Caroline Candas earns hard-fought podium finish at Road America

Caroline Candas secured her tenth podium finish of the season at Road America, finishing third in race one to maintain her second place in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America standings, showcasing her racecraft despite the challenges of a new track to the French racer.

Photo credits: RAFA Racing Club

Caroline Candas consolidated her second position in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America standings by securing a tenth podium finish of the season. Driving at Road America for the first time, Candas maximised her results in a challenging weekend which saw her finish race one in third, before taking the checkered flag fourth in the Cayman Pro/Am class in race two. Caroline was able to develop her racecraft in close-fought battles as she secured another large haul of championship points.

Candas claimed her first ever victory in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America last time out at Watkins Glen and was aiming to continue this excellent form. Road America provided a different challenge with the track featuring the longest lap of the year with a large number of high-speed corners and tricky braking zones. Therefore, Caroline aimed to get up to speed quickly and put her simulator time to good use in the opening practice sessions of the weekend.

Due to her commitments racing in Porsche Endurance Challenge North America, Candas had to split driving time with new teammate Cameron Lawrence and therefore needed to ensure the car setup suited both drivers. It was a productive two days of running for the young French driver who continued to learn the circuit and improve her times ahead of qualifying.

Qualifying on Saturday morning was held in some of the coolest conditions of the season and therefore tyre warmup would be an additional challenge for the drivers. On Caroline’s first flying lap, she set the overall fastest final sector of any driver and underlined her speed in this part of the track.

Candas had to manage traffic during her run and with a red flag being displayed for an incident involving Bill Fenech, the session was ended prematurely. As a result, Caroline’s best time placed her fifth overall, fourth in Cayman Pro/Am and therefore she was looking to show her overtaking skills in the first race of the weekend.

Photo credits: RAFA Racing Club

Candas lined up fifth on the grid for the opening race of the weekend and made an excellent start to immediately move ahead of the Cayman Masters machine of Alain Scalzo. Running in fourth position, Caroline was applying pressure to the leading group of drivers as the safety car was deployed for a multi-car incident at The Kink. Due to the cleanup required, it was a lengthy safety car period with the race resuming with around half of the thirty-five minute duration remaining.

Candas was looking to make a move from the outset and was running directly behind F1 Academy race winner Chloe Chambers. By applying significant pressure to Chambers into Canada Corner, Candas forced her rival into a mistake and was able to complete the overtake for third position. Although she was unable to pull out a sizeable margin on her rival, the RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver was showing her speed in sector three and set the overall best time through this portion of the track on lap eight.

On lap nine, another overall fastest final sector saw her begin to close in on second place driver Loni Unser. As the race entered the final five minutes, Chambers began to mount a late attack on Candas with her first sector speed significantly faster than those ahead of her.

However, Candas defended her position well and following a late spin for Patrick Dempsey, the safety car was deployed and the race finished at a reduced pace with Caroline continuing her podium streak with a third-place finish.

Candas lined up fourth on the grid for the second race of the weekend and made a good initial launch, challenging Loni Unser for third position through the opening turns. As Chloe Chambers and Unser fought for second position, this allowed a number of the Cayman Masters drivers to close in on Candas through the middle sector.

As the drivers headed through The Kink, Caroline ran wide and put all four wheels onto the grass, fortunately saving the car superbly to avoid any major damage and keep the car out of the wall. Although dropping to seventh position overall, Candas was now aiming to make up for lost time.

The RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver lost a little momentum following this off-track moment and this allowed Michael Clark to move ahead on lap two, before Candas overtook Alain Scalzo on lap three. Now trying to catch the Cayman Masters machine of William Peluchiwski, Candas was pushing hard to bridge the deficit. Although not quite able to achieve the speed of the top-3 drivers, Caroline was protecting her fourth position from Cayman Pro/Am driver Chris Hutter who was now directly behind.

On lap 11, Hutter spun out of fifth position in class and this relieved immediate pressure with the safety car deployed following this single-car incident. Racing resumed with a little over five minutes remaining and Candas was able to pass Clark on the restart, before closing up to Peluchiwski. Her progress was then halted by a further full course yellow period with Caroline taking the checkered flag fifth overall, fourth in the Cayman Pro/Am class.

Candas showed her determination to maximise her championship points across a challenging weekend at Road America. A podium finish in race one was the result of a superb drive in which she was able to run in the leading group of drivers and defend smart from Chloe Chambers.

Candas strengthened her excellent second position in the championship standings and still remains in mathematical contention for the title heading into the final round of the championship. The Porsche Sprint Challenge North America drivers will return for one last double-header on the weekend of 28th/29th September as they visit Sonoma Raceway.

Photo credits: Kyle Schwab / Porsche Motorsport North America