PCCNA: Ashley Freiberg scores 11th place finish, escapes from sizeable crash at Watkins Glen
- LIAM REDFORD
- Jun 26
- 4 min read
It was a weekend of two halves for Ashley Freiberg in the latest round of Porsche Carrera Cup North America, as the Kellymoss driver showed great pace throughout event and moved through from 15th on the grid to finish P11 in Race 1, before being collected in a lap one incident not of her own making which led to a big crash in Race 2, which she was fortunately able to walk away from.
It was a weekend of two halves for Ashley Freiberg in the latest round of Porsche Carrera Cup North America as the Kellymoss driver returned to Watkins Glen. Freiberg showed good pace throughout event and moved through from 15th on the grid in race one to finish in 11th position. In race two, Freiberg was collected in a lap one incident not of her own making which led to an unfortunate retirement.
Freiberg continued to show her fighting qualities in round three of the season at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as she battled back from race one disappointment to secure her second top-10 finish of the season in race two. The Kellymoss driver had shown excellent adaptability across the opening races of the season and she was now looking to finish both races at Watkins Glen inside the overall top-10.
In 2024, Freiberg narrowly missed out on scoring pole position at Watkins Glen as she was a consistent frontrunner across the weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. After standing on the podium in race one, Freiberg showed her speed in race two as battled for the race victory and she was now looking to carry forward this experience into the weekend.
The first of two practice sessions took place on Thursday morning with Freiberg looking for a quick start to the event. It was an extremely positive beginning to the weekend for the Kellymoss driver who spent the majority of the session inside the top-6. At the end of free practice one, Freiberg’s fastest time of a 1:50.615 placed her in tenth position overall.
Freiberg continued her good form into the second session of the day which was held with higher track temperatures. The Kellymoss driver again finished inside the top-10 of the Pro class as her best time of a 1:50.999 placed her 11th overall and just a second outside the time of second-placed driver Zachary Vanier.
Friday’s action began with a thirty-minute qualifying session and Freiberg was again looking to push towards the overall top-10. Cooler track temperatures saw huge improvements for the entire field as they made use of their new tyres.
With each passing run, Freiberg bettered her previous times with her pace through the final sector particularly strong. At the end of the session, the Kellymoss driver had improved by almost two seconds from the previous day with her quickest time of a 1:48.956 placing her 15th overall, 14th among the Pro class competitors. After some good lap time improvements in qualifying, Freiberg was now looking to fight her way up the order in race one on Friday afternoon.
Starting from 15th overall, 14th in the Pro class, Freiberg made a clean start and settled into 15th position at the end of the first lap. On lap two, Michael De Quesada spun out of the final corner directly ahead of Ashley and this forced her to take avoiding action. Although Freiberg moved ahead of De Quesada, she fell behind the Pro-Am machine of Patrick Mulcahy.
Freiberg now had the Pro-Am class leaders Mulcahy and Alan Metni directly ahead and she was keen to find a way through. On lap six, the race was neutralised as Marco Cirone hit the barriers at the Inner Loop and this led to the first full course yellow period. When the race resumed, the battles in the Pro class intensified and this resulted in Michael McCann and Jared Thomas making contact at the Toe.
As a result, Freiberg moved up to 11th in the Pro class and the Kellymoss driver was now 12th in the overall classification as she also moved ahead of Mulcahy. On lap 13, the race entered a second full course yellow period as debris was removed from the circuit. It was just a short neutralisation and the race restarted with eight minutes left on the clock.
Freiberg made a fast restart and was applying significant pressure to Metni ahead. On the penultimate lap of the race, Ashley made an excellent move to pass the multiple Pro-Am class champion for 11th overall. With the white flag flying, Freiberg kept pushing and she set a personal best time on the final lap of the race. The Kellymoss driver was the sixth fastest driver on the last lap of race one as she took the chequered flag in 11th position.
Race two of the weekend took place early on Saturday morning with Freiberg starting from 17th on the overall grid, 14th in the Pro class. Light rain had began to fall at Watkins Glen as the drivers left pit road which added to the challenge with already low track temperatures.
As the drivers exited the first turn, Freiberg was on the inside of the corner with Pro-Am class racer Patrick Mulcahy on the outside. Mulcahy got sideways on the damp kerb and lost control of his car and collected Freiberg.
The Kellymoss machine was spun into the inside wall and was then collected by another competitor following the initial impact. Fortunately, Freiberg was able to walk away from the sizeable incident which was not of her own making which was testament to the strength of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
It was an unfortunate end to a weekend in which Freiberg had shown good improvements and race pace to rival the overall top-10. Her smart drive in race one netted her valuable championship points and she will now be working hard to move forward in the second half of the season.
The next round of Porsche Carrera Cup North America takes place at Road America on the weekend of July 31st/August 1st.
