JDX Racing’s British racer Will Martin scored his third Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America pole of the season today during a disrupted qualifying session at Rennsport Reunion 7.
Martin stopped the clocks at 1 minute, 23.388 seconds around the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca circuit – just edging out McElrea Racing’s Tom Sargent by a mere .078 of a second.
With the threat of rain looming, the 25-minute qualifying session was disrupted by a heavy accident by Martin’s teammate, Elias De La Torre, which brought out the red flag.
2023 provisional champion Riley Dickinson found himself a long way down the Pro class timesheet before the red flag but was able to fight back to record his fastest lap of the final lap of qualifying to line up third on the grid.
“The conditions were a bit of a concern when it started to drizzle. Then we had the red flag, and we had to go back out on the same set of tires to get a few more laps in,” Martin said.
“The biggest challenge was the traffic, but the team did a brilliant job with the car, and I’m super pleased with how it’s gone.
“Being here at Rennsport for this year – I’ve never been before – it’s just a brilliant event.”
Martin’s other teammate, Alex Sedgwick, was fourth fastest ahead of MDK’s Jason Hart.
In the Rafa Racing Club Pro-Am class, PJ Hyett scored his first-ever series pole – beating out his Kellymoss teammate and points leader Efrin Castro and Friday pacesetter Chris Bellomo.
The result adds to a massive weekend for the Hyett who has also been out on track in a number historic cars for AO Racing during the Rennsport weekend.
“For my first Carrera Cup pole to come here at Rennsport while our team AO Racing is also running these wonderful vintage Porsches is great,” Hyett said.
“To then go out in a modern car and put it on pole in Pro-Am – that’s a pretty special moment.
“Rennsport is really a special weekend, but this is sort of the cherry on top. Hopefully, tomorrow with the two races will bring similar luck.
The championship battle between MDK Motorsports’ founder Mark Kvamme and his teammate Scott Noble continued at Laguna Seca, with Kvamme fighting his way back to pole today, breaking Noble’s streak of six-consecutive pole positions.
“It feels so good to be back in the pole after taking a six-race ‘holiday’. My teammate Scott and I are having a ton of fun, and he’s pushing me, and I’m pushing him, and it’s just been an amazing race for the Am championship,” Kvamme said.
“I think it’s going to all come down to the last race at Circuit of The Americas. So stay tuned. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
John Goetz was third fastest ahead of Bob Mueller.
The Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America will complete their Rennsport weekend tomorrow with rounds 13 and 14 scheduled for 9:05 am and 3:35 pm – the final race of the spectacular Porsche festival.
