The IMSA-sanctioned Porsche Carrera Cup North America begins its 2024 season in mid-March at Sebring International Raceway. However, its success, and that of the Porsche Motorsports Pyramid overall, in launching motorsports careers was on full display at Daytona International Speedway last month.
Seb Priaulx, the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion, scored the Rolex 24 At Daytona GTD PRO pole for AO Racing, then finished second in the No. 80 911 GT3 R with Laurin Heinrich (2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany champion) and Michael Christensen. Although not in a Porsche, the GTD polesitter was also a product of the Carrera Cup, as 2022 champion Parker Thompson set the fast qualifying time for Vasser Sullivan and Lexus.
But it wasn’t just in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship that Porsche Motorsports Pyramid graduates — and some who are still honing their skills in Porsche one-make series — displayed their talents. Riley Dickinson, the most recent Porsche Carrera Cup North America champ, co-drove to the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge GS victory in the No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport (pictured above) with an all-Porsche Motorsport Pyramid North America lineup of 2021 Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama champion Michael McCarthy and Sprint Challenge regular, 16-year-old Brady Golan. And Kellymoss with Riley, which also participates in the WeatherTech Championship GTD class, is a stalwart of the Pyramid.
“The aggressive nature of the drivers around you is the same as I have seen throughout my career in the Porsche one-make series,” said Dickinson of the IMPC competition. “What is different is that it isn’t always the same driver or the same car around you. I had to learn how to judge that. The other thing is this was a four-hour race instead of a 40-minute race. So, I had to adapt and learn and be there at the end. On the final stint, I got in and they said: ‘Maximum fuel save’ and I replied, ‘What is that?’ I have never fuel saved in my entire life because I came out of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, and we didn’t have to do that. I had to learn on the fly there, but I guess I did OK because we made it.”
The Porsche Motorsports Pyramid in North America includes the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama, which has categories for the Cayman GT4, 991-generation 911 GT3 Cup and the latest 992 911 GT3 Cup cars. Carrera Cup North America is the next step, featuring all 992 GT3 Cup cars. Many drivers have used these series as a springboard to not only IMSA competition, but sports car championships around the world.
“Daytona was a very good result for Porsche, obviously,” said Porsche Motorsport North America President and CEO Volker Holzmeyer, referencing the overall victory in the Rolex 24 for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 963. “To capture the brand’s 19th overall victory at one of the greatest endurance races in the world was very rewarding, as was earning the GTD PRO class pole position with the Porsche 911 GT3 R. However, it was most gratifying for Porsche Motorsport North America to watch three of our Porsche Motorsport Pyramid North America drivers, Riley, Michael and Brady, win in the intensely competitive GT4 field of the Michelin Pilot Challenge. To be the first time any of them had ever shared a race car or heard any strategy than ‘full attack,’ speaks well of the training they have received, and of our Motorsport Pyramid system which they all have worked their way through.
“This is very gratifying and a testimony of the platform we have created from Porsche Club track days up through the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America and into open competition with the SRO and IMSA. To count over 40 drivers on the entry lists for these two events, the majority in the 24 Hours, who have spent significant time in the system is more than noteworthy.”
The Porsche Carrera Cup North America will have a pair of races ahead of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, on the afternoon of Thursday, March 14, and Friday evening into dusk. The Porsche Sprint Challenge also begins its season at Sebring, two weeks ahead of the Twelve Hours weekend.