PCCNA: Madeline Stewart achieves season’s-best finish in Montreal
- LIAM REDFORD
- Jun 17
- 4 min read
Madeline Stewart enjoyed her best weekend of her Porsche Carrera Cup North America season to date by finishing inside the overall top-15 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, narrowly missing out on a top-10 finish in the Pro class during race one and thus banking her first championship points of the campaign.
Madeline Stewart enjoyed her best weekend of her Porsche Carrera Cup North America season to date by finishing inside the overall top-15 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The JDX Racing driver narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish in the Pro class during race one, before a late-race incident in race two prevented her from scoring back-to-back top-15 results.
Stewart arrived at Montreal looking for a change in fortune after a challenging start to the season. The Kiwi racer achieved a pair of 18th place overall finishes in the previous round at the Miami International Autodrome and she was now looking to score her first points scoring result of the season.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was a strong track for Stewart last season and the JDX Racing driver was looking to replicate this performance and in front of a passionate Canadian crowd. Madeline achieved a best finish of 13th in 2024 and after securing her first points finish of the season, this kickstarted a run in which Stewart achieved top-15 finishes in seven of the final eight races of the year.
Stewart was aiming to begin the weekend on the front foot with the opening practice session held on Friday morning. It was an extremely positive session for Madeline who jumped inside the overall top-10 during the second half of the session. At the end of free practice one, the JDX Racing driver’s fastest time of a 1:38.664 was 13th quickest among the Pro class runners, 14th overall.
After a productive first practice session, Stewart was aiming for further improvements in the second session on Friday afternoon. The JDX Racing driver completed 16 laps and Stewart’s fastest time of a 1:38.396 came on her final lap. Madeline ended the day in 17th position overall, 14th in the Pro class and headed into qualifying with productive running under her belt.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and the JDX Racing driver was targeting her highest starting position of the season. It was a strong first half of the session for the Kiwi racer who was comfortably inside the top-15 as the drivers fitted a second set of tyres. Stewart took further strides forward from Friday’s running as she completed qualifying in 16th position overall, 13th in the Pro class, with a fastest time of a 1:37.225.
Race one at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve took place on Saturday afternoon with Stewart targeting her best result of the season. The JDX Racing driver lined up from 16th on the overall grid, 13th in the Pro class and she made a clean start, albeit dropping one overall position. She soon recovered this spot following Ashley Freiberg’s retirement on lap two and this also elevated Stewart into 12th position within class.
On lap three, Madeline passed Alan Metni for a spot inside the overall top-15 before Aaron Jeansonne, who was unable to set a representative time in qualifying, moved his Kellymoss machine ahead. On laps five and six, issues for both Michael De Quesada and Paul Bocuse resulted in Stewart’s Pro class rivals visiting the pits and as a result, Madeline was now into 14th position overall, 11th in the Pro class.
Now on the fringes of a top-10 position within class, Stewart was looking to make progress and on lap nine, she set a personal best time to edge away from Pro-Am driver Metni. After the Kellymoss driver closed in once again, a mistake from Metni relieved the pressure and therefore Stewart’s overall position of 14th was now more secure.
In the closing stages of the race, Madeline began cutting the margin to the three drivers who were battling for the Pro-Am victory ahead. She did a nice job not to be involved in their battles and with a consistent end to the race, she secured a season’s-best result by taking the chequered flag in 14th position overall, 11th in the Pro class.
The second race of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with Stewart lining up from 15th position on the overall grid, 14th in the Pro class. At the end of the opening lap, Stewart had lost two overall positions but remained 14th in the Pro class as the JDX Racing driver made a clean getaway. Madeline’s pace was extremely strong in the early stages as she was comfortably keeping pace with the Pro-Am leaders while setting some of her fastest race laps of the weekend.
Stewart remained in 17th position overall during the first portion of the race before Michael McCann retired to the pits with damage on lap 10. This promoted Stewart to 16th overall, 13th in the Pro class as she chased the Pro-Am machine of James Sofronas. A personal best time on lap 11 saw the Kiwi racer cut the margin to just one tenth of a second.
Stewart continued to apply the pressure to Sofronas throughout the middle portion of the race and with a comfortable gap to Alan Metni and Marco Cirone behind, she could focus forward on securing a top-15 finish. On lap 17, Stewart shaped for a move on Sofronas at the hairpin and contact was made between the drivers which spun the GMG Racing machine.
After recognising her misjudgement, Stewart allowed Sofronas back ahead and although this cost her almost ten seconds, the incident was under investigation by the stewards. Stewart closed right back on the tail of Sofronas before a drive-through penalty was issued to the JDX Racing driver for avoidable contact.
Stewart rejoined the race in 21st position overall, 14th in the Pro class and was still keen to make some late-race progress. On lap 22, Madeline overtook Thomas Collingwood and with Michael De Quesada retiring on the penultimate lap, Stewart took the chequered flag in 19th position overall, 13th in the Pro class.
It was an unfortunate end to a promising weekend for Stewart who showed improved performance at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. She narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish in the Pro class in race one, however the JDX Racing driver banked her first championship points of the campaign. She will be aiming to add to this tally when Porsche Carrera Cup North America returns in less than one week at Watkins Glen.
