Jason Hart today became the oldest-ever winner of a Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America race – bouncing back from two tough weekends to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time at Watkins Glen International.
After qualifying third, Hart settled in second place on track behind British pole winner Will Martin. Martin – a winner at Long Beach this year – unfortunately suffered contact in lapped traffic and was forced to return to the pits with a flat tire.
From that point onwards, the 47-year-old was unchallenged as he headed to victory lane in the championship for the first time.
Points leader Riley Dickinson (Kellymoss) finished second ahead of McElrea Racing’s Tom Sargent.
Hart finished on the podium during the season’s opening weekend in Sebring but then suffered two challenging rounds. His car was heavily damaged at Long Beach when – while un-sighted in traffic – he struck the stranded car of Michael McCarthy.
He was back on track at Miami but only came away with a single seventh-place finish.
“It’s been a rough start to the season, but to get back up front in qualifying and then to win one of these races means the world to me,” Hart said.
“I can’t thank MDK Motorsports enough, plus Scott Noble, for all of his support. The No.20 car was just on a roll. We worked on it hard at a couple of tests we did here, got it to where we liked it, and we came to the decision that we just needed to race the car and see how it goes – and it did pretty well.
“It just means a lot to me to win one of these races. Everybody knows how hard it is to win a Carrera Cup race, and who knows? Maybe I’ll go down in history as the oldest winner of one of these.”.
In the Rafa Racing Club Pro-am class, Texas-native Jeff Mosing (Topp Racing) pulled off a pass on points leader Efrin Castro (Kellymoss) to take the lead and head to victory lane.
Marco Cirone continued his strong season form in third place.
In the Am class, Wright Motorsports’ John Goetz pulled off his first victory of the season. The win was also a return to form for the Connecticut-based racer who suffered contact during the previous race weekend in Miami.
Am class pole winner Scott Noble finished second ahead of championship leader and teammate Mark Kvamme.
The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America returns for race two tomorrow at 12:20 pm at Watkins Glen International.
