"Being a late entry to the series and immediately winning races on my debut really made a statement" - American rising star Chloe Chambers rounded out a brilliant season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with another podium finish - the eighth out of 12 races - in her first full-season of GT racing.
American rising star Chloe Chambers rounded out a brilliant season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with another podium finish - the eighth out of 12 races - in her first full-season of sports car racing. Her third place in Indianapolis was a strong finish to her Cayman GT4 campaign which also saw the Formula Regional Oceania race winner taking seven wins and three pole positions. Chambers was utterly dominant in most of the rounds she entered, but having missed the opening double-header at Sebring, Chloe entered the season finale with no championship ambitions. Although nobody other than Chambers won more than two races, the point scoring format meant that the final round at the road course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was only a matter of finishing on a high, having clearly proven to belong to the top of the field. With two wins out of three at Circuit of the Americas, Chambers had displayed unreal pace in charging up the field following a difficult qualifying. In one of the most extraordinary performances of the season, Chambers was about to overcome a 20 second penalty for a starting infringement, but a late safety car destroyed her almost 30 second gap in the closing laps, therefore denying her a clean sweep. Nevertheless, Chambers - who made a switch to GT racing from formulas in 2023 after racing in F4 US, W Series and Formula Regional Oceania - was eying another strong performance at the Brickyard to wrap up her campaign. Third and fourth fastest in the two practice sessions, Chambers had a difficult qualifying which put her in fourth place among the Cayman ProAm NA entries ahead of race 1. The first race of the weekend went underway on Thursday under grey skies and uncertain weather - but with one certainty: Chloe Chambers would try to make up positions and add another podium to her resumé. The start turned out to be slightly messy for the Cayman class and a few cars took to the grass; Chambers picked up positions and, having passed both Maloy and Bocuse over the first lap, she started to chase class leader Mihail Mihaylov. A contact on lap 3 saw Nicholas Maloy dropping down the order, with Chambers also losing out to Paul Bocuse. The driver of the #70 TPC Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 was able to catch and pass back Bocuse on lap 5, as the leaders in the Cayman class were separated by barely a few tenths of a second. Chloe continued her progression and one lap later overtook Mihaylov, who also fell behind Bocuse in the process. While she was eyeing yet another victory, Chambers was placed under investigation and eventually received a drive through penalty for a contact; she would serve the penalty on lap 10, thus dropping to seventh. When Florian Eyme received a 60 second penalty for a separate incident, Chambers climbed back up to fifth, after she had passed Michael Clark. Chambers was over a second per lap faster than the cars ahead and was looking strong for a recovery drive - but a full course yellow was deployed with 6 minutes to go for an accident involving Tom Kerr's Porsche Cayman. The pack was once again bunched up, but there was ultimately not enough time to restart and Paul Bocuse won race 1, ahead of Mihail Mihaylov and Tillman Schmid. Chloe Chambers still managed to salvage a fifth place finish after the unfortunate incident. "Race 1 would have shaped out to be a win, but an unfortunate drive thru penalty halted my performance", Chloe explained. "60 seconds down on the leaders, I was still able to make my way back up to fifth in class after being dead last which I’m proud of despite what the result says."
Race 2 on Friday, though, was yet another chance to complete the year on a high. The final race of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America season was barely underway and the caution was immediately deployed, as the #102 Porsche 991 of Michael Zuieback had spun on the main straight as the race went green. Starting positions were restored and the green flag was back out for a single-line restart on lap 6. From pole, Florian Eyme led the pack ahead of Maloy, Bocuse and Chambers, fourth on the grid. Nicholas Maloy was quick to snatch the lead of the Cayman class from Eyme, while Chambers held fourth - with the top six separated by a few tenths of a second. The competition was extremely tight in the Cayman category, but the green flag racing proved to be limited: on lap 11, an accident between 991 competitors Tony Malito and Ashley Freiberg at Turn 4 brought out the second caution of the race. Chambers had meanwhile grabbed third place just before the full course yellow: when the action resumed with two laps to go, Chloe kept it clean and, while the battle for the win heated up, she managed to come home with a very positive third place to round out a brilliant season. Florian Eyme secured the race win, ahead of Paul Bocuse and the #70 Monoflo International-sponsored machine of Chloe Chambers. "The final round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge was a challenge, but I was able to do the best I could under the circumstances", Chambers commented. "There were a lot of yellow flag laps in race 2, but in the three green flag laps we did get, I was able to gain a position from my fourth place starting position to finish third in the final race of the year." "Not exactly the result I was looking for, but the rest of the season was definitely one to be proud of", she added. "Being a late entry to the series and immediately winning races on my debut really made a statement and I look forward to moving into 992 cup racing next year and continuing the momentum! Thanks to TPC Racing and Monoflo International for making this year possible. Now it's time to focus on 2024!"