Madeline Stewart continued her progress in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with a pair of top-5 finishes in the 992 Pro/Am class at Road America, displaying excellent one-lap pace and scoring a healthy haul of points for the championship.
Madeline Stewart continued her progress in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with a brace of top-5 finishes in the 992 Pro/Am class at Road America. The JDX Motorsport driver excelled in qualifying, setting the third fastest time among the 992 Pro/Am runners and was less than a second away from scoring pole position. Two consistent races with finishes of fourth and fifth in class saw Stewart bank valuable points and maintain third place in the championship.
With an expanded 992 class at Road America featuring 24 entries, Madeline and her fellow competitors would compete in stand-alone sessions instead of teaming up with the 991 class drivers. Stewart was immediately on the pace in the opening practice session on Friday, setting her fastest time on her second lap of the session, placing her fifth in 992 Pro/Am. A second top-5 class result was to come for Madeline in session two, improving on her best time by one second to be just over a second away from the fastest driver in class.
Madeline has shown excellent speed in qualifying throughout the season to date and was targeting another strong performance at Road America. Improving on her best time from practice by over a second, Stewart set the fourth fastest time overall, third quickest among the 992 Pro/Am runners and less than one second away from pole position.
Starting race one from third in the 992 Pro/Am class, Madeline dropped two positions in an action-packed opening lap before setting into sixth overall, fifth in class. After overtaking the 992 Am class car of Christian Hodneland on lap two, Stewart got into her rhythm and began chasing down Connor Horstmann for fourth. Madeline was particularly strong in the first sector and this combined with her consistency, allowed her to keep in touch with the drivers ahead.
Running her personal best time on lap 10, Stewart was poised for a late race charge before the safety car was deployed on lap 13. With insufficient time to resume racing, Madeline took the checkered flag in fifth to collect a solid top-5 finish to open the weekend.
Lining up fourth overall, third in the 992 Pro/Am class in race two, Madeline made an excellent initial start and got the jump on championship rival Aiden Kenny into turn one.
Stewart did well to hold off Kenny during the opening lap, moving into second in class. With Kenny running just two tenths of a second behind, Madeline set her fastest time on lap 5 as she continued to resist the pressure from behind. As her rival found a way through on lap 6, Stewart began to defend from a hard-charging Connor Horstmann.
Dropping to fourth in 992 Pro/Am on lap eight, Madeline’s times remained solid as she set about chasing down her rival. Losing out to Anthony McIntosh on lap 11, the JDX Motorsport driver held position inside the top-5 and remained in close proximity to McIntosh in the final stages. On the last lap of the race, Stewart re-passed Horstmann as she took the checkered flag in fourth, rounding off a solid weekend for the Kiwi driver.
Madeline displayed excellent one-lap pace at Road America, an impressive achievement on the challenging and newly resurfaced track. A pair of top-5 finishes in the 992 Pro/Am class gave Stewart a healthy haul of points in a season in which she has displayed great consistency.
These results enable Madeline to consolidate a top-3 position in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America 992 Pro/Am standings, with the next round of the championship taking place at the Circuit of the Americas on the weekend of the 26th/27th August.