofronas (No. 17 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
• Am class winners.
o Race 1. Mark Kvamme (No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).

Highlights.
• Champions in waiting. Riley Dickinson’s lead cannot be surpassed, and, in fact, the third-year Porsche Carrera Cup North America driver clinched the Pro class title in the No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche four rounds ago at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, he will not officially be crowned the champion and recipient of the Al Holbert Cup until Sunday evening’s Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America Night of Champions. The Texan now has 354 points. Tom Sargent (Australia) who finished second to Dickinson in today’s race is the nearest rival collecting 226 points in the No. 17 McElrea Racing Porsche. Only 26 points remain in play with a victory paying 25 points and the fastest race lap offering an additional single marker. By virtue of his second fastest qualifying lap, Dickinson has won the pole position for the final round and collected the two points it offers. In the Pro-Am class, Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) also secured the provisional title before coming to COTA. His No. 65 Kellymoss Porsche enters the finale on Sunday with 318 points. The Am class title remains undecided go into the year’s final round on Sunday. Noble has a ten point lead on his team owner Kvamme 319-309.

• Single Caution. Competition was as intense as the mid-90 degree Fahrenheit heat of Austin, Texas. Despite the 37-car field barreling multiple cars wide into turn one of the 20-turn, 3.4-mile track at the start, only a single caution period slowed the race when local driver Travis Wiley spun the No. 77 Topp Racing Porsche. Wiley was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

• Race 2 Grid. By virtue of his second fastest qualifying lap on Saturday morning, Dickinson will start from pole position for the final race of 2024. Sargent will lineup on the outside of row one. Michael McCarthy (Clearwater, Florida) will start behind his Kellymoss teammate Dickinson alongside Ryan Yardley (New Zealand) in the No. 78 Topp Racing Porsche.

• Meaningful victory. The Pro-Am race win was particularly special to James Sofronas. While the veteran owner and driver has dozens of Porsche race victories in his career, this was his first in Porsche Carrera Cup North America competition. It was also his first after a serious testing accident sidelined his 2023 plans for much of the year. The greatest meaning to the California-based team, however, was in remembrance of key team member Bryce Cords, who passed away earlier this year due to a road car accident.

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

• Online. Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America: www.PorscheCarreraCup.us .

Next Up. Race 2. Circuit of The Americas, Sunday, October 21 at 10:50 a.m. CT/ 11:50 a.m. ET.

Quotes.
Riley Dickinson, No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Pro Winner, Race 1.
“The hole opened up at the start and I took advantage of it. Kudos to Tom [Sargent] for racing me clean. He could have very easily done something over the limit, but he didn’t. Thank you to everyone at Kellymoss for such a strong effort. We put a lot of work into this one to finish the season. I feel like we can actually improve on a few things for tomorrow. Personally, I know that I need to work on sector three, Tom showed me how to do it this morning in qualifying and I need to work on that a bit. We will go into tomorrow swinging and see what we can get done.

Huge thank you to Porsche for bringing us to this event. This is my first time racing here at my home track on the F1 weekend, so it is quite special. Anytime you are able to get up on the podium during an F1 event is really cool. For me this experience even topped being on the podium at Miami. This time we had a lot of fans and when the national anthem concluded and with all the people cheering it was super, super cool. I had the heart pounding moment when we came up for the pre-race and we parked on the front straight. I looked up at turn one and it was packed with fans; I couldn’t see any grass at all.”

James Sofronas, No. 14 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Pro-Am Winner, Race 1.
“I knew I had good pace and a lot of experience, and I knew I would have to use that for the race. I had a great start and picked up two spots. I was aggressive enough to get through the mess in turn one. Then it was all about putting my head down and settling in. I took the checked with a lot of relief. It has been three months since a bad testing incident. Winning a class podium helps with some of the pain. A very satisfying win. Amazing job by the GMG boys. A great effort by everyone involved. We have had a couple of setbacks in 2023. The smaller one was my injury, the bigger one was losing a top, fulltime crew member, Bryce Cord, in a fatal car accident. When you have this kind of success it means that much more.”

Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Am Winner, Race 1.
“It was a great race. Scott [Noble] drove very, very well and it might have been my best race ever from a pure driving perspective. I passed Scott in turn one at the start and after the yellow he passed me off of turn 10. I could see the last two or three laps his tires were going away, and I got a good run going down the hill and got around him for the win. He raced like a gentleman; very clean. He passed me the exact same way I passed him, so it was really good. It is coming down to the absolute wire on the championship. There is still a mathematical chance for me to win.”

* Image courtesy of Porsche Motorsport North America

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