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Hartog uses Kellymoss homefield advantage to sweep weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup North America

Porsche Carrera Cup North America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Rounds 9 & 10

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The Porsche Carrera Cup North America leapt into the second half of the 2024 season at one of the sport’s most popular race tracks: Road America. “North America’s National Park of Speed” hosted rounds nine and ten of the 16-race season with momentum growing toward one of the closest fought finales in the history of the series. Despite this being the first visit to the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin track for Loek Hartog (Netherlands), the series’ overall points leader used the homefield advantage of his veteran entrant, Kellymoss, to sweep the weekend. Kellymoss, based approximately 90-minutes away in Madison, Wisconsin, added to its tally by providing Masters class driver Chris Bellomo (Portola Valley, California) his first two career Carrera Cup wins as well.

Next, the series will travel to the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rounds 11 and 12 will take place as part of the Battle on the Bricks, September 20 – 22, in conjunction with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s six-hour race weekend. It will be the fourth year the series has raced at Indy.

Round 9. Saturday. August 3, 2024.
The battle at the front of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America field echoed the fight for the Pro class championship. Loek Hartog (Netherlands) would lead the 40-minute race flag-to-flag while the battle raged behind him for second place. In the end, it was Hartog’s closest competitor in the season long championship, Alex Sedgwick (United Kingdom) who finished just behind the No. 24 Kellymoss Porsche in his own No. 98 PT Autosport Porsche prepared by JDX Racing. It was an impressive run for the Brit who started in tenth place on the 32-car grid of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars. Jimmy Llibre (Dominican Republic) started and finished in third place, but the driver of the No. 2 ACI Motorsports Porsche had pressured Hartog throughout the race before settling in on the final step of the Pro class podium.

Pedro Torres (Wellington, Florida) scored his second consecutive Pro-Am class win in the No. 16 ACI Motorsports entry. Having driven the Porsche to victory in round eight at Watkins Glen International in June, Torres repeated with a class win at Road America. Driving the No. 68 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the Masters class, it was veteran Chris Bellomo (Portola Valley, California) who earned his first career Porsche Carrera Cup North America win.

Round 10. Sunday. August 4, 2024.
Loek Hartog added a fifth season victory to his series-leading tally with a green-to-checkered race in round 10. After a hard-fought battle in the opening lap with Dan Clarke (Indianapolis, Indiana) in the new the No. 64 Era Motorsport entry, the championship leader was able to pull steadily away from the field. Zachary Vanier (Canada) worked his way from sixth on the grid up to a second-place finish in the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche. Clarke would ultimately work his way back up to the podium in third place, an impressive accomplishment for the team’s first Porsche Carrera Cup North America weekend.

James Sofronas (Villa Park, California) scored his third race win in eight races to keep Torres from continuing his streak of Pro-Am class race victories. Torres would chase the Porsche racing veteran across the line just ahead of third-place Moisey Uretsky (Miami, Florida) in the No. 44 Baby Bull Racing machine. Chris Bellomo was able to hold off class points leader Matt Halcome (Dallas, Georgia) to score his second career Porsche Carrera Cup North America victory in the Masters class.

• Pro class winners.
o Race 1 & 2. Loek Hartog, No. 24 Kellymoss
• Pro-Am class winners.
o Race 1. Pedro Torres, No. 16 ACI Motorsports
o Race 2. James Sofronas, No. 14 GMG Racing
• Masters class winners.
o Race 1 & 2. Chris Bellomo, No. 68 Kellymoss

• On point.
o Pro class. Loek Hartog, No. 24 Kellymoss
o Pro-Am class. Marco Cirone, No. 84 ACI Motorsports
o Masters class. Matt Halcome, No. 55 ACI Motorsports
o Entrant. Kellymoss

• To the point. Complete Porsche Carrera Cup North America point standings can be found at: https://porschecarreracup.us/standings/ .

• Broadcast. All 2024 races are archived on Porsche Motorsport North America TV: (https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica).

• Online. Porsche Carrera Cup North America: www.PorscheCarreraCup.us

• Next Up. September 19 – 21, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana, Rounds 11 and 12.

Quotes.
Loek Hartog, No. 24 Kellymoss, Pro Winner, Race 1 & 2.
“It was my first weekend Porsche Carrera Cup North America sweep here at Road America, home ground for Kellymoss. Very happy with this race. This is how I like it. I couldn’t be happier. Many firsts here!”

Pedro Torres, No. 16 ACI Motorsports. Pro-Am Winner, Race 1.
“We had a good start. I was able to miss some of the issues that happened. I was able to keep up the gap in the high-speed stuff and manage the low-speed stuff. It was fun. The guys did an amazing job. You can see what Curt [Swearingin, team owner of ACI Motorsports] has done with this team. Everyone [at ACI] is getting podiums now. He has made a massive investment here and it is showing. I am proud of that.”

James Sofronas, No. 14 GMG Racing. Pro-Am Winner, Race 2.
“It feels great to be back in the winner’s circle. We needed this one. We didn’t quite have the car yesterday and that was frustrating. I love racing here. The GMG guys worked all night. Definitely 100 percent effort; no giving up in their approach. It feels good. Road America is the best place in the country to race. Super thanks to GMG, Porsche Motorsport and Yokohama.”

Chris Bellomo, No. 68 Kellymoss. Masters Winner, Race 1 & 2.
“It definitely did take a while to get that first win but I am very happy for the sweep on the weekend. I’ve been working really hard just trying to improve. From here, we will just keep trying to chase more wins.”

• Broadcast. Races air live at PorscheCarreraCup.us, on the IMSA YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@imsaofficial, on the Peacock streaming app and at IMSA.tv. All are archived on the Porsche Motorsport North America YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica.

• On the web. www.PorscheCarreraCup.us.

  • Image courtesy of Porsche Motorsport North America.

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