Kellymoss racer Loek Hartog may not have been the first across the line in round three of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, but the Dutchman was credited with victory after a penalty was imposed on pole winner Alex Sedgwick.
The JDX Racing British racer was adjudged to have changed lanes at the start of the 40-minute contest and was hit with a 10-second penalty.
Hartog started fifth on the grid and eventually made his way to second place on the road after passing ACI Racing’s Jimmy Llibre, who had “led” much of the race.
Llibre’s hopes of Miami glory came to an end after contact between him and MDK Motorsports’ Gustav Burton put the diminutive racer into the wall, bringing out a race-ending red flag.
This promoted Sedgwick’s JDX Racing teammate Zach Vanier to second place ahead of Baby Bull Racing’s Michael Cooper.
Burton was also relegated down the field after also earning a 10-second penalty after contact between him and Topp Racing’s Ryan Yardley.
“That was a crazy race for me. Qualifying didn’t go so well, but we managed to turn it into a race win,” said Hartog.
“We started P5 and stayed out of trouble and managed to carve my way through to be second across the line. About halfway through the race I was aware that the leader had a penalty so I was able to cruise behind him – overall, a good day for us.”
After winning both races here in 2023, Kellymoss’ Efrin Castro again stormed to victory in the Pro-am class. Castro was kept under pressure from teammate Jordan Wallace with Miami racer, Moisey Uretsky crossing the line in third.
“Everything went well, and we executed our plan,” Castro said.
“I had the lead in the beginning, but I lost a couple of spots, but was able to keep my head down and continue pushing. My teammate Jordan kept me honest but I kept pushing and was able to take the win.”
Mark Kvamme made it a remarkable five wins from five starts here at Miami with another Masters win. The MDK Motorsports boss won here twice in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama in 2022, twice in Porsche Carrera Cup North America here last year and again today.
Today’s race was not without incident. Pole winner Chris Bellomo held the lead at one point after contact between the pair. Sebring double-winner Matt Halcome finished third.
“That was quite a race. Chris Bellomo and I had a real battle,” said Kvamme.
“I also did something really stupid in the middle of the race when I was looking in my rearview mirror and didn’t see a corner and I actually dented my left side, I dented my right side in turn 16 and then Chris hit me back.
“But Chris was a real gentleman. He let me back by and he ended up second. But I gotta tell you, we had so much fun out there.”
Round four of Porsche Carrera Cup North America will be raced on Sunday at 10:30 am ahead of the F1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.
