At the Brickyard, Aaron Jeansonne’s dreams came true. The Kellymoss rookie captured his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup North America win at Indianapolis, making him the seventh different victor of a record-breaking season.
For Jeansonne, the moment carried the weight of years spent grinding through the junior ranks, leaning on scholarships and coaching work to stay in the sport, and finally proving himself against one of the most competitive Carrera Cup grids the series has ever seen.
“Winning is always the goal,” he said, “but I knew what I was getting into. I’ve been watching the series for a while. I know how competitive it is, I know how high a level it’s at.
“To actually do it myself, to look back on the performance and feel how strong it was — that’s when I realized just how much respect I have for this platform and for the drivers in it.”
His arrival in Carrera Cup was not preordained. Unlike most drivers who start with karting at five or six years old, Jeansonne’s racing career began late, at 16, on dirt ovals in central Louisiana.
He raced asymmetrical go-karts on dusty tenth-mile tracks, learning the basics of setup, competition, and perhaps most importantly, how to lose. Those lessons carried into a Skip Barber school and then into the Lucas Oil Formula Car Series, where he began chasing the dream of climbing the open-wheel ladder.
In 2017, he finished runner-up in the championship and earned the Team USA Scholarship, representing his country in Formula Ford races in England.
But the road wasn’t straightforward. Limited budgets meant only half-seasons in F2000 and British Formula Ford, and by 2019, the open-wheel path had run thin.
Opportunity came instead from Mazda’s MX-5 Cup program. Jeansonne won the 2020 scholarship shootout and spent four years carving out a reputation in one of IMSA’s most fiercely competitive series.
Those years honed his racecraft and introduced him to the professional paddock, where he also worked as a coach to support his career. That coaching led to connections with Porsche GT3 Cup car owners, which in turn created the chance to drive in Porsche Sprint Challenge at the end of 2024.
The speed came quickly, and so did the attention. Supporters helped him land with Kellymoss for a full Carrera Cup campaign in 2025.
Kellymoss provided the perfect launchpad, pairing him with teammate Riley Dickinson, a champion and the most experienced Carrera Cup driver in North America. The pairing gave Jeansonne exactly the mentorship he needed.
“I couldn’t ask for a better teammate than Riley,” he said.
“Aside from the information and data, he’s been supportive from the beginning. Even in his own championship fight, he never held anything back. To see how hard he worked, even with all his success, really inspired me to step up to his level.”
Stepping up became necessary from the moment the season began. The field at Sebring was stacked with veterans and hungry rookies. Jeansonne admits that early in the year, much of his focus was simply keeping the car on the limit.
“At the beginning of the year at Sebring, Miami, Montreal, I was using so much mental energy on track just trying to drive the car fundamentally correctly,” he explained.
“Even when I had good results and showed strong pace, it was still everything I had. A lot of this year has been getting laps and experience, and now things are starting to slow down.”
That comfort was critical at Indianapolis. The 992.1-generation Cup car finally felt like “a comfortable pair of shoes” rather than something unfamiliar and unforgiving. He arrived at the Brickyard with confidence, and his pace showed it.
Jeansonne stormed to pole position for Race 1, only to lose the lead to Zachary Vanier’s decisive move at the start. Vanier went on to win, leaving Jeansonne third. Frustrated but determined, he studied what went wrong.
“Zach’s been so strong at starts all year,” he said. “I knew with him behind me, I’d have to fight. It was bittersweet to get pole and only come away with third, but I learned from it. The next day, I held tighter in Turn 4 and didn’t leave as much room.”
The adjustment worked. In Race 2, Jeansonne defended smartly, controlled the pace, and converted pole into his long-awaited first victory. The emotions hit hardest when he crossed the Yard of Bricks.
“It’s so rewarding,” he said. “Indy is special to everybody. Everybody who grows up a racing fan dreams of racing here one day. To even be here was special, but to get my first win at this place — it was emotional.”
The result was not just a personal breakthrough but also a milestone for the series. Jeansonne became the seventh different driver to win in 2025, breaking Carrera Cup North America’s record for variety at the front.
It underscored the parity of the field and the maturity of the championship as a proving ground.
“I wanted experience that was relatable to where I’m trying to go, which is GT3 racing,” Jeansonne said.
“I haven’t seen a better route than Carrera Cup. With the success people have had here and the careers they’ve built, it just makes sense. It’s the right car, the right style of racing, the right competition.”
For Jeansonne, the road to that first win was long and often uncertain. From dirt ovals in Louisiana to Formula Ford in England, from scholarship shootouts to MX-5 Cup, and finally to the Brickyard in a Porsche, every rung of the ladder brought him closer. Now, with the barrier broken, his ambitions for the rest of the year have grown.
“Early in the year, the goal was just to learn and improve every time,” he said. “Now, with a podium, a win, and poles, the goal is to sustain that. The way to do that is to keep improving, look at what we could have done better at Indy, and apply it at Road Atlanta and COTA. I want to finish the year as strong as anybody.”
At Indianapolis, Jeansonne proved he belongs in the fight. More than that, he wrote his name into the series record books. A first win, a record seventh winner for the season, and a reminder that sometimes the long road pays off in the biggest way possible — with victory at the Brickyard.
