Thomas currently ranks 11th in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America standings and fifth in the Rookie point chase in his first season with the championship, but even that doesn’t reflect his success. He elected to compete only in the ANDIAL Cup rounds – which take place on traditional road courses – in 2025 because he has bigger goals in mind than his own lap times. He is also operating his team and supporting his own customers with whom he shares the starting grid. All that, and he is still within striking distance of a top-10 position with almost half the season still in contention.
He's done it all with his own JTR Motorsports Engineering team name on the side of his car. But how did he get there?
“I always tell people it was never the plan to be a business owner,” Thomas said. “It was never the plan to be a professional race car driver. It kind of just all happened. And I think there's a lot of hard work in there, but you get lucky with right timing, right place as well.”
That timing was key. Thomas grew up karting, and as an Indiana native he gravitated toward oval racing. But his road racing, first with the SCCA, opened the opportunities. He won a manufacturer shootout to race as a pro, where most of the work was done by Thomas and his father, Dave. In 2020 he won the “Rookie of the Year” and spent the prize money on a stacker trailer for his race car and the ability to start up his team in a full capacity. A few weeks later the Thomas family set off as their own entity. Fast-forward four years and JTR Race Engineering held two championships, a roster of customers and a plan to expand.
“That second championship that I won gave me the money to be able to purchase a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car and start down that venture,” Thomas said. “We were able to use that and get a car. We had one other customer at the time.”
The 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge by Yokohama season was a true launching pad for both Thomas and JTR Motorsports Engineering.
“We went to Porsche Sprint Challenge, and that was a good learning year,” Thomas said. “We won that championship, and the goal was always to come to Carrera Cup. One, because this is where I want to be, with a really high competition level. Everybody here in the top 10 is really, really good. So being there, competing up front, that's our goal, and I feel like every weekend is a little bit closer and a little bit better.”
This year Thomas and his teammates Peter Atwater and Rob Walker made the leap to Carrera Cup. It’s been a successful first season, with the biggest highlight coming at Road America. Thomas cracked the top five overall for the first time, while Atwater and Walker took the top two spots on the Masters podium.
So what is the future for both Thomas and the team? From his perspective, it’s continued steady growth with a brand that he knows is in motorsports for the long haul.
“At JTR, we always want to expand while being smart about it,” Thomas said. “And that's why we chose Porsche. We looked at all the other single makes out there. We chose Porsche because the brand loyalty is second to none, and because Porsche is always racing. They're not a manufacturer that's in and out. It's one that you can rely on, and one that you can rely on to build a business.”
He realizes the road ahead will the difficult, but JTR has a plan to go toe-to-toe with established teams in the championship.
“Winning is very important to us in performance,” he explained. “And that's always the first, most important thing. I think some people get caught up in the hospitality. There's a list of priorities, and you have everything that you need for a customer to come enjoy the weekend. But also, you need to be able to perform. We've always been at the front of the pack, and I don't see why that's going to be any different here. It's just taking a little time.”
Ever the strategist, Thomas is looking forward to the recently announced Type 992.2 911 Cup replacing the current 911 GT3 Cup in the 2026 season. Where other teams have years of data and experience with the current machine, his outfit hustled to make up for lost time.
“We came in years behind everybody else that's already been here,” Thomas said. “We're learning and we're getting better and better. Our goal two years ago was, let's get to Carrera Cup, let's solidify our position there. And then although the new car is not going to be a whole lot different, it's a little bit of reset. So we're in on the ground floor with that and can build off it.”
