PCCNA: Sabré Cook enjoys season-best results with double top-10 finish
- LIAM REDFORD
- Jun 17
- 5 min read
Sabré Cook twice finished inside the top-10 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as she enjoyed her best weekend of the season in Porsche Carrera Cup North America, making good progress in both races with the highlight being an eighth-place result in race one.
Sabré Cook twice finished inside the top-10 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as she enjoyed her best weekend of the season in Porsche Carrera Cup North America. The JDX Racing driver made good progress in both races with the highlight of her event being an eighth-place result in race one. Cook also finished inside the top-10 during race two as she secured her largest haul of championship of the campaign to date.
Cook ended the previous round at the Miami International Autodrome on a high after securing her best result of the season in race two. The JDX Racing driver has experienced a challenging start to the campaign and was now looking to turn her encouraging speed into strong, points-scoring finishes. Cook narrowly missed out on her first top-10 finish of the season last time out and she now arrived at a circuit which she has enjoyed success at in the past.
Last season, Sabré finished eighth in race two at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at this equalled her best result throughout the 2024 campaign. Therefore, she was looking to use this experience to contend for positions inside the top-10 on one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar.
The first of two free practice sessions began on Friday morning with a dry, albeit green track in Montreal. It was a session of improvement for Cook who found excellent speed in the latter half of the session with her fastest lap coming on her 16th tour. At the end of the session, the JDX Racing driver’s quickest time of a 1:38.003 placed her in 11th position overall.
The second practice session took place on Friday afternoon and again ran uninterrupted which allowed Cook to complete a further 17 laps. The JDX Racing driver improved upon her best time from earlier in the day by two tenths of a second to record a 1:37.841 and this saw her end the day in 13th place overall, 12th among the Pro class competitors.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and Cook was looking to push inside the top-10 after a productive pair of free practice sessions. At the halfway point of the session, the JDX Racing driver had already found over half a second from her best time from the previous day. Another late improvement saw Cook set a time of a 1:37.000 which saw her qualified in 12th position overall, just over one second away from the second row of the grid.
The opening race of the weekend was held on Saturday afternoon with Cook starting from 12th position. It was a clean start for Sabré who held station on the opening lap, before mounting a challenge on Ashley Freiberg as the drivers began lap two. A superb exit out of the second corner allowed Cook to draw level as the pair entered turn three. Contact was then made at the apex of the corner as Cook moved ahead into 11th while Freiberg retired from the race.
Cook’s car appeared undamaged following this incident and therefore she could focus forward on securing her first top-10 result of the campaign. Her strong early pace ensured there was little pressure behind with the JDX Racing driver now six seconds clear of the next car. On lap five, an incident at the hairpin involving Michael McCann and Michael De Quesada saw the latter spin, while McCann was delayed and Sabre took advantage to move into ninth.
Cook was soon into eighth after an issue for Paul Bocuse allowed her to gain a further spot and now she was into her highest running position of the season to date. This gave encouragement to the JDX Racing driver who was now pulling away from her Pro class rivals behind, while beginning to match the times of Jimmy Llibre ahead. On lap 10, Cook set a personal best lap and she was now beginning to make incremental gains on the ACI Motorsports machines ahead.
After being unable to set a representative lap time in qualifying, Aaron Jeansonne was moving through the field and by the halfway point, he was catching Sabre on his fresher tyres. Cook responded with another personal best time on lap 15 and when Jeansonne arrived on her tail, she put up a good defence.
Although the Kellymoss driver moved ahead on lap 18, Cook maintained a consistent pace in the closing stages. As a result, she made inroads on Llibre ahead who had also been overtaken by Jeansonne with just a few laps remaining. A late rally from Cook saw her take significant time out of her rival ahead as she secured a season’s-best result in ninth position while crossing the line just two seconds behind Llibre.
Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with Cook lining up from 13th on the grid as she targeted another top-10 result. Cook made a good start and utilised the outside line round the opening turns to gain one position and complete lap one in 12th. It was a strong start to the race for the JDX Racing driver who was running competitively with the leading group of drivers as the positions within the Pro class remained closely contested.
Cook’s early race pace was underlined on lap five as she was the fifth fastest driver on track. As the group of drivers ahead continued to battle for position, Sabré was in a good position to capitalise on any contact or mistakes. Her persistence was rewarded on lap six when Michael McCann made contact with the wall and Cook moved forward into 11th.
After moving within one position of the top-10, the middle portion of the race was more challenging for the JDX Racing driver who began to lose touch with the group ahead. As a result, Ashley Freiberg began closing in as the Kellymoss driver looked to bounce back from her race one setback. By lap 13, Freiberg was just half a second behind while Cook was now just under five seconds away from the driver in front.
As Cook and Freiberg began to battle for 11th position, the group ahead also began to exchange positions and this allowed Sabré to edge closer once again. Into the closing stages of the race, Freiberg mounted a late challenge but Cook defended well and was not forced into making any errors.
With just two laps remaining, Michael De Quesada pulled into the pits after collecting damage and this elevated Cook inside the top-10. She continued to protect her position from Freiberg and therefore took the chequered flag in tenth position, later promoted to ninth following a penalty awarded to Tyler Maxson, to claim her second top-10 finish in as many races at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
It was a positive weekend in Montreal for Cook who secured her largest haul of championship points of the campaign to date. Throughout the event she drove consistently which ensured she benefited from incidents ahead and matched her best result from her 2024 campaign.
Cook will be looking to build on this momentum when Porsche Carrera Cup North America returns at Watkins Glen in less than one week.
