The winners of the opening rounds of the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America again jumped to the top of the timesheet in today’s two practice sessions at the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.
Kellymoss’ Loek Hartog and MDK Motorsports’ Gustav Burton won rounds one and two, respectively, last month at Sebring International Raceway.
In this afternoon’s second practice session, the two former Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup drivers were first and second in the Pro class, with Hartog setting the pace with a lap of 1:57.312.
JDX Racing’s Alex Sedgwick topped the times in the opening practice session, but the pace picked up in the afternoon, with six drivers (including Sedgwick himself) going faster than the top practice one time.
“It’s my first time here in Miami, and I absolutely love this place. It’s been a good day for us,” Hartog said.
“In the first session, I was just trying to find some rhythm – we weren’t actually focused too much on times.
“Then we tried something in the second session. I didn’t expect to go on top in terms of the tire mileage, but we managed to do that, so I’m very happy. Finishing off day one on top feels nice.”
ACI Racing’s Jimmy Llibre was third fastest in the afternoon ahead of MDK’s former Champ Car racer Dan Clarke, with Sedgwick fifth fastest in the afternoon.
In the Pro-am class, local Miami racer Moisey Uretsky was fastest in the first session, but last year’s double winner Efrin Castro jumped to the top of the pack in the afternoon.
Castro led Kellymoss teammate Jordan Wallace with ACI’s Marco Cirone third fastest.
“The team did a wonderful job. We had a really good car for the afternoon session,” Castro said.
“This is like a home track, home away from home for me because of all the Dominican fans here.
“Winning here last year was amazing. It was one of the best race weekends that I have ever had in my life and I’m planning to repeat that this weekend.”
Despite injuring his back playing golf in the lead-up to this weekend’s action, the two-time Masters class champion again proved he is a man to watch by topping the times in both sessions today.
“In the month between Sebring and now, we spent a lot of time on the cars,” Kvamme said.
“The guys have been working really hard. We found a lot of things, and we’re starting to see the benefits of their labor here.
“Gus was P2 overall, and I was fortunate enough to get P1 in practice as well. The cars are running great, and the team’s doing a fantastic job.”
Kvamme has four consecutive wins here in Miami – two in Porsche Sprint Challenge in 2022 and two last year in Carrera Cup. His MDK Motorsports team was visited today by Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen – throwing his support behind the Racing to End Alzheimer’s charity.
Kellymoss racer Chris Bellomo was second fastest in the class this afternoon ahead of ACI’s Sebring double winner, Matt Halcome.
Qualifying for rounds three and four of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America takes place at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, with race one scheduled for 5:50 p.m. The final race of the weekend will be contested on Sunday from 10:30 a.m..
