Chambers enjoyed a perfect return to the highly-competitive Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Barber Motorsport Park as she proved once again that she was the class of the field: securing double pole position, the Monoflo International-backed driver led every lap of the race weekend while displaying superb racecraft.
Chloe Chambers made a dominant return to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by claiming victory in both races at Barber Motorsports Park. Reuniting with TPC Racing and Monoflo International, Chambers recaptured the form which saw her claim seven victories in the series during the 2023 season. Securing double pole position, Chloe led every lap of the race weekend while displaying superb racecraft throughout the two thirty-five minute contests.
Returning to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America, Chambers was aiming to recapture the form which saw her claim seven victories in the Cayman class in 2023. Since then, Chloe has been selected to race for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in F1 Academy and made an excellent start to the season. Scoring a fourth-place result at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Chambers sits sixth in the overall standings. However, with Porsche Sprint Challenge North America supporting the NTT IndyCar series at Barber Motorsport Park, this provided the perfect opportunity for Chloe to once again represent Monoflo International.
The opening two practice sessions on Friday allowed Chloe to reacclimatise to the car after over six months driving in other categories. It was a superb start for Chambers who placed third in Cayman Pro/Am in session one, laying the foundations for a strong weekend ahead. Quickly finding her feet, Chloe topped the times in practice two with a lap two tenths of a second faster than she managed in the first session of the day.
Chambers was aiming to carry this momentum forward into qualifying and made full use of the clear track in the early stages to set a benchmark time. The Monoflo International backed driver was able to rediscover her excellent one-lap pace from 2023 and this saw her claim pole position for the opening race of the weekend. Her adaptability to jump from a single seater into a Porsche Cayman GT4 RS was clear to see, showing superb speed in contrasting machines.
Starting race one from pole position, Chloe’s initial task was made easier as the second-place car of Ian Porter was forced to start from the rear of the field. A fantastic start saw Chambers hold the lead, with Nick Shaeffer moving into the runner-up position. Maintaining an advantage of just half a second, Chambers looked assured at the head of the field despite the small margin.
By lap seven, Chloe had built the gap to almost a second, but Shaeffer was determined to remain in contention and cut the gap once more. As a result, Chambers had to begin defending from her rival as the margin remained at less than half a second by the midway point of the race. On lap 14, the safety car was deployed for an incident involving the RAFA Racing Team by JDX car of Paige Morales.
As racing resumed, Chambers made a good restart and with Schaffer spinning behind her, Ian Porter was now the second placed driver. Porter quickly bridged the gap to Chloe and began searching for a way past in order to maintain his 100% record to start the season.
Once again, Chambers was looking assured out front and despite an ambitious lunge from Porter at the final turn on the penultimate lap, the Monoflo International backed driver held her ground and pulled clear in the closing stages. Returning to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America in the best way possible, Chloe claimed the race victory by a margin of around one second from Porter.
Once again lining up on pole position for race two of the weekend, Chambers knew a fast start would be key to success. The TPC Racing driver timed her getaway to perfection, opening up a sizeable gap in the first sector. Chloe’s lead had grown to almost two seconds by the end of the second lap, with Porter and Shaeffer battling for the runner-up spot.
On lap five, Chambers set a new fastest lap of the race in an attempt to pull further clear, however the lead gap continued to ebb and flow. Three laps later, Porter had cut the gap to just over a second but Chloe immediately responded with a fastest first sector of the contest. The Monoflo International backed driver was then given brief respite as a mistake from Porter allowed Shaeffer through into second, with the lead gap extended to almost three seconds.
With Shaeffer now in the runner-up position, he pushed hard to close in on Chambers and once again the margin was barely a second. As the drivers entered the second half of the race, lapped traffic began to play its part and by lap 18, the top-three drivers covered by just six tenths of a second. Porter, meanwhile, had found his way past Shaeffer and was now applying significant pressure to Chloe in search of his third victory in four races.
Chambers was finding it difficult to shake the RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver, however a personal best final sector on lap 21 was crucial to extending the margin to one second. The following lap saw Chloe negotiate traffic superbly and with the margin up to 2.8 seconds, the race victory appeared in sight.
However, Cayman Am class driver Kevin Maxim found himself on the racing line at a crucial time as the last lap began, with Porter able to mount one last challenge. Excellent composure from Chambers saw her hold onto the lead and claim double victory on her return to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America.
Chambers enjoyed a perfect return to the highly-competitive one-make championship at Barber Motorsport Park as she proved once again that she was the class of the field. Her qualifying performance was particularly impressive, extracting peak performance from a car and tyre combination which was unfamiliar to her in 2024.
Displaying superb maturity and racecraft throughout the two races, Chloe held off the challenge posed by Ian Porter and Nick Shaeffer. Chambers will be aiming to carry this momentum forward into the next round of F1 Academy which takes place this weekend at Miami International Autodrome in support of Formula 1.