The 2023 Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America season was one the biggest and best yet in the championship’s three-year history. Let’s break down the spectacular season by the numbers.
Undoubtedly the best season yet – absolutely No.1. Record grid, record number of race wins by our champion, record crowd attendance, record social media reach and following, record number of international drivers and more!
The championship not only made its debut as a support event for a Formula 1 race, but we did it twice. The series raced at this year’s Miami Formula 1 Grand Prix and then finished the season at Circuit of the Americas at the US Grand Prix. For 2024 – we’ll add another Formula 1 race with the championship’s debut at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
Three spectacular championship wins in the Pro, Rafa Racing Club Pro-Am and Am Classes. Riley Dickinson broke records for the most number of race wins and the most number of points in a single season to score his Pro championship victory. Efrin Castro became the first two-time series champion when he clinched the Pro-Am title at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – backing up his championship title from 2021. Mark Kvamme also became a two-time title winner, and our first back-to-back champion with his come-from-behind Am class title win at Circuit of the Americas.
MDK Motorsports duo Mark Kvamme and Scott Noble staged a dramatic championship battle in the Am class in 2023. Unfortunately for Noble, contact in the final race of the season ruined his championship chances, but he recorded six wins in a row to roar back into the championship lead entering the final weekend – the first time this has been done in the championship. Noble won both races at Road America, Indianapolis, and at the spectacular Rennsport Reunion 7.
The championship featured eight first-time winners in 2023. Will Martin, Jason Hart, and Tom Sargent scored their first Pro class wins; Moisey Uretsky, Jeff Mosing, PJ Hyett, and James Sofronas won in Pro-Am for the first time, and Scott Noble was a first-time winner in Am.
Riley Dickinson’s barnstorming championship win in 2023 with Kellymoss included a record-breaking 11 race wins during the season. Not only did the Texan win the award for the most wins in a year, he also took the honors for the most pole positions and most fastest laps as well.
While we crowned our first-ever American Pro class champion in 2023, the championship attracted its most international drivers ever with a total of 13 drivers from other countries competing this year. Our line up included British racers Will Martin, Alex Sedgwick and Dan Clarke; Canadian’s Stefan Rzadzinski, Thomas Nepveu, Marco Cirone and Thomas Collingwood; Dominican Republic racers Jimmy Llibre and Efrin Castro; Australians Tom Sargent and Bayley Hall; New Zealander Ryan Yardley; and Dutchman Kyle van Berlo who had a one-race cameo return at the Miami Grand Prix.
A total of 18 different entrants contested the championship in 2023 – including the championship’s first international team. McElrea Racing expanded its Australian Carrera Cup Championship team to field cars in the North American championship for the first time – finishing third in the entrants’ points battle and its lead driver Tom Sargent taking second in the driver’s title.
More records were broken with the number of drivers competing in 2023. A total of 54 racers lined up on the grid throughout the season across the three classes.
Our drivers completed a total of 2,724 laps in qualifying across the 16 rounds in 2023.
That’s a big number! That’s the total number of race laps completed by our drivers throughout the 2023 championship season.
More big numbers. 18,735.00 is the total number of laps completed across practice one and two, qualifying, and all races throughout the year.
The numbers keep climbing. Our drivers raced a total of 30,339.53 miles throughout the 2023 championship. That is the equivalent of driving from Porsche Motorsport North America in California to Porsche Cars North America in Atlanta 13.6 times!
More random facts. In total, across all official on-track sessions, our teams and drivers completed 55,938.54 miles of on-track action with their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars – the equivalent of 2.2 laps of the earth!
The social media reach for the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America continues to thrive, with Porsche Motorsport North America doubling its number of Instagram followers in 2023 and recording record numbers across Facebook, X, Threads, YouTube, and Linkedin.
Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America Pro champion Riley Dickinson’s 2023 season is finishing up with extra stamps in his passport.
With a record 11 race wins, the most poles, and most fastest laps – the Texan Kellymoss racer dominated the 2023 season and was selected as Porsche Motorsport North America’s representative at the annual Porsche Junior Shootout recently staged at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, Portugal.
One of 12 young Porsche racers from across the globe, Dickinson and his fellow racers were put through their paces over three days to find who would become the new Porsche Factory Junior driver.
While Frenchman Alessandro Ghiretti was today announced as the 2024 Porsche Junior, Dickinson came away from the event with a massive sense of gratitude for the opportunity to compete.
“It was such a great experience. I definitely need to give a huge thank you to Porsche Motorsport North America for allowing me to be the one to go represent our market overseas in the Junior Shootout,” Dickinson said.
“It was a fantastic few days over there in Portugal. Day one was an off-track experience with media interviews and off-track activities. Day two was more of a learning experience, just to get a general sense of the track, and just to get your feet wet – and then day three was when it really counted the most.
“The track itself at Portimão was phenomenal. I’ve never had the opportunity to drive on a track like that before. It was quite fun to drive, just with how much elevation it had.
“It was also extremely smooth so it was different to try to generate some rotation with the car on turn-in. At places like Sebring, you can actually use the bumps to get the car to turn. It was also fun to drive without ABS and play with the brake bias settings a lot more.”
Being selected as a Porsche junior can be a huge boost to a young driver’s career. Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP racer Matt Campbell is a previous winner, along with new AO Racing IMSA GTD Pro driver Laurin Heinrich, who won in 2001.
Last year’s winner, Danish driver Bastian Buus, immediately proved his worth by winning this year’s Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Championship.
“I definitely feel quite proud of my performance and how I did in Portugal. Everyone was very impressive and I have to say congratulations to Alessandro,” Dickinson said.
“Just to have opportunity to work with Porsche legends like Sascha Maassen and Mark Lieb and pick their brains and delve into their experience was awesome.”
“The 12 of us were all there for the same reason. That was to ultimately become the next Porsche Junior. But there was great camaraderie between us all, and I made a few new friends.
“We spent all day – ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together – so it was great to chat about all aspects of racing. The ice-breaker was funny because there were ten young drivers from Europe, and they all knew each other – Callum Hedge from New Zealand and I were the “outcasts” – and we immediately took it off.
“Everyone was very professional, but I definitely made a few good friends and hopefully, I’ll catch up with a few of them at the Porsche Night of Champions this weekend.”
Dickinson and a number of his Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America colleagues have arrived in Germany this week for the annual Porsche Night of Champions. The event showcases the brand’s global winning pedigree and reveals Porsche’s motorsport plans for 2024 revealed.
“This is going to be my first time being able to attend this event,” Dickinson said.
“I’ve heard so much about it, and getting the chance to go – along with winning the championship itself – has always been a big goal for me.
“I’ve heard so many great things about this event so to finally actually have that invitation is really special.
“My buddy Efrin Castro will be there as the Pro-Am Carrera Cup Champion, too, so that will be awesome. The Am champion Mark Kvamme is also on his way, so the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America championship will be really well represented.”
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
There were so many favorite moments – we just couldn’t keep it at eight. Other series highlights included:
So much to be thankful for – it has been an incredible year for this amazing championship.
In only its second year of operation, Megan and Mark Kvamme’s MDK Motorsports has quickly established itself as a powerhouse in Porsche racing in North America.
This year, the team ran a total of 12 cars across Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America and Porsche Sprint Challenge by Yokohama and finished the season with 36 wins and four championships in the six series MDK entered.
Kvamme himself completed the season with back-to-back championship wins for himself – this year’s Carrera Cup title Am title a bittersweet win after his teammate and championship rival Scott Noble suffered damage on the opening lap at Circuit of The Americas and was forced out of the race.
With 11 years behind the wheel racing in every single class of IMSA-sanctioned competition, Kvamme had plenty of experience to draw from in establishing his Columbus, Ohio-based team.
“I’ve literally raced every series and probably for 20 different teams, and I started seeing what I thought really worked and where I thought there was some room for improvement,” Kvamme said.
“I had all these learnings in my head, and I sat down with my wife and said, I think we can build a team that’s exceptional on the track, but also provide an exceptional experience for customers – hospitality, logistics, everything.
“We decided to go for it and take a shot.”
Kvamme, however, is no stranger to team ownership – getting his start with two wheels rather than four. He ran a professional Supercross team for six years from 2004 to 2009 and resurrected MDK Moto in the past twelve months to compete in the World Supercross Championship
“I had a lot of experience of what we needed to do from the world of two wheels. Being great on track is important, but running a team is basically a logistics and hospitality business. You have to take care of your drivers and make sure everything arrives on time and is running perfectly.
“The big difference between Supercross and car racing is with bikes; the top riders could literally roll out a stock bike, tweak some suspension settings, and be in a position to win.
“In a series like Carrera Cup, you really must have everything. The car’s got to be right. The team must be right. A lot of it goes into the car, but our big expansion this year has actually been a big help for everyone.”
Last year, MDK won races overall with Trenton Estep in Carrera Cup – earning him a spot as a Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver in 2023 and a graduation to GT3 competition in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Championship – another addition to the MDK stable.
“It’s been a big change from last year – we have MDK cars everywhere. The more cars you have, the more capabilities you can have,” Kvamme said.
“We can break down the data and look at who is fastest in each corner and examine how they are doing it and how to put together a perfect lap. Believe it or not, sometimes I’m fastest in one or two corners. Usually, it’s Jason Hart or Jimmy Llibre, but even Scott Noble was the fast man in a couple of corners at a race this year.
“It really helps that team chemistry, and it just makes all of us better.”
Aligning with Porsche has become a perfect combination for MDK with its new Columbus race shop (the former home for Michael Shank Racing’s IndyCar program) housing GT4, 991, and 992 Cup cars and the GT3 car that raced in the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona and Fanatec GT World Challenge.
“We’re looking at establishing a great ladder system within the MDK family. You can start in a Cayman, graduate to a 991 in Sprint Challenge, then 992 in the same series or here in Cup,” Kvamme said.
“That’s what we did with Trenton successfully moving from Cup to World Challenge this year and Jimmy Llibre, who won the 991 championship in Sprint Challenge and stepped up to Cup this season. Zachary Vanier won the 992 title in Sprint Challenge this year, and he has his eyes on moving up next year.”
For Kvamme and MDK Motorsports, there is more growth to come. The team has secured an IMSA GTD-class entry for 2024 with its Porsche 911 GT3 R and will partner with Denmark’s High Class Racing on an LMP2 IMSA entry for next year.
“We certainly have big goals. My “spirit animal” in this sport is AF Corsa and Amato Ferrari. They are everywhere, from track day cars all the way through to GTP and a factory team. Hopefully, one day, we’ll get there.
“I’ve already had a couple of discussions with Porsche about what’s going on in GTP with the 963 – you never know, maybe in a couple of years.
“In order to do that, we’ll have to have a major sponsor. There’s a lot of work to do between now and then, but I’m already starting to talk to drivers about it.
“Basically, my idea is one day, I want to have everything from PCA club racing all the way through to GTP.”
But while his goals as a team owner are big, Kvamme is still looking to improve on track in 2024 as he chases his third-consecutive Carrera Cup Am championship.
“I had Trenton Estep on my radio at COTA, and he gave me a spray to ‘stop driving like a team owner and race that thing.’ It was exactly what I needed to hear. I am fortunate that we’ve been able to assemble an awesome group of really talented people.” Kvamme said.
“Everyone in an MDK car, including myself, knows when they drive out the pit lane, they have the equipment to do the best job possible.
“For the championship, this year was bittersweet – not the way I wanted to win. Scott (Noble) was so unlucky at COTA, but he has really forced me to raise my game this year. He is going to be a really tough competitor next year, and I’m going to have to keep pushing hard.
“The competition on track is fierce, but the camaraderie and banter between the two of us this year has been so much fun.”
Recently-crowned Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America Pro champion Riley Dickinson is representing the North American market in the annual Porsche Junior Shootout which begins today in Portugal.
Twelve young racers from around the world will gather at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, Portugal, for the chance to impress and earn the chance to become an official Porsche junior.
Winning the shootout can be an important stepping stone in a young racer’s career within the Porsche family.
Previous winners of the shootout include current Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 racer Matt Campbell (2016) and Jaxson Evans (2018) who was brought in recently to assist Dickinson at a post-season test to help him acclimatize himself with running a Porsche Cup car without ABS as used in the shootout.
Prior to heading to Europe, Dickinson spoke with Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America series commentator John Hindhaugh on the Midweek Motorsport podcast – click here to listen.
“Going to the Porsche Junior shootout is something that I’ve been working towards for quite a while, and been wanting to have that invitation to go and compete at that,” Dickinson said.
“It’s a very high-level event and world-renowned for Porsche as far as their ladder system is concerned. I don’t really know a whole lot about the Portimao circuit and I don’t think any of the 12 drivers in the shootout have been there before.
“I’ve done quite a bit of sim preparation. I was able to find a fairly respectable sim file for that on Assetto Corsa. I have a simulator at home that I can drive as much as I would like to. I’ve also been watching a bunch of videos and reached out to various different contacts that I have that have actually been to the track and driven it.
“I have been doing as much preparation as I can on the front end to get local knowledge of the track, various track characteristics, what curbs to take, what curbs not to take, how much you cut here, how much you cut there – how you use the track limits to your advantage and not make it your disadvantage.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, once we get there the shootout starts and everything gets put off to the side and you’re there to go compete. It’s going to be a great event and I’m very much looking forward to it.
“It’s been something that I’ve been working towards for quite a while now, and I have to give a huge thank you to Porsche Motorsport North America for trusting me as their selection to go and compete. It definitely could be one of the biggest weeks of my life.”
While the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machine is the same car used in all Carrera Cup compeition across the globe and in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup – the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America championship runs with ABS.
“PMNA has done a fantastic job of trying to aid that transition from ABS to non-ABS. They assisted with a test after the season finished,” Dickinson said.
“We were able to do a one-day test in Texas after COTA. We had a little bit of mixed conditions with some weather, but had a wide range of opportunities to try a bunch of different things.
“PMNA helped with having Jaxon Evans come over to help me at the test – he is a former Porsche junior and winner of the shootout. That changed his career completely. He’s still with the Porsche brand today. He’s actually run a little bit with Kellymoss with their GTD program with Riley Motorsports in WeatherTech this year.
“So there’s already an excellent standing relationship there, but he came in to coach and assist me in some differences that I could try and learn and feel out ultimately, I feel like it went very well.
“Running without ABS is a lot more fun because you have a bit more feel with the car. What I quickly found out at our test is that muscle memory of just giving a bit more pressure is absolutely not the way to go.
“You’re immediately going to smoke the inside front, and there’s nothing you can do. It was good to work through that muscle memory and know what I shouldn’t be doing.”
Dickinson is looking to follow in some massive footsteps as the sole American driver to contest the shootout this year.
“For me, it’s more about me being able to put my foot in the door with Porsche AG and Manthey Racing that are going to be the ones that are going to run the operation for us this week,” he said.
“It’s going to be more about just me being able to put my best foot forward in front of that group of individuals that ultimately, later on down the line, could change my life and help my dream come true – that is to follow in the footsteps of Hurley Haywood and Patrick Long as the next American factory driver.
“Porsche Motorsport North America has done a fantastic job in developing a ladder system that you can actually see each rung on the ladder and envisage how to get to that end goal.
“That goal of becoming a Porsche factory driver is the same for probably ten or maybe even 20 other drivers that were on the Carrera Cup North America grid this year.
While victory in the shootout is the ultimate goal in what will be intense competition, Dickinson’s focus is to simply do the very best job he can.
“If you let that pressure consume you, you’re not going to have the best result,” he said.
“Especially if you go in worrying and thinking about the expectations. You’re not going to be able to put your best performance together.
“I have to focus on what I know how to do – which is to go drive a Cup car as quickly as I can.
Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) and Yokohama Tire Corporation have entered into a multi-year agreement which will expand the footprint of the tire company on the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid North America.
With the start of the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America in March at Sebring International Raceway, the Yokohama ADVAN tire will be the sole supplier of race tires to the continent’s premier one-make race series.
The agreement gives Yokohama exclusive rights to market and sell competition tires on-site at all Porsche one-make championships in North America.
Yokohama will provide the ADVAN® A005 racing slick and ADVAN® A006 tire for wet conditions on all Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars in the Pro, Pro-Am and Am classes of Carrera Cup North America.
The partnership will allow competitors to race on the same Yokohama tire compound and construction across much of the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid North America.
The Yokohama ADVAN tire will be the sole tire for all classes of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America, Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. This will ease the transition for drivers and teams as well as offer a cohesive branding and marketing program.
Porsche and Yokohama share a history of more than 15 years of sports car racing. Since its inception in 2021, Porsche Sprint Challenge North America – the steppingstone one-make series to Carrera Cup North America – has raced on Yokohama tires.
Prior to the creation of Porsche Carrera Cup North America, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA raced as the top category on Yokohama tires from 2009 to 2020.
Volker Holzmeyer, president and CEO, Porsche Motorsport North America.
“Yokohama and Porsche have a long and successful history in North America. We are excited to reestablish this relationship at the highest level of one-make racing as Yokohama becomes the race tire supplier of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America. This partnership means more than providing the best competition tires for the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car, it involves a focused marketing and branding program that will benefit our competitors, our teams, partners as well as Porsche and Yokohama. We look toward 2024 with great expectations and anticipate another standard setting season of Porsche Carrera Cup racing in the United States and Canada.”
Andrew Briggs, VP of marketing & product management, Yokohama.
“It’s truly an honor to see our long-term relationship with PMNA take an even bigger step with this new, dynamic partnership. We can’t wait to join forces with PMNA in Porsche Carrera Cup North America next season. It’s a highly competitive, exciting series that aligns with our overall motorsports program and offers more opportunities to showcase our ADVAN® racing tires in some of the most awesome racing in North America.”
| Round | event | date |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Sebring International Raceway | March 18 – 20 |
| Round 2 | Long Beach Street Circuit | April 17 – 19 |
| Round 3 | Miami International Autodrome | May 1 – 3 |
| Round 4 | Watkins Glen International | June 25 – 27 |
| Round 5 | Road America | July 30 – August 1 |
| Round 6 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | September 18 – 20 |
| Round 7 | Road Atlanta | September 30 – October 2 |
| Round 8 | Circuit of the Americas | October 23 – 25 |
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