In only his fourth start of Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America competition, Will Martin (United Kingdom) scored his inaugural win in the North America’s premier one-make championship. The win also marked the first of the young season for defending Pro class champion JDX Racing.

In an overall battle that covered the top five Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, Martin exchanged the lead with fellow series rookie Tom Sargent (Australia) in the No. 17 McElrea Racing and points leader Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) behind the wheel of yesterday’s race-winning No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche over the course of the 40-minute event.

Marco Cirone (Canada) took the Pro-Am class victory in the No. 82 ACI Motorsports Porsche while Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) repeated in the Am class with a win in the No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche.

Sargent took the early lead over Dickinson and Martin. A yellow flag five minutes into the feature tightened the field. Once the race returned to green flag racing, Dickinson and Martin battled with the Brit sneaking by the Texan and setting the sights of the No. 9 on the No. 17.

Martin would take the lead and, despite several strong attempts to regain the top spot by Sargent, the JDX Porsche returned to the top step of the podium. Sargent was in second place, Dickinson in third while Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama champion Jimmy Libre (Dominican Republic) was in fourth place ahead of Alex Sedgwick (UK) who closed out the top five.

• Pro class
  • Race Riley Dickinson (No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
  • Race 2. Will Martin (No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
• Pro-Am class
  • Race Alan Metni (No. 99 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
  • Race 2. Marco Cirone (No. 82 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup)
• Am class
  • Race 1 and 2. Mark Kvamme (No. 42 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup)

Highlights.

• Holding Point. Dickinson continues to hold the lead in the Pro class championship with 101 points over Sargent’s 82.
• After crossing the finish line as Pro-Am class winner in Saturday’s race, Race Stewards determined that Cirone had committed a starting line violation and had the race win taken away. The native of Toronto overcome those eventualities today, claiming a strong victory in the class.
• 3 for 4. Kvamme has earned the Am class victory in three of the first four races.
• A. Premiere. Not only was this Martin’s first career Carrera Cup North America victory, it came in his first career street race. The 20 year-old had never run on a temporary circuit until this weekend. He will not have to wait long for his second street course as the series travels to Miami, Florida next.
• 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).
• Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America: www.PorscheCarreraCup.us .
• Next Rounds 5 & 6. The Grand Prix of Miami. Miami International Autodrome, Miami, Florida. May 5 – 7.

Quotes.

Will Martin, No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Winner, Race 2.

“Coming here, I have never done a street circuit before. It was hard to get used to but we managed very quickly and the team did a great job with the car. I had pressure the whole way through. The start of the race was really good. I had a great launch and then on the restart as well. I was really pleased with that. After that it was just a matter of staying consistent and keeping the pressure under control. Miami is another street race but I have more confidence going into there. No one has really been to Miami there before, so I have a lot of confidence going into there. It going to be really interesting and a level playing field for me.”

Jeremy Dale, Owner, JDX Racing.

“I am the guy that is given the job of finding the people that can win races for us. That is the only reason we are here; we want to win races. Will and I first talked last October about joining us in 2023 and we kept the dialog going. As you can see, we have three Pro cars. We have a 17 year-old, a 20 year-old and a 23 year-old. We are all about bringing young talent along and helping them to develop and win races. I knew Will could win for us because he is a driver that has won races [in other championships]. This weekend we knew it was particularly challenging because he had never seen Long Beach, obviously, but he had never been on a street circuit. You have to trust the process and he definitely does, and we do. To me, the most impressive thing today was the racecraft: the start, the restart, defending. The guys at the front are racing super hard, super aggressive but clean. It is going to make for a great championship.

Marco Cirone, No. 82 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Pro-Am Winner, Race 2.

“I am thankful that I have Parker [Thompson, 2022 Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America champion] and my teammate Grant Talkie here. We went through a ton of video as I have never been here before. They accelerated the learning curve very quickly for me. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do so well. I want to thank Parker, the team ACI, Mark Motors and of course Porsche Motorsport and Michelin.”

Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America points leader Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) brought home his third-straight Pro class victory today as part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The first of two 40-minute feature events for the all-Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car series saw the 20-year-old Texan hold off early pressure to claim a pole-to-checkered flag victory in the No. 53 Kellymoss-prepared Porsche. Race 2 will close the 48th weekend of the Grand Prix of Long Beach at 7:20 p.m. ET/4:20 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 16.

• Pro class
  • Race Riley Dickinson (No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
• Pro-Am class
  • Race Alan Metni (No. 99 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
• Am class
  • Race Mark Kvamme (No. 42 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup)

Highlights.

• Green to Checker. This was the third straight race Dickinson has led start-to-finish.
• Four-Timer. Dickinson now has four victories in his career. He has started all 35 races in the history of the premier one-make series.
• Staying close. Series rookies Tom Sargent (No. 17 McElrea Racing) has finished second to Dickinson in all three of his North American race starts.
• Metni on top. Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) won his first race of the 2023 season. The 2022 Pro-Am class champion was elevated to the victory after race officials declared a start line infringement for Toronto’s Marco Cirone.
• No Amateur. Mark Kvamme won his second Am class race of the year in the MDK Motorsports car. The 2022 class champion will start from the class pole position in Race 2.
• Under Yellow. Unlike the season-opening races, round three saw two separate caution periods, the second ending the race under yellow. The first incident involved John Goetz (Weston, Connecticut) when the No. 57 Wright Motorsports Porsche was pushed into the flower bed at the famous fountain corner on lap one. He was unhurt but the car was not able to continue. The second incident involved Michael McCarthy (Clearwater, Florida), Travis Wiley (Austin, Texas) and Jason Hart (Flower Mound, Texas) with eight minutes remaining in the race. McCarthy’s No. 7 Kellymoss Porsche and Wiley’s No. 77 Topp Racing-entered machine made contact. Wiley continued but the No. 7 was turned backwards against the wall with rear end damage. Hart rounded the corner and made heavy head-on contact with the green and white Porsche. All involved were evaluated and released from the infield care center.
• 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).
• Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America: www.PorscheCarreraCup.us .
• Next Race 2. The Grand Prix of Long Beach. Streets of Long Beach, California. 7:20 p.m. ET/4:20 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 16.

Quotes.

Riley Dickinson, No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Winner, Race 1.

“A bit tricky at the beginning. We fought a bit of understeer with the car. I don’t think we were expecting the track conditions to be what they were. The [first] full course caution helped us quite a bit to get some temperature in the front tires which is what I needed. When we went back green, we put together a few good laps and grew a gap. The full course caution at the end of the race with my teammate Mike McCarthy was a disappointment. I feel bad for him, and I feel bad for the team. Looking forward to the race tomorrow. It is going to be a little different starting P2 [second starting position] but I am looking forward to building off what we had today.”

Marco Cirone, No. 82 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Pro-Am Winner, Race 1.

“I am thankful that I have Parker [Thompson, 2022 Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America champion] and my teammate Grant Talkie here. We went through a ton of video as I have never been here before. They accelerated the learning curve very quickly for me. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do so well. I want to thank Parker, the team ACI, Mark Motors and of course Porsche Motorsport and Michelin. I want to try and do the exact same thing tomorrow.”

Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Am Winner, Race 1.

“Long Beach is just about survival. Those cement walls are very, very close. That first lap, I just wanted to survive, and I barely survived. I got hit from behind and I rear ended the guy in front of me who rear-ended the guy in front of him. It was a big old stack up at the Fountain. As the old expression goes, in order to finish first, you first must finish. I was just focused on that. My sponsor, Racing to End Alzheimer’s is local, they are in Palos Verdes  so it is big to win for the sponsors. Obviously, I would like to do a double-win. I am further-up in the pack [the starting grid] tomorrow,  so we are just going to try and survive and win the race.”

The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America makes it second appearance of the season with rounds three and four to be held on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit on the streets of Long Beach, California.

This is the hometown race for the series with Porsche Motorsport North America based at the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles in nearby Carson. Practice and qualifying for the premier one-make race series happen on Friday, April 14 with race one on Saturday and race two closing the Long Beach race weekend on Sunday afternoon.

• Capacity Crowd. 35 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars are entered at Long Beach. This is full capacity for the street event based on paddock and track space and is one greater than the debut event here in 2022. It is among the largest entry lists for any event ever held at Long Beach.
  • Pro class. 20, Pro-Am class. 10, Am class. 5.
  • 12 race teams are represented across all three classes.
• Point Leaders.
  • Riley Dickinson, Tom Sargent (-16), Will Martin (-25)
  • Pro-Am. Moisey Iretsky, Alan Metni (tied with 42), Marco Cirone (-8)
  • Mark Kvamme, Scott Noble (-9), Jeff Majkrzak (-13)
  • Kellymoss, McElrea Racing (-10), JDX Racing (-19), MDK Motorsports (-19)
• Perfect Score. Riley Dickinson enters Long Beach with a perfect score of 56 points. The third-year Carrera Cup driver piloted his No. 53 Kellymoss prepared Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car to two overall victories, the pole position and fastest race lap in both Sebring rounds.
• Team Leaders. 12 teams have entered 35 cars at Long Beach. Kellymoss has seven cars under its banner across the Pro and Pro-Am classes. MDK Motorsports brings six cars spread in all three classes. McCann Racing has three, two in Am and one in Pro-Am class. JDX Racing enters three cars, all in Pro. Topp Racing has entered two cars in the Pro class, one in Pro-Am. ACI Motorsports, GMG Motorsports, McElrea Racing, Nolasport and Wright Motorsports each bring two cars. Accelerating Performance and Rearden Racing bring one machine apiece.
• Golden State Drivers. Three drivers call California their home: Thomas Merrill (Salinas), Kyle Washington (Indio) and Chris Bellomo (Portola Valley). GMG Racing is based in Santa Ana.
• Junior Class. Eight Porsche Junior Program North America drivers are entered: Elias De La Torre IV (JDX Racing), Riley Dickinson (Kellymoss), Jimmy Libre (MDK Motorsports), Will Martin (JDX), Thomas Nepveu (McElrea Racing), Thomas Sargent (McElrea), Sean Varwig (Kellymoss) and Travis Wiley (Topp Racing).
• Command Performance. Of the 2022 Long Beach winners, Alan Metni, who won the Pro-Am class for Race 1 here last year, John Goetz (Am class, Race 1) and Mark Kvamme (Am class, Race 2) are the only returning class winners. Kay van Berlo, who won both rounds overall last year, has moved up the Pyramid and is co-driving the No. 91 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 R in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class on Saturday with Metni.
• Broadening the Field. PT Autosport, who competes under the JDX Racing banner with driver Alex Sedgwick (No. 98, Pro), is providing opportunities for racers from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. Earlier this month, the team opened online applications for its second annual Aspiring Driver Shootout, to be held at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) August 1 – 3. The Shootout winner will be granted a $100,000 racing partnership and will begin his or her progression up the motorsports ladder. 2022 winner, Henry Drury, will begin his racing program this summer.
• All races air on the Peacock streaming app, on IMSA.tv and at PorscheCarreraCup.us and are archived on Porsche Motorsport North America TV: (https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica).
• On the web. PorscheCarreraCup.us .

SCHEDULE: (All times Pacific)
Friday, April 14.
7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. – Practice 1
11:15 a.m. – 11:55 p.m. – Practice 2
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Qualifying (all classes)

Saturday, April 15.
5:15 p.m. – 5:55.m. – Race 1 (40-minute race)

Sunday, April 16.
4:20 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Race 2 (40-minute race)