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.”
