Fresh from his victory at Road Atlanta last weekend, Topp Racing’s Ryan Yardley continued his impressive speed by topping today’s practice session for Porsche Carrera Cup North America at the US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
The Texas-based Topp Racing Performance driver’s time of 2:07.860 seconds was a mere .056 seconds over Zachary Vanier from JDX Racing.
Recently crowned Pro champion Loek Hartog (Kellymoss) was third fastest ahead of Alex Sedgwick (JDX Racing) and Dan Clark (Era Motorsports).
“Atlanta was nice and it’s cool to be back here at COTA,” said Yardley after practice.
“It’s obviously a tough weekend with only one practice, but it was a reasonable practice for us. We have a lot of work to do before qualifying tomorrow, and I’m sure it’s going to be tight as always, which is why it’s important to qualify up front. I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”
In the Pro-Am class, points leader Alan Metni began the weekend by leading his field with a practice time of 2:08.868 seconds. Metni – the hometown hero from Austin, Texas – is one of 10 entries on the grid this weekend for Kellymoss and enters with a slim, eleven-point championship lead over teammate Efrin Castro.
Remarkably – Metni’s time was seventh fastest overall and 1.6 seconds faster than his nearest rival.
“I love this track,” Metni said.
“This is my home track, and this is the first racetrack I ever drove on about eight years ago. This is where it all started for me. Sleeping in your own bed, being rested, eating your own food, it’s nice being at home.
“The repave is really quite nice. All the bumps are gone, and I hope it stays this way for quite some time. It’s definitely faster because of that. I will say that, in a way, I miss the bumps because they required some extra technique that gave local knowledge a real benefit. But it’s nice and I’m sure everybody is enjoying it.”
Also running for Kellymoss is Masters class practice leader Chris Bellomo with a time of 2:10.232 seconds. Bellomo embarks on his final quest this weekend for the Masters championship and sits behind leader Matt Halcome and ACI Motorsports by 27 points.
“The conditions were decent,” said Bellomo.
“It was nice and a little bit cooler than when we tested here. We did a really good job during the test about a month ago and were able to carry that over. I like what they did with the repave. It’s a little less bumpy in certain areas and gives you a little more confidence.
Qualifying tomorrow for the final two rounds of the 2024 championship will take place at 9:50 am.
Race 1 for Porsche Carrera Cup North America takes place on Saturday afternoon at 4:40 p.m. ET, with Race 2 following on Sunday morning at 12 p.m. ET.
The races will stream on Peacock TV, IMSA.tv, IMSA and Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) YouTube channels plus the PMNA Facebook, X and Linkedin channels.
