Family and friends are set to gather around the country this week to celebrate Thanksgiving and look back on the year to date as we settle into the Festive season. For our Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America “family,” the third season of the championship has been the most spectacular yet.
It was a year of breaking records – biggest crowds, biggest grids, most wins, and more.
And if you thought 2023 was incredible – 2024 looks like it will be even bigger.
We had eight race weekends this year – so let’s check out eight of our favorite things the team at Porsche Motorsport North America are thankful for.
1: Hello Formula 1
What could be better than having Carrera Cup stage two rounds in conjunction with Formula 1 in 2023 – having three rounds in 2024!
The series raced at the Miami Grand Prix and the US Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas for the first time – our teams and drivers getting the opportunity to showcase their sponsors in front of a massive audience.
Combined between the two races, more than 700,000 fans attended both events, with Carrera Cup in action across all three days for both Grands Prix.
The series will return to Miami and Austin in 2024, with the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve added to next year’s schedule
2: The kids are alright!
Porsche Motorsport North America has created an impressive pyramid that gives young drivers a chance to move through the ranks from Porsche Sprint Challenge by Yokohama to the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America and beyond.
Two of our standouts – both chosen as Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Drivers – showcased their Carrera Cup race-winning talents in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Fanatec GT World Challenge USA series.
Kay van Berlo joined forces with last year’s Pro-Am Cup champion Alan Metni to compete in the IMSA championship in 2023 – taking their Kellymoss by Riley Porsche to victory lane at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Trenton Estep also moved up the ranks with his MDK Motorsports squad into the SRO championship aboard a Porsche 911 GT3 R with Seth Lucas. The pair finished third in the Pro-drivers championship at season’s end.
3: Setting new records
Our new 2023 Pro class champion Riley Dickinson, established a series of new records en route to scoring his title win for Kellymoss aboard the “Racing for Children’s” No.53 entry.
Most wins, most poles, most fastest laps, most points earned in a single season – Dickinson wrapped up his championship win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – 12 months after recording his first-ever race victory.
4: The International influx
A record number of drivers from overseas contested races in 2023 – 12 drivers with different passports took part in the championship, and the series even attracted a new team from overseas.
McElrea Racing has been a front-runner in Carrera Cup competition in Australia for many years and helped launch the careers of Porsche standouts Matt Campbell and Jaxson Evans.
For 2023, the McElrea squad entered the US championship for the first time and “announced their arrival” by going fastest on both days of the pre-season test with Tom Sargent.
By season’s end, the Aussie squad finished third in the team’s championship with Sargent taking a race win during the Rennsport Reunion and finishing second in the driver’s points.
Over at JDX Racing, the “British Invasion” kicked off with UK Carrera Cup standout Will Martin and his fellow countryman Alex Sedgwick joining the series.
Martin took three wins over the course of the season to finish third in the points, while Sedgwick was fourth overall.
Dutchman Kay van Berlo made a cameo appearance in Miami while other international drivers included Dominican Republic racers Efrin Castro (Pro-Am Championship winner) and Jimmy Llibre; New Zealander Ryan Yardley; British ex-Champ Car racer Dan Clarke; Australian Bayley Hall; and Canadians Marco Cirone, Stefan Rzadzinski, and Thomas Nepveu.
5: The classic Am battle
The championship battle for the Am crown was an incredible battle between the MDK Motorsports pair of Mark Kvamme and Scott Noble.
MDK boss Kvamme dominated early by taking six of the first eight races of the season, but Noble – an SRO GT4 championship winner aboard a Porsche in 2022 – went on a charge in the second half of the year to enter the final weekend at COTA in the championship lead.
Kvamme managed to win the opening race in Austin, but disaster struck for Noble in the final race of the season when contact forced him out of the race – handing Kvamme a bitter-sweet title win – his second championship in a row.
6: Rennsport Reunion
Incredible cars, amazing stars – WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca hosted the largest-ever gathering of Porsche fans for Rennsport Reunion 7, and the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America was the highlight of the action.
Legendary names and numbers 917, 956, 919, 963 (and, of course, 911) plus Bell, Ickx, Redman, Hobbs, Long, Springer, and many more were on site across the four-day sold-out event.
When our teams and drivers weren’t hanging off the fence to see the fantastic collection of cars on track – the fiercely contested rounds 13 and 14 were won by McElrea Racing’s Tom Sargent and JDX Racing’s Will Martin
7: Castro’s second championship win
Kellymoss racer Efrin Castro scored his second Pro-am championship win in Carrera Cup in 2023, backing up his win from the first year of the championship in 2021.
After a slow start to the year at Sebring, Castro found his way back to victory lane with two wins at the Miami Grand Prix. Another five wins throughout the season took the Dominican Republic-born racer the title.
In addition to his title success, the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America paddock was cheering him on when Castro made his FIA WEC race debut at Monza this year – filling in for his Kellymoss teammate and close friend, PJ Hyett.
8: Too many to choose from
There were so many favorite moments – we just couldn’t keep it at eight. Other series highlights included:
- Jason Hart showing the “kids” how it is done by taking his first win at Watkins Glen
- More big names and championship winners joining the battle, including ex-Champ Car racer Dan Clarke; Trans-Am ace Thomas Merrill, and GT World Challenge champion Michael Cooper.
- Jeff Mosing scoring Pro-Am back-to-back wins at Watkins Glen
- After some unlucky moments throughout the season, Kiwi racer Ryan Yardley earned his first podium with second place in the final race of the year at COTA
- MDK Racing’s Jimmy Llibre setting a trend after winning a championship in Porsche Sprint Challenge in 2022 and graduating to Carrera Cup in 2023
- PJ Hyett – one of the busiest men in a Porsche in 2023 across IMSA and the FIA WEC – taking his first Carrera Cup Pro-am win at Rennsport
- Veteran racer James Sofronas making his Carrera Cup debut at COTA and scoring two Pro-Am wins in his first weekend.
- While their seasons came to a disappointing early end through injury – thankfully, both Jeff Mosing and Sabre Cook are recovering well after incidents at Road America and Indianapolis, respectively. Both have their sights set on being back on track in 2024.
So much to be thankful for – it has been an incredible year for this amazing championship.
