ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 9, 2015) – Jesse Lazare led from flag to flag to win Round 10 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama on Sunday, sweeping both rounds of action at Road America and reclaiming the championship points lead.
Lazare, from Montreal, Canada, produced a dominating run in the No. 21 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche for a victory by .691 of a second over Angel Benitez Jr. in the second race of the weekend for the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series. Lazare won both races this weekend from pole.
“I’m excited for both wins this weekend,” Lazare said. “He (Angel Benitez Jr.) tried everything, but that just made me go faster. The team put together a great car. They have worked so hard and I knew that I had the car to beat.”
The two victories helped Lazare retake the lead, 154-151, over Elliott Skeer in the Platinum Cup standings after nine of 16 rounds this season. The series will have three races at the end of August at VIRginia International Raceway, setting the stage for a big points weekend.
“Even with the lead I’m going into VIR with, the mindset is that I’m far behind in points,” Lazare said. “We have to keep pushing and come back even stronger.”
Benitez’s second-place finish in the No. 05 JDX Racing entry is his fourth in a row and sixth podium finish in as many starts. The finish moves Benitez, from Miami, to fourth place in Platinum Cup standings, only four points behind third-place Kasey Kuhlman.
Series rookies, Lucas Catania, from Cazenovia, New York, earned his first career series podium, finishing third in the No. 26 NGT Motorsport Porsche. He was locked in a tight battle for the final podium position with Skeer most of the second half of the race. Skeer finished fourth in the No. 14 Wright Motorsports entry after taking third place in Round 9.
Andrew Longe, from Naples, Florida, rounded out the top five in the No. 47 Fall-Line Motorsports entry.
Kuhlman, from Cincinnati, Ohio was the top Platinum Masters finisher, taking the checkered flag in sixth place overall in the No. 15 Wright Motorsports entry.
Joe Catania, father of Lucas, won the Gold Cup and Gold Masters classes in the No. 24 NGT Motorsport entry.
Lazare started Round 10 from pole and slowly built a lead over Benitez and the rest of the field. With just over 33 minutes left a caution was triggered by the No. 52 Porsche of Kurt Fazekas getting stuck in the gravel of Turn 5.
After the restart Lazare continued to build a lead at the front of the pack with as much as a 2.083-second gap with 11 minutes to go. Benitez would start to close the gap over the last 10 minutes, but Lazare would hang on for his fourth win of the season.
Platinum Masters
Kuhlman dominated the Platinum Masters class from start to finish for the second straight day. He finished 27.565 seconds ahead of second place finisher Charlie Putman.
“We had a great car today,” Kuhlman said. “I felt really fast and I felt great. I just took it too deep into Turn 5 one time and had a big lock-up and flat spotted my tires. They were 'flat spots of the century’ and after that, I had to modify braking and everything so much it was just defend at that point.”
The win was the sixth of the season for Kuhlman. He has complete control of the Platinum Masters class standings. He has a 50-point lead – 174-124 – over second- place Jay Patel.
Putman’s second place finish in the No. 40 Atlanta Motorsports Group was his second Platinum Masters podium finish of the season.
John Goetz, from Weston, Connecticut, also picked up his second podium finish of the season, taking third place in the No. 18 Wright Motorsports entry.
Gold Cup/Gold Masters
Joe Catania enjoyed the podium with his son, Lucas, after winning his first Gold and Gold Cup race. Catania was also the Yokohama Hard Charger Award winner finishing 13th overall after starting 18th.
“It’s a priceless memory to be up here with my son,” Catania said. “It’s beyond excitement for me. Lucas has worked so hard and we work together so much and to be able to not disappoint my son and be on the podium with him is such an opportunity.”
The first-place finish moves Catania to second place in Gold Cup points standings and third in Gold Masters, only two points – 120-118 – behind NGT Motorsport teammate, Mark Llano.
Gold Cup and Gold Masters leader Jeff Mosing, from Austin, Texas, finished second in both classes. Mosing started from pole and built a lead over his competitors but two separate spins put him in second place.
David Ducote rounded out the podium finishing third in the No. 6 Kelly-Moss Motorsports entry.
Up Next
Rounds 11 and 12 and rescheduled Round 4 of the championship are scheduled for Aug. 21-23 at VIRginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.
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.
Round 10 Post-Race Quotes
JESSE LAZARE (No. 21 Kelly-Moss Motorsports, winner): “I’m excited for both wins this weekend, He (Angel Benitez Jr.) tried everything, but that just made me go faster. The team put together a great car. They have worked so hard and I knew that I had the car to beat. So, I have to thank my team. They have honestly worked so hard and I can’t thank them enough. I’m just going to keep going. Even with the lead I’m going into VIR with, the mindset is that I’m far behind in points. I’m going to come back stronger.”
ANGEL BENITEZ JR. (No. 05 JDX Racing, second): “The car was much better today. The team did a great job last night fixing the car for me. We just didn’t have the pace that Jesse (Lazare) had. But we are doing a great job considering we started the season late, by finishing all the races on the podium. So we are doing what we came for and we just need a bit more luck during the races to be in that top spot on the podium. But I have to thank JDX for all they’re doing, and Hertz, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here and IMSA and Porsche for putting everything together.”
LUCAS CATANIA (No. 26 NGT Motorsport, third): “It’s a lifetime memory to be up on the podium with my dad.*I’ve got to give it to NGT Motorsport. They gave me an incredible car. It was very good out of the box and very balanced throughout the race. Skeer definitely put the pressure on me toward the end but I just tried to focus forward and hit my marks and I was able to pull away from him on the last couple of laps. The Porsche is awesome and I couldn’t be more happy to be here.”
KASEY KUHLMAN (No. 15 Wright Motorsports, first Platinum Masters): “We had a great car today. I felt really fast and I felt great, I just took it too deep into Turn 5 one time and had a big lock-up and flat spotted my tires. They were 'flat spots of the century’ and after that, I had to modify braking and everything so much it was just defend at that point and hope that I didn’t get overtaken by more. But it was a great race and great adjustments by Wright Motorsports. Thanks to them for a great weekend.”*
CHARLIE PUTMAN (No. 40 Atlanta Motorsports Group, second Platinum Masters): “That was so much fun. It was a great day and I got to get out there and run with a whole lot of cars. Like always with this thing, it doesn’t matter what happens or where you are you got a lot of guys to race and drive hard against and that’s what happened to me. An optimistic pass took me off the track early on. I still had cars to work with and pass and I was fighting them right up until the last couple of laps for the spot. So that makes it fun. Everybody does such a good job. There’s occasionally a little bump here and there but that’s racing. Occasionally you lose control because you are driving on the edge and you slide off. But it makes it a lot of fun for everybody. It’s just a great, fun competitive series.”*
JOHN GOETZ (No. 18 Wright Motorsports, third Platinum Masters): “It was a fun race and a great day. Road America is just such a fun track. Really, really enjoyed it. Wright Motorsports provided me great support. I am having a bit of a comeback from some incidents in some prior races, so it felt good to just get through and get to the podium even if it’s just in Masters. I had a lousy start, I lost three places at the start, so I had to claw it back, but that made it a great race and thanks to IMSA and their organization.”
JOE CATANIA (No. 24 NGT Motorsport, first Gold Cup/Gold Masters): “It’s a priceless memory to be on the podium with my son. It’s beyond excitement for me. Lucas has worked so hard and we work together so much and to be able to not disappoint my son and be on the podium with him is such an opportunity. This is a lifetime memory and NGT was fantastic. The drivers in the field were fantastic. We both had kind of a tough day yesterday and I think we rebounded really well going into the break before VIR.”
JEFF MOSING (No. 01 TOPP Racing, second Gold Cup/Gold Masters): “I am hoping to get some royalty payments from the crops I was digging out there today. I nicknamed myself ‘John Deere Jeff.’ I don’t know what happened. I guess it was because I wasn’t getting challenged from ahead or behind. I lapsed out and didn’t pay attention to my brake bias. The rears got hot on me into Turn 3; that was the second one. On the first one in Turn 5 when I spun I am thinking that I caught too much of the curb and it got the car unsettled. Before the race my cool suit was giving me trouble, it wouldn’t work and I just said ’take it out, I don’t need the extra weight’ and boy, it really makes a difference. I am cooked in that car. No excuses. (Joe) Catania just did a great job coming from the back and just being consistent and that’s all it took. I had Ducote hounding me at the end and if we had gone one more lap he would have had me for sure because I had lost my splitter. But hats off to Road America, Porsche and Yokohama, it’s a great series.”*
DAVID DUCOTE (No. 6 Kelly-Moss Motorsports, third Gold Cup/Gold Masters): “It was a very frustrating day. I made some mistakes and was really pushing to try and get around some Platinum cars to catch up to the leaders and then my brake was a little inconsistent, so I was having trouble with exact pedal feel. I kept pushing anyway and that resulted in a couple of offs that I would normally avoid. I had to work and work and work just to get back to the podium. I’m glad that I was able to work my way through anyway. And I still had a good time.”
Races:
Continental Tire Road Race Showcase