What better way to win a championship than taking the win in the final double-points race of the year – that’s exactly what JTR’s Anthony McIntosh (GT3 Cup) and Kellymoss racers Michael Clarke and Loek Hartog (Cayman) did in the final round of the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America.
The four-round championship came to a conclusion with a six-hour battle at Circuit of the Americas yesterday, with more than 50 of the top Porsche racers in the country doing battle.
McIntosh teamed with 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion Parker Thompson and recent Sonoma Raceway winner Aaron Jeansonne to take the win.
The JTR Motorsport Engineering crew pulled off a master strategy stroke of actually taking a longer pitstop – remarkably pushing them to victory lane.
“T Mac did an awesome job. Our MacIntosh Porsche 992 handled great. Everybody at JTR did a fantastic job. Our engineer Chris Bowman comes in for his first race and calls an absolute stunner of a race,” Thompson said.
The maximum stint length for the race was 60 minutes. The JTR crew actually held Thompson in the pit for a longer stop than the mandatory minimum until the clock had ticked past 60 minutes to go. Had they left at the end of the scheduled stop – they would have been forced to make an additional pit stop before the checkered flag.
“Our guys on the stand were constantly battling back and forth, challenging each other, pulling up the rule book,” McIntosh said.
“They had highlighted sections of the rule book and took pictures of it with their cameras. And they’re like, okay, if this comes down, we’re good. This is going to be our argument. This is argument A, B, and C.
“When they held him in the pit, I really didn’t even understand what was going on but the guys did a phenomenal job.”
After winning round three of the championship in a solo effort at Sonoma Raceway, Jeansonne completed a unique back-to-back pair of wins.
“Sonoma felt great, but to do this in a longer race, something more unfamiliar with great teammates like Parker and Tony, couldn’t feel better,” Jeansonne said.
“I’m really grateful to be part of this. And I’ve learned so much being with these guys this weekend.”
The victory was even more remarkable considering the team lost radio contact with the car early in the race – having to revert to a pit board and hand signals to try to communicate with the car.
Pole sitter BR Racing crossed the line in second place with Blake McDonald joined by 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion Riley Dickinson and fellow Porsche hot-shot Trent Hindman.
Road America Endurance Challenge winner Charlie Hayes finished third alongside Reinhold Krahn and Thomas Merrill.
In the Cayman class, Kellymoss racer Michael Clarke added to his Porsche Sprint Challenge North America title with an Endurance Challenge title with teammate Loek Hartog – the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship.
Clarke brought out the big guns for the COTA weekend – bringing Hartog’s fellow Dutchman – Kay van Berlo on board to complete the powerful trio.
“It was great. It was a long one, but the car held up well, and the team did a fantastic job getting it all set up and ready to go,” Clarke said.
“I was a little rough on my second stint, luckily, I cleaned it up on my third. I just kind of had to stay in contention and not mess up too much.
“My Dutch boys (Loek Hartog and Kay van Berlo) were incredible and drove the wheels off that car. So it was great.
“I have to say a huge thank you to Porsche. This has been a fantastic series, and it’s a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to next year.”
After finishing second in the final race of the year, Patrick Dempsey and Porsche legend Patrick Long took second place in the overall standings. The pair were joined at COTA by rallycross ace, Extreme E racer, TV host and stunt driver Tanner Foust.
Kellymoss also took third in the Cayman battle with William Peluchiwski joined by the experienced duo of Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell.
Remarkably, the race featured only a single yellow flag period. All three cars on the podium in both classes finished on the lead lap.
