GTWC America: Therese Lahlouh maximises Sebring weekend with P8
- RACERS
- 54 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Therese Lahlouh and Thomas Merrill maximized a challenging third round of the 2026 GT World Challenge America season at Sebring International Raceway, still securing eighth place in the Pro-Am class and valuable championship points.
Therese Lahlouh and Thomas Merrill maximized a challenging third round of the 2026 GT World Challenge America season at Sebring International Raceway, still securing eighth place in the Pro-Am class and valuable championship points.
After a breakthrough podium performance at Circuit of the Americas in the previous round, Lahlouh arrived at Sebring carrying strong momentum. While the ultra-bumpy Florida circuit proved more difficult than Sonoma and COTA, both drivers once again delivered clean and determined stints, salvaging a solid result despite a race that remained green for almost its entirety.
Therese Lahlouh has emerged as one of the most exciting rookies of the 2026 GT World Challenge America season, rapidly adapting to the GT3 platform in her first full campaign aboard the Porsche 911 GT3 R operated by Wright Motorsports.
After building a strong reputation in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America, where she emerged as a consistent frontrunner in the 992 category, Lahlouh stepped up to GT3 machinery alongside experienced teammate and coach Thomas Merrill - and immediately demonstrated great potential and especially good racecraft in her stints, against highly competitive Pro-Am opposition.
The American driver enjoyed an encouraging start to the season at Sonoma Raceway, where the duo showed podium-contending pace during their debut weekend in the championship. Although a pit lane penalty ultimately denied them a likely class podium finish, Lahlouh still secured an impressive top-five result and left the opening round with valuable momentum.
She then delivered a breakthrough performance at Circuit of the Americas in the second round of the season, where she and Merrill combined strong pace with sharp strategy execution to claim second place in the Pro-Am class as well as an overall podium finish, in an extraordinary achievement for the drivers of the #242 bright-yellow and electric blue Porsche.
Sebring’s third round represented another important test; the demanding circuit, known for its rough surface and punishing sections, required precision and consistency over the three-hour race distance in hot Florida conditions.
The weekend began positively for the Wright Motorsports pair. In the opening practice, Lahlouh and Merrill posted a 2:02.458 lap before improving to 2:01.765 in the second session, with Lahlouh in particular showing steady pace among the Bronze-rated drivers.
Lahlouh then handled qualifying duties in the 15-minute Q1 session and delivered another encouraging performance. She placed the #242 Porsche seventh in Pro-Am and 12th overall after a strong lap in a session that ended prematurely due to a red flag caused by Frank Depew spinning his Aston Martin with four minutes remaining.
Merrill took over for Q2 and, on combined times, the duo recorded a 2:03.309 average that placed them 14th overall and ninth in Pro-Am for the race start.
Under sunny skies and high temperatures, Lahlouh took the green flag for the opening stint of the three-hour race from ninth in class and 14th overall. She negotiated the chaotic opening corners well despite a car ahead briefly going through the dirt in the tricky first turn complex, initially settling into 12th in Pro-Am after the opening lap.
However, disaster struck on lap two when Lahlouh spun at Sunset Bend, dropping the Wright Motorsports Porsche all the way to the back of the field in an extremely unfortunate setback.
Despite the incident, she quickly regrouped and immediately began an impressive recovery drive. Lahlouh returned to competitive pace with a series of 2:07 laps before improving to 2:06.4 as she started carving back through the order. She overtook Schreibman before clearing Depew for 13th in Pro-Am on lap six, while pit stops for Martinez and Washington elevated her back to 11th in class.
The Wright Motorsports Porsche pitted on lap seven for refuelling while keeping Lahlouh behind the wheel. After rejoining 14th in Pro-Am, she settled into an increasingly strong rhythm while several competitors who had not yet stopped cycled to the front of the class.
Lahlouh then broke under the 2:06 barrier with a 2:05.969 and consistently maintained competitive 2:06 pace despite running roughly 18 seconds behind the cars ahead. On lap 17 she improved again with a 2:05.7 and gained another class position after Gilliland spun the #88 Kellymoss Porsche at Sunset Bend.
When Depew eventually made his stop on lap 19 and Rebel Rock Racing opted for a driver change, Lahlouh moved back into 12th in class. Meanwhile, Gilliland later made contact with Perez Companc, briefly ending up in the grass, though the race stayed green once again.
As the stint progressed, Lahlouh’s pace became increasingly impressive. She set a personal best of 2:05.038 on lap 24 while gaining nearly one second per lap on Todd Parriott ahead. Soon after, she dipped into the 2:04s with a 2:04.980 and continued producing consistently quicker laps than the cars around her.
At one stage, her pace ranked among the top six in class, and she steadily reduced the gap to Parriott from 20 seconds to just 10 by lap 35. Unfortunately for the Wright Motorsports crew, the lack of cautions meant the recovery remained difficult despite the impressive speed.
Once she reached her driving time requirement, Lahlouh pitted on lap 36 after an excellent recovery stint; despite the early spin, she had delivered one of her strongest race runs to date.
Merrill took over the Porsche and rejoined 11th in Pro-Am, now only nine seconds behind the #13 Kellymoss Porsche driven by Riley Dickinson.
Shortly afterward, Pro-Am leader Aaron Telitz suffered a mechanical issue in the Archangel McLaren and stopped on track on lap 39, though the car was parked safely enough for the race to continue uninterrupted.
Merrill climbed to tenth in class and set the car’s fastest lap to that point with a 2:02.671 while remaining consistent. However, Dickinson and Agostini ahead continued to slowly edge away as the race reached halfway.
The final round of pit stops began approaching the last hour, with Riccardo Agostini among the first to stop. Merrill cycled as high as eighth in class before pitting on lap 56 with 59 minutes remaining.
Following the final pit sequence, Merrill rejoined tenth in Pro-Am, approximately 19 seconds behind the #017 Kellymoss Porsche and ten seconds clear of the Random Vandals BMW driven by Hampus Eriksson.
Another stop for the #88 Kellymoss Porsche promoted Merrill to ninth, and he responded by setting a 2:02.605 lap as he continued extracting good pace from the car.
The race saw its first interruption with 45 minutes remaining when overall leader Mikael Grenier slowed dramatically with smoke pouring from the #34 JMF Motorsport Mercedes before stopping on track, triggering a Full Course Yellow.
The caution reshuffled the Pro-Am battle; following the pass-around procedure, Merrill regained a lap and suddenly found himself back in the mix, now ninth and tightly packed with the cars ahead for the final 30 minutes.
At the restart, intense battles erupted immediately throughout the field: Loek Hartog overtook Merrill for ninth, while Andy Lee in the Riley Technologies BMW also applied pressure and passed one lap later, dropping the Wright Porsche to 11th.
Nevertheless, Merrill stayed within one second of the cars ahead and matched their pace consistently. With 15 minutes remaining, his speed remained competitive as the battle tightened further.
A key moment came with just six minutes remaining when contact between Dickinson and Braun sent Braun through the grass directly ahead of Merrill. The Wright Motorsports driver capitalized to reclaim tenth position.
Moments later, both Hartog and Dickinson received penalties for incident responsibility, forcing the Kellymoss Porsches to serve penalties on lap 81. Merrill consequently climbed to eighth in class in the closing minutes and held the position to the chequered flag.
Despite the difficult circumstances and lack of cautions during much of the race, Lahlouh and Merrill once again maximized their weekend with a clean finish and valuable points haul. While the outright pace was not quite as strong as in the opening two rounds, the pair continued to demonstrate resilience and consistency, leaving Sebring fourth in the Pro-Am championship standings with 32 points.
The next round of the GT World Challenge America season will take place at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on June 12–14, another iconic North American circuit where the Wright Motorsports duo will aim to continue their strong rookie campaign.