Caroline Candas concluded her Porsche Sprint Challenge North America season with a dominant victory at Sonoma, securing second in the championship after a stellar performance in a lights-to-flag win in race 2.
Caroline Candas ended her Porsche Sprint Challenge North America campaign on a high by claiming a dominant victory at Sonoma. Candas showed excellent speed throughout the weekend in California and although she just missed out on claiming pole position, her race pace was exceptional.
The RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver consistently applied pressure to teammate Ian Porter in race one, taking the checkered flag in second position. Starting from pole position in race two, Candas controlled the race superbly to lead every lap and claim her second victory of the season with a flawless drive.
Candas arrived at Sonoma remaining in mathematical contention for the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America title, however sealing second place in the championship and contending for race victories was to be her primary aim.
The RAFA Racing Club Shootout winner hit double figures for podium finishes last time out at Road America, on a weekend where she maximised her results in light of a challenging event. After an incident not of her own making at the start of the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America race, the RAFA Racing Team by JDX squad prepared a new car for Candas to race at Sonoma.
The first on-track action of the weekend began on Thursday with a pair of test sessions for Caroline to familiarise herself with another new circuit. Candas was immediately inside the top-3 within the Cayman Pro/Am class and this speed continued into Friday’s two final sessions ahead of qualifying. Finishing second practice in the runner-up position in class, Candas was looking to cut the gap on teammate Ian Porter ahead of Saturday’s running.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and Candas was immediately showing good speed, sitting in second position in Cayman Pro/Am after her initial laps. Running directly behind Porter, Candas was able to improve and dipped below a lap time of 1:43 for the first time during the event. Showing excellent speed in the middle sector especially, the RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver qualified second overall with a gap of over a second to the third-place driver in class, Loni Unser.
Lining up from the front row of the grid for race one, Candas made an excellent start to hold position while immediately challenging teammate Ian Porter for the lead. Setting the fastest final sector of any driver to close out the first lap, Candas was less than a second behind the multiple race-winner and closed in further after clocking the fastest time on lap two. The race was then neutralised as Cayman Masters driver Alain Scalzo had stopped out on track with his car requiring recovery.
The race resumed on lap six with Candas remaining close behind Porter, rarely allowing him to open out a margin of over a second. Two further fastest times on laps seven and ten underlined her superb pace, with the RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver enjoying one of her strongest races of the season. Despite Caroline’s best efforts to mount a late challenge, Porter was able to hold on to claim victory with Candas taking the checkered flag in an extremely strong second position.
Courtesy of her speed and consistency throughout the weekend at Sonoma, Candas lined up from pole position for the season finale. Managing the start well, Candas held the lead through the opening turns despite a challenge from Ian Porter.
A strong end to lap one saw the RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver open up a margin of over a second to Porter. Consecutive fastest laps followed and with her strength in the final sector evident, Candas was looking confident out front.
Despite her strong start, Porter remained in close proximity and after a fastest middle sector of the race on lap six, he had reduced the margin to less than a second. After resisting this pressure from her teammate, Candas was able to maintain a lead of a little over one second during the middle portion of the race. Porter was still determined to fight for the lead and with seven minutes of the race remaining, Candas’ advantage was cut to less than a second.
With the race entering the closing stages, Porter was now less than half a second behind as Candas was starting to defend from her teammate. A mistake from Porter on lap 18 then offered Caroline some breathing space, with this error seeing the gap grow to almost two seconds, the biggest margin of the race to date.
Porter rallied once more and even attempted a late-braking manoeuvre on the final lap, however Candas was able to claim her second victory of the season with an exceptional, controlled drive at Sonoma.
Candas was able to secure second position in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America Pro/Am standings following her two trips to the podium at Sonoma. Her speed throughout the event at Sonoma was superb and her victory in race two was fully deserved as she defeated newly-crowned champion Porter in an equal fight.
After winning the inaugural RAFA Racing Club Shootout last November, Candas has enjoyed an excellent debut campaign stateside and asserted herself as a consistent front-runner in the series.
Caroline will now be looking ahead to the potential of competing in her longest endurance event to date, with six-hour finale of Porsche Endurance Challenge North America taking place at Circuit of the Americas on the weekend of November 23rd/24th.
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