Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America championship leader Riley Dickinson continued to head the pack as the series kicked off rounds nine and ten of the 2023 championship at Road America.
Running in conjunction with the NASCAR Xfinity Series this weekend, Dickinson and all his series rivals faced a new track surface for the first time today, with the entire 4.048 miles now repaved.
Dickinson (Kellymoss) stopped the clocks with a best time in the afternoon 40-minute session of 2:08.805 to lead Road America rookie Tom Sargent (McElrea Racing) and Jason Hart (MDK).
Sargent held the fastest time for much of the session until Dickinson lowered the mark with a flying lap nearly a full second quicker than his rivals.
PJ Hyett topped his first-ever Carrera Cup session in the Rafa Racing Club Pro-Am class this afternoon – the Chicago-based racer pulling out a strong performance on his “home” track.
Marco Cirone and Jeff Mosing rounded out the top three.
“I’ve been coming here to Road America for years, but this weekend is like coming to an entirely new race track,” Mosing said.
“There is plenty of grip online, but as soon as you go offline, it is very slippery. Passing is going to be extremely difficult and qualifying is probably going to be more important than a street circuit.
“The circuit now is extremely smooth – it’s like Miami – and there is also very little tire degradation.”
MDK Motorsports performed strongly in the Am class, with Scott Noble leading his team boss Mark Kvamme this afternoon. John Goetz was third-fastest.
Unfortunately, the championship field is down one car after an incident in the opening practice session earlier today. McCann Racing’s Michael McCann suffered an impact at the high-speed Road America carousel – sadly ending his weekend early.
The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America is back on track tomorrow morning for qualifying at 10:45 am. The 40-minute, round nine of the championship will go green at 2:55 pm on Friday.
