Round 4
Kay van Berlo (Netherlands living in Miami, Florida) continued his perfect season in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands with today’s victory at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 40-minute race – Round Four of the 16-round season for the premier one-make series on the continent – was the closing event of the 47th annual Grand Prix of Long Beach today. The race came down to a last lap shootout when a late caution was lifted in time for one final lap of the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit before time expired. However, van Berlo would not relinquish the lead giving the No. 3 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car the overall win in the Pro class. Justin Oakes (Houston, Texas) piloted the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche to the Pro-Am class win while Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) earned his third win of 2022 in the No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the Am class.
Pro Class.
Van Berlo continued to add to his success with his fourth victory of the season. The talented Dutchman who is studying business at the University of Miami in Florida, has earned every pole position, led every lap and set fastest race time all but once in the young second season of the top level of Porsche one-make racing in the United States and Canada. He brought the 500+ horsepower Porsche down to the green flag side-by-side with his teammate, Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas), who was challenging to break van Berlo’s hold on the season. However, the Texan carried too much speed into the corner allowing van Berlo to pull into a comfortable lead. Dickinson would finish 13th in class. Top title contenders Dimitri Dimakos (Chicago, Illinois) and Varun Choksey (Atlanta, Georgia) would also drop out early after early race contact which damaged both cars.
Trenton Estep (San Antonia, Texas) rewarded his MDK Motorsports team after a herculean effort by the crew to repair the No. 6 following heavy damage in Saturday’s Race 1. Estep is a veteran Porsche one-make participant but is in his first-year of Porsche Carrera Cup North America finished in second-place after a hard battle with Topp Racing’s TJ Fischer (Vacaville, California). Fischer crossed the line in third-place at his home race. Parker Thompson (Canada) pushed late in the going but would finish just off the podium in fourth-place driving the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Leh Keen (Atlanta, Georgia) continued his top-five performances taking fifth-place in the No. 12 311RS Motorsports Porsche.
Pro-Am Class.
Having earned the pole position for both races, Justin Oakes (Houston, Texas) maintained that position despite heated pressure from the remainder of the Pro-Am class – designated for drivers 36 – 57 years old. Oakes, driving the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, held off 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro-Am class champion Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) in the No. 65 Kell Moss machine who rallied after a frustrating race on Saturday. Jeff Mosing (Austin, Texas) earned his second podium of the weekend driving the No. 56 Topp Racing Porsche to third-place, one spot lower than his run in Round 3 the day before.
Am Class.
MDK Motorsports returned Mark Kvamme to the top step of the class for drivers 57-years-old and above. The veteran racer drove the No. 43 to its third win of the season ahead of Bill Smith (Dallas, Texas) in the No. 42 Topp Racing car in second-place and Robert Hanley (Foxfield, Colorado) in the No. 4 of JDX Racing.
To the point.
By virtue of a nearly flawless performance to this point in the season, Kay van Berlo and Kelly Moss lead the Pro and Team title chase. The 2021 class runner-up has tallied a remarkable 111 points including an addition 25 points for today’s race win and 3 more for pole position and fastest race lap. Kelly Moss holds a perfect 100 points for four overall wins in four races. Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) remains firmly in the Pro-Am standings with 84 points following a fourth-place finish in Round Four. Oakes moves into second-place (69 points) by virtue of his win today, three-points ahead of Mosing. Kvamme holds 85 points for the lead in the Am class.
Comments after the race
Kay van Berlo, No. 3 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“Super happy. My main goal for the season is to consistently score points. That is what I missed out on last season. At Sebring we nearly maximized in terms of points and this weekend we did. The car was on rails, absolutely spot-on. Getting pole position at a street track is super important. You put yourself into a safe position for the races. Still a lot can go wrong. I had a little more pressure the second race. Early on I was able to create a gap just to make sure when I was catching traffic, I could use it to my favor. Obviously, the last lap restart puts a little more pressure on you, but the goal was the same: keep it clean, get a good run away and make no mistakes. At the street courses it is harder to overtake than any of the other tracks and if you make a mistake, you put yourself in a risky position. That is what I tried to cover this weekend.”
Justin Oakes, No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“Quite an emotional rollercoaster. Qualifying on pole, leading the whole first race and then getting caught up in a little kerfuffle there at the end. So happy we were able to pull it together for Race Two and in such a commanding way. I feel real good about our pace here. Basically, to have four sessions at this track and to be able to put a significant gap on my competitors is a major achievement.”
Round 3
Kay van Berlo (Netherlands living in Miami, Florida) earned his third-straight Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands victory of the season today at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Pro class points leader raced from the overall pole position to the win in the No. 3 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car. In the Pro-Am class, Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) added to the Kelly Moss tally with his second win of the 2022 season in the premier one-make race series. Wright Motorsports driver John Goetz (Weston, Connecticut) piloted the No. 57 to the Am class win in Round 3 of the 16 race series. Round 4 will close out the Long Beach, California weekend on Sunday, April 10.
Pro Class.
Despite ambient temperatures being nearly 20-degrees Fahrenheit lower than Friday’s practice day, the heat stayed high at the front of the Pro class grid in today’s 40-minute race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit in Southern California. Van Berlo brought the 32-car grid down to the green flag with Trenton Estep (San Antonio, Texas) in the No. 6 MDK Motorsports Porsche. Joined by Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) in the No. 53 Kelly Moss machine and No. 58 Topp Racing Porsche of TJ Fischer (Vacaville, California), the Pro class was a battle each green flag lap. Estep would be forced into a runoff lane falling into the pack early. On his fight back to the front, he would be involved in an incident at the famous Long Beach “Hairpin” final corner, which would end his day as well as the No. 81 ACI Motorsports Porsche of Grant Talkie (Sarasota, Florida).
The issue in the hairpin would include more cars when the leaders completed the lap. When the Kelly Moss teammates crossed a line of fluid at the apex of the hairpin, both spun, others would follow. Van Berlo was able to execute a pirouette and maintain the lead. Dickinson, close behind him, who was closer to the wall when he spun, took longer to return to the pace and fell to sixth-position. A short green period left most cars in the same order before a yellow would fall again. Unable to clear the track in time, Round 3 of the championship finished under caution with van Berlo leading the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche of Parker Thompson (Canada), the No. 58 of Fischer, the McCann Racing No. 8 of Michael McCann (Canton, Ohio) and the No. 11 Deluxe 311RS Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Dimitri Dimakos (Chicago, Illinois) rounding out the top-five. Van Berlo extends his points lead over Thompson with a second 40-minute race scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Van Berlo will start from pole position in race two. He set the fastest race lap with a time of one-minute, 19.660. It was his second sub-1:20 lap making him the only driver in the field to break that barrier.
Pro-Am Class.
Metni captured his second win of the season having taken the first Pro-Am class victory of the season in Round 1 at the Sebring season opener. His primary protagonist in the Pro-Am points battle, Kelly Moss teammate Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) in the No. 65, suffered a first lap end to his race when the pink and black Porsche was forced up onto the curbing surrounding the fountain corner. Castro became high-centered but was able to extricate himself. However, the damage was great enough that he was unable to continue. The 2021 Pro-Am class champion would finish 32nd today. Jeff Mosing (Austin, Texas) chased Metni across the line in the No. 56 Topp Racing Porsche. Curt Swearingin (Chattanooga, Tennessee) raced the No. 17 ACI Motorsports machine to a third-place finish in class.
Am Class.
Wright Motorsports returned to the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Am class victory circle with John Goetz (Weston, Connecticut) in the No. 57. Bill Smith (Dallas, Texas) put the Topp Racing No. 42 in second-place with Robert Hanley (Foxfield, Colorado) giving JDX a second podium on the day with a third-place in the Am class.
To the point.
Van Berlo padded his points lead with the win and fastest race lap in Race 1. The 2021 Pro class runner-up entered with 55 points – 17 over Dickinson – but enters Round 4 with a total of 85 markers. An additional 25 for the win, four for the two pole positions and one for fastest race lap. By virtue of his second-place finish, Thompson gains one spot moving into second-place in the points with 54.
Comments after the race
Kay van Berlo, No. 3 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“I was able to get a good run at the start. I knew if I could get through sector one clean, the rest of the sectors would be safe and that is what happened. I was able to build a small gap and that put me in a safe spot. First time racing here so it is a bit of a guess of what the balance is going to be like, how quick are we going to be? Pretty soon we got down to really fast times and I thought ‘geez, this is going to be quicker than qualifying.’ We got down to a pretty good lap time which gave us the pole position for tomorrow. It was a little confusing because we didn’t have great radio communication here. We came around the corner and I see a bunch of cars standing there. I took a big angle to make it and I barely tapped the throttle, probably not even five percent, and I lost it right away. I saw Dickinson in my mirror, and he does the exact same thing. When I felt I lost it I just went full throttle hoping I would do a 360 which worked out. It worked out for me but it didn’t for Riley. I have to say, that was part luck and we had a pretty good gap. When the other guys came around the corner and they saw me and Riley they slowed down significantly which allowed me to stay in lead position.
The thing about racing here is that the track is different every lap. There is debris on track, someone goes off, there is a yellow here and a double yellow somewhere else. There is a lot going on and a really small margin of error. I am super happy we came home with the fastest lap, the win and good points for the championship. A bit too hectic for comfort but we ended-up on the right side.”
Qualifying
Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands points leader Kay van Berlo (Netherlands living in Miami, Florida) continued at the point of the field today during qualifying for this weekend’s third and fourth rounds at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The driver of the No. 3 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car broke the one-minute, 20-second barrier on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit in the Southern California city with a blistering time of 1:19.985-seconds. The lap, the only sub-1:20 time, earned the University of Miami student the Pro class, and overall, pole position for Saturday’s first of two 40-minute races. The hot lap came near the heat of the day with temperatures over 95-degrees Fahrenheit. In the Pro-Am category, Justin Oakes (Houston, Texas) earned his first career pole position in the premier one-make series with a time of 1:21.602 behind the wheel of the No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car while Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) continued his string of Am-class pole positions in the No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche (1:23.241).
Due to the large field of 34 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, all type 992 generation, series officials opted to split the qualifying into two groups. The first group was reserved for the Pro-Am and Am classes where Oakes and Kvamme each shined on the narrow, wall-lined circuit. After 15-minutes, it was the Pro class drivers’ opportunity to set the pace. The top-spot rotated between the leading contenders in the class with van Berlo narrowly bettering the 1:20.025-lap set by Trenton Estep (San Antonio, Texas) in the No. 6 MDK Motorsport Porsche. Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) also pushed his Kelly Moss teammate for the pole but will grid on the inside of Row Two in the third-position. Veteran Leh Keen’s lap of 1:20.433 gave the Atlanta, Georgia-resident the fourth-spot in the No. 12 311RS Motorsports. Parker Thompson (Canada) closes out the top-five with a lap time of 1:20.501 in the JDX Racing Porsche.
The fastest lap by each driver in qualifying sets the grid for the first race of the weekend. The second fastest lap by each driver acts as the qualifying time for the second race to be run on Sunday. Should a driver better their second best time during the race, the faster of the two will act as the qualifying time.
34-Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars will start in tomorrow’s race. This weekend is the first time the Grand Prix of Long Beach has been a part of the all-Porsche race series and the first time any street course has been on the schedule. Round 3 will take the green flag on Saturday, April 9 at 10:45 a.m. California time. Round 4 will start on Sunday, April 10 at 4:20 p.m. California time.
Comments before the race
Kay van Berlo, No. 3 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“Super happy with the result. This was my first qualifying at a street track. It is about building up slowly. The car went quicker and quicker and I realized I could improve every corner bit-by-bit. Long Beach is amazing. It was fun in practice but in qualifying when you put new tires on, you push a little extra it makes it even better. Qualifying is important, you want to start in front of the field to put yourself out of a risky position. The two races are where we will find the points, but I am super happy to be able to start on pole. 40-minutes will be long, temperatures are supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow which will suit us a little better as drivers, but I am looking forward to a clean race, bringing home some good points and having fun out there.”
Justin Oakes, No. 47 Nolasport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“Quite overwhelmed. I am new to Porsche and new to the series. They told me when I crossed the start-finish line we had pole and it is quite an achievement. I am really proud we could deliver something meaningful at Long Beach. It is an incredible track. I think of things in terms of pictures and videos and this place is so cinematic. It is just beautiful. It is a technical track. It’s high risk, obviously. It makes you be a disciplined driver. The competition here is incredibly strong and we were able to do it. The dream is track position. Starting on pole is a huge advantage. It is difficult to pass at Long Beach. Pole is where everybody here wants to be, and we got it.”
Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“This is such an iconic race. It has been fabulous. To be on the track is phenomenal. We normally have runoffs but our runoff here is a cement wall, so you have to be as close to the cement wall as possible without touching it. This track changes every time you drive it. In the morning you have the Formula Drift [series] rubber, in the afternoon you have a little bit of Michelin rubber and for qualifying you have the Indy car rubber, so it is a different track every time. I’ll go out tomorrow and see how lap one and two go and feel my groove and go from there.”
Porsche: Why We Race.
Our racing drives your Porsche. Motorsport is more than a marketing platform to Porsche. It is who we are, it is in our DNA. We race to improve the breed. Research and Development leads our motorsport programs around the world to ensure the lessons we learn on the race track today become the technological heart and soul of your Porsche tomorrow. Porsche Motorsport North America is the sole importer for the Porsche 911 GT3 R, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport and Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars in the United States and Canada.
About the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands, located an hour south of Miami in the vibrant tranquility of western Caribbean, is a premier destination for travelers, thrill-seeking divers, adventurous epicures, honeymooners and families alike. The trio of islands affords each guest with the ultimate setting to enjoy life’s finest comforts, as the Caribbean’s leading luxury lifestyle destination. Five-star resorts, high-end villas, condos and breathtaking beachfront properties unique to each island offer a myriad of accommodation options for discerning travelers to enjoy. Additionally, the Cayman Islands is frequently heralded as the “Culinary Capital of the Caribbean” and offers endless gastronomic experiences to delight even the most seasoned of palates.
The Cayman Islands, world-renowned for impeccable “Caymankind” hospitality also employs best-in-class health and sanitation protocols to keep visitors and locals safe. To learn more about the Cayman Islands, please go to www.visitcaymanislands.com; www.divecayman.ky or call your local travel agent. For the most up-to-date travel guidance and protocols, please visit: https://www.exploregov.ky/coronavirus.
Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by The Cayman Islands.
Porsche Carrera Cup North America by The Cayman Islands is the premier one-make race series in the United States and Canada utilizing a combination of the latest Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car, type 992, and MICHELIN® Pilot® Sport Cup N3 racing slick to challenge the best road and street race courses on the continent. As with all national Carrera Cups worldwide, the inaugural season of the championship is scheduled to host 16-rounds. Each 45-minute race counts toward a season-long driver and team championship in each of three classes: Pro, Pro-Am and Pro-Am 991.
More on Porsche Carrera Cup North America by The Cayman Islands can be found at www.PorscheCarreraCup.us.
