Twelve months ago, Texas racer Riley Dickinson scored his first ever Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America race win – fast forward 12 months, and the 21-year-old now has an additional nine victories to his name and is set to collect the Al Holbert Cup in October as 2023 series champion.
The Kellymoss racer picked one of the biggest stages in world motorsport to score these career-defining results. His first win came at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and with two additional wins at the same venue this weekend, he now has an unbeatable lead in the Pro championship points despite the fact there are still four rounds remaining.
His eight victories to date in 2023 also establishes a new record for the most overall wins in a single season in the Carrera Cup championship – a record he has a chance of extending in the final four rounds at the upcoming Rennsport Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Dickinson also locked the Porsche Motorsport North America Junior Program title with two race weekends remaining.
One of Dickinson’s last remaining fellow championship hopefuls, Tom Sargent, was today involved in a lap-one, turn-one melee with Sean Varwig and Jimmy Libre, which also sent several drivers up the escape road. Sargent’s hopes of a recovery were further dented when he was assessed a drive-through penalty.
That was not the only drama on the opening lap. Rafa Racing Club Pro-Am racer Marco Cirone had finished on the podium in second place yesterday, but today, he unknowingly suffered radiator damage in turn one.
By the time he arrived at his braking point at the end of the back straight, coolant exiting his car had turned him into a passenger and collided heavily with Porsche Motorsport North America Deluxe Female Development Program racer Sabre Cook.
Both cars suffered extensive damage, and Cook was transported to – and later released – from hospital after exiting the car with pain in her left foot.
After yesterday’s race only lost one competitor during the 40-minute journey, Varwig, Cirone, and Cook were joined on the sidelines today by Pro class racers Michael McCann, Jason Hart, and Travis Wiley.
At the chequered flag, Dickinson has opened up a lead of more than five seconds ahead of JDX Racing’s “British Invasion” duo of Will Martin and Alex Sedgwick.
“To think twelve months ago that I was able to win my first race here in Indianapolis and then a full year after the fact, to go win the championship at the same track is quite special,” Dickinson said.
“This is hands down one of the coolest venues we go to throughout the year. There’s so much history here, and it’s pretty special to have all the Racing for Children’s kids here this weekend with us. To deliver them a championship this year is very special.
“I have to say a huge thank you to everyone at Porsche Austin, back at home for all their support and of course, everyone at Kelly Moss for all their hard work. They’ve put in long hours, day and night, throughout the year.
“I’m absolutely excited about this one. We’re definitely going to go celebrate pretty hard tonight.”
Dickinson’s close friend and Kellymoss teammate Efrin Castro took another step closer to earning his second Rafa Racing Club Pro-am title with his second win at Indianapolis today.
Castro won the championship in 2021 and has now recorded four wins in succession and six in total this year. Remarkably, he also went back to back here in Indianapolis last year.
Joining him on the podium today were 2021 Pro-am champion Alan Metni and GMG Racing’s Kyle Washington joined him on the podium.
In the Am class, MDK’s Scott Noble and Mark Kvamme, plus Wright Motorsports’ John Goetz combined for a remarkable statistical anomaly this weekend. The trio of drivers finished in that order – 1-2-3 – in both practice sessions, qualifying, and both races this weekend.
The two wins by Noble squeezed the Am championship points gap down to 18 points from 34 points prior to this weekend. Noble has now scored four consecutive race wins as he attempts to chase down Kvamme for the crown – his MDK Motorsports team owner and 2022 series champion.
