By: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama
September 16 2016
Lazare could clinch his first Platinum Cup championship Friday in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama after winning Round 13 at Circuit of the Americas in the No. 21 Kelly-Moss Road and Race Porsche.
Montreal resident Lazare leads second-place Andrew Longe by 47 points, 233-186, after his 10th victory of the season and only needs to lead by 40 points after Round 14 Friday. That 45-minute race starts at 7:15 p.m. (CT) on the 20-turn, 3.4-mile circuit and is the only night race of the season.
"The race was just amazing," Lazare said. "The car was great. Kelly-Moss did an incredible job. I'm excited for tomorrow and hopefully will repeat the same thing."
Lazare beat 2016 Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama Platinum Cup champion Daniel Morad, from Toronto, to the finish by 1.476 seconds. It was his fifth consecutive victory this season.
Will Hardeman, from Austin, Texas, earned his first career podium in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series by placing third in the No. 19 Moorespeed Porsche at his home track.
Ricardo Perez, from Mexico City, finished fourth in the No. 02 JDX Racing Porsche. Lucas Catania, from Cazenovia, New York, rounded out the top five in the No. 26 NGT Motorsport Porsche.
Jeff Mosing, from Austin, Texas, won the Platinum Masters class and finished sixth overall at his home track in the No. 01 TOPP Racing Porsche. Sebastian Landy, from Great Falls, Virginia, won the Gold Cup class in the No. 49 TPC Racing Porsche.
Morad, 26, started from pole in the No. 17 Porsche Centre Oakville/Alegra Motorsports Porsche. But Lazare, 19, passed him for the lead in Turn 2, triggering a wild but clean duel for the lead between the two young Canadian stars over the next few laps.
Lazare and Morad powered down the front straightaway side by side after one lap, with Morad holding an edge by .007 of a second at the line. Morad extended that lead to .848 of a second after that lap, with 40 minutes remaining.
But then Lazare passed Morad for the lead two minutes later. Morad countered just a few turns later with an over-under move for the lead, holding a .259-of-a-second gap at the start-finish line.
"I had an amazing launch through the first corner after taking the outside line, and I took the lead from that," Lazare said. "The next lap Daniel capitalized in a spot I wasn't expecting going into the last turn. Had the slingshot there. Then he got he got me into (Turn) 1.
"After the slingshot, it was just amazing racing. And honestly it didn't have to happen at the beginning of the race; it just turned out that we were both hungry for it. Then definitely the car kicked in, and I just got a nice gap."
Lazare then seized the lead from Morad for good on the next lap. He padded that advantage to 1.968 seconds with nine minutes remaining. Morad clawed back time over the closing laps but never got close enough to attempt a pass.
"I can't be upset with second place when it's a battle like that with Jesse," Morad said. "He's a true class act. We did touch once in that race. We might have rubbed wheels, but he was totally fair, and that's the kind of racing you expect from such a classy guy."
Hardeman climbed from sixth to fourth on the first lap, chasing Ricardo Perez for third. Hardeman passed Perez for that position on the second lap and pulled away, chasing Lazare and Morad and producing a composed drive to his first podium finish in his 23rd career start.
Second-year race driver Hardeman ended up just 3.620 seconds behind Lazare and earned the Yokohama Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions during the race.
"I came into this weekend sick and tired of missing the podium every weekend," Hardeman said. "So this is what I'm doing; I'm on a mission right now. Once you're on the podium, it's just like 'look out.' I know what it feels like now.
"These guys aren't any faster than me. That's the bottom line, the mentality I'm taking. They're not gods; they're just mere mortals."
Platinum Masters
Mosing earned his ninth Platinum Masters victory of the season and his fifth in a row. He expanded his championship lead to 235-222 over Fred Poordad.
Poordad, from San Antonio, finished second in the No. 20 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Fred Kaimer, from Austin, Texas, rounded out the podium finishers in the No. 11 NGT Motorsport Porsche.
Mosing beat Poordad to the finish by 11.995 seconds. But this was far from a carefree joyride.
2015 Gold Cup and Gold Masters champion Mosing was locked into a fierce fight for sixth place with Platinum Cup drivers Anthony Imperato and Andrew Longe for most of the last 20 minutes of the race.
Mosing was content to sit in eighth behind Imperato and Longe for most of the joust, staying within two car lengths if opportunity arose. It did with 13 minutes remaining, as Imperato went wide in Turn 20, letting Longe and Mosing drive past for position.
Then Mosing and Longe engaged in a tough fight for sixth place. One lap later, the two drivers approached Turn 12 side by side, with Longe over-shooting the turn and Mosing collecting sixth place. Mosing stayed there for the rest of the race.
"It was really a lot of fun," Mosing said. "I got into the little threesome with them. It was good to be the third one of them because I didn't have to work the tires as hard. The Yokohamas were ready to bounce whenever they (Imperato and Longe) were sliding around too much.
"I was just waiting on them to use up tires. Once they did, I got past them, and they still had to battle each other, so I got a little bit of breathing room."
Gold Cup
Landy earned his class-leading seventh victory of the season and kept his championship hopes alive. Landy trails Michael de Quesada by 17 points, 224-207, with three rounds remaining.
De Quesada, from Tampa, Florida, finished second in the No. 31 Alegra Motorsports Porsche despite a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility. Phil Bloom, from New York, placed third in the No. 11 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
Landy's victory came after some help from a friend and some late-night work Wednesday in surreal surroundings at an Austin race shop. Landy and his TPC Racing team were forced to change engines Wednesday night before qualifying Thursday morning, and crew members worked late into the night at the Moorespeed shop a few miles from the track while the annual Moorespeed Open House party swirled in revelry and music around them.
"I have to thank all of the Texas hospitality that we've had to enable us to take the green flag," Landy said. "We're borrowing an engine from Jeff Mosing, who was kind enough to do that. David Moore at Moorespeed let us use his shop to change the engine, and all the guys worked really late to get the thing done. I'm super thankful for all of the hospitality and all of the hard work."
Bloom passed pole sitter de Quesada within the first 10 minutes of the race, taking a half-second lead. But de Quesada pulled closer over the next few laps. With 32 minutes remaining in the race, the nose of de Quesada's car nudged the rear of Bloom's Porsche entering Turn 12, sending Bloom into a spin and giving de Quesada the class lead.
But race officials issued a drive-through penalty to de Quesada, and Landy inherited the lead when de Quesada entered the pits. Landy then drove away to a 10.632-second victory.
"We were lucky this race," Landy said. "It's good to finally get a bit of good luck, have things go our way and finally get a win."
Up Next
Round 14 will start at 7:15 p.m. (CT) Friday. The race is 45 minutes. It is the only night race of the season.
The race also will be streamed live at imsa.tv, with a delayed television broadcast on Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliates in major United States markets.
For live timing, visit scoring.imsa.com or the IMSA mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows. For live updates on all the action, follow @IMSALive on Twitter.
ROUND 13 POST-RACE QUOTES:
JESSE LAZARE (No. 21 Kelly-Moss Road and Race, winner): "I had an amazing launch through the first corner after taking the outside line, and I took the lead from that. The next lap Daniel (Morad) capitalized in a spot I wasn't expecting going into the last turn. Had the slingshot there. Then he got he got me into (Turn) 1. After the slingshot, it was just amazing racing. And honestly it didn't have to happen at the beginning of the race; it just turned out that we were both hungry for it. Then definitely the car kicked in, and I just got a nice gap. The race was just amazing. The car was great. Kelly-Moss did an incredible job. I'm so happy to have all my sponsors on the car for this one. I'm excited for tomorrow and hopefully will repeat the same thing." (On redemption from Montreal and Watkins Glen, where the GT3 Canada drivers swept all four rounds overall): "Absolutely. You, of course, want the guy who is leading the American series to beat the guy who won the Canadian series. That's how we both think, and obviously it feels great, especially after what happened at Watkins."
DANIEL MORAD (No. 17 Porsche Centre Oakville/Alegra Motorsports, second): "Unfortunately, coming into this race I picked up an injury in training. So my leg is purple right now, so that doesn't really help. But I can't be upset with second place when it's a battle like that with Jesse (Lazare). He's a true class act. We did touch once in that race. We might have rubbed wheels, but he was totally fair, and that's the kind of racing you expect from such a classy guy. It's a breath of fresh air. Super happy with the result, and pole position was great. We missed a little bit on the setup for the race in the heat, but we are going to come back strong tomorrow."
WILL HARDEMAN (No. 19 Moorespeed, third; Yokohama Hard Charger Award winner): "Some guys taught me a lesson in qualifying, but during the race I had the pace of the leaders, which I was really happy about. We have more preparation than anyone here. I came into this weekend sick and tired of missing the podium every weekend. So this is what I'm doing, I'm on a mission right now. Once you're on the podium, it's just like 'look out.' I know what it feels like now. These guys aren't any faster than me. That's the bottom line, the mentality I'm taking. They're not gods; they're just mere mortals."
JEFF MOSING (No. 01 TOPP Racing, winner, Platinum Masters): "It was really a lot of fun. At the start here, it's really important just to try and stay out of trouble. Everybody looked like they got the job done, and we got to racing, which was great. I got into the little threesome with them (Anthony Imperato and Andrew Longe). It was good to be the third one of them because I didn't have to work the tires as hard. The Yokohamas were ready to bounce whenever they (Imperato and Longe) were sliding around too much. And that's the only thing. I was just waiting on them to use up tires. Once they did, I got past them, and they still had to battle each other, so I got a little bit of breathing room. Todd Oppermann did a great job with the setup on the car. Really great job to them. Thank you to Porsche, IMSA and Yokohama."
SEBASTIAN LANDY (No. 49 TPC Racing, winner, Gold Cup): "It was about time we had a bit of luck. We were lucky this race. But I have to thank all of the Texas hospitality that we've had to enable us to take the green flag. We're borrowing an engine from Jeff Mosing, who was kind enough to do that. David Moore at Moorespeed let us use his shop to change the engine, and all the guys worked really late to get the thing done. I'm super thankful for all of the hospitality and all of the hard work. It's good to finally get a bit of good luck, have things go our way and finally get a win, especially after what happened at VIR." (Did you see incident between Gold Cup leaders Phil Bloom and Michael de Quesada?): "I heard more about what was going on than see it. But I was just trying to focus on my own race. I locked the tires up on the first lap, so I was trying to manage that because the degradation was pretty high after that because of the heat. I was just putting my head down and doing what I needed to do."
About Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama
The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama is in its 12th season in 2016 as one of Porsche's 20 single-make Cup Challenge series in the world. The series produces intense, exciting competition for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world's most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Racing is divided into two classes - Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014-2016 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the current seventh, and current, generation of the street car, and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in the Platinum class. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.
For more information about Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, visit www.gt3cupchallengeusa.com, follow hashtag #GT3USA @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.
About IMSA
The International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and the Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires, as well as four single-make series: Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama; Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama; Ferrari Challenge North America; and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. IMSA - a company within the NASCAR family - is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. For more information, visit www.IMSA.com, www.twitter.com/IMSA or www.facebook.com/IMSA.
Canadians In BOLD