PCCNA: Sabré Cook continues top ten streak in Road AMerica
- RACERS
- Aug 5
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 6
Sabré Cook continued her streak of top-ten finishes in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, marking her third consecutive weekend with at least one top-ten result after a P10 in Race 1 at Road America.
Sabré Cook continued her streak of top-ten finishes in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, marking her third consecutive weekend with at least one top-ten result.
The Shift Up Now athlete has scored points in every round so far: she opened the season with a P14 at Sebring, followed by P11 in Miami—a track where she has historically been a strong contender. Her first top ten of the season however came at Montreal, where she enjoyed her best weekend to date with two ninth-place finishes. Building on that momentum, Cook secured her third top-ten finish in four races at Watkins Glen, finishing tenth in Race 1 and P11 in a heavily disrupted Race 2, collecting a solid haul of championship points.
The second half of the season kicked off at Road America, one of North America’s most demanding circuits, where Cook had previously scored a ninth-place result in 2024.
Unfortunately, fellow Shift Up Now athlete Ashley Freiberg was not present at the fifth round of the season, having been forced to halt her season prematurely due to crash damage sustained at Watkins Glen.
The weekend started positively for Cook, who was tenth fastest in the opening practice session with a 2:11.100. She remained in the top 15 in the second session, finding over a second of improvement.
Qualifying followed on Friday. Cook’s first timed lap placed her eighth overall; she pitted midway through the session and more improvements came in the final 10 minutes. She eventually posted a 2:08.794, one of her best qualifying efforts of the season, securing P11 and P12 starting positions for the two races.
Lining up P11 for the first 40-minute race on Saturday morning, Cook got a great start, held the inside line, and kept it clean while others ran wide. Despite a bump from another car into Turn 5, she stayed focused and quickly climbed to P10, then passed Baltas—who went deep into Canada Corner—to take P9.
On the second lap, she was involved in a three-wide battle into Turn 1. The intense fighting continued into Turn 5, where Leist was collected by De Quesada. Cook again received contact from the back, but skillfully avoided the incident ahead, although dropped her to P12.
Determined to recover, Cook applied pressure on Paul Bocuse, staying just a couple of tenths behind. Although Pratt came to a halt later, the race stayed green as he was able to rejoin safely.
Cook found more pace, running a full second faster than Jodoin, who had just lost out to Bocuse. By lap 9, she was just half a second behind.
She gained a position when Reimann’s #3 Citimarine Motorsports Porsche suffered a suspension failure on lap 13. Now up to P11, she was right on the gearbox of Jodoin while also managing pressure from McCann behind.
With 9 minutes to go, Cook made her move and cleared Jodoin to grab P10. She then closed in on Bocuse and, although separated by a few seconds on the final lap, she brought it home P10 overall and in the Pro class—extending her top-ten streak with another very solid recovery drive.
Cook lined up P12 for Race 2 on Sunday. Once again, she had a strong start and gained a position off the line. However, an early incidents saw ProAm driver Parriott tagged into a heavy crash at Turn 5, bringing out a full-course caution.
At the restart with 28 minutes to go, Cook held P12 and battled into Turn 1, going side-by-side with McCann before slotting back behind. Leist received a penalty for causing the first lap incident and later retired.
Cook remained in 12th, and aero wash in the fast Road America corners made it difficult to close in on Jodoin and McCann. Running 2:10.9 lap times, Cook stayed within half a second of Jodoin, keeping the pressure high.
Unfortunately, disaster struck on lap 14: Cook was tagged on the right-rear tyre and went off at Turn 1, getting stuck in the gravel with just 3 and a half minutes to go. Thanks to the track marshals, she was able to rejoin and finished P23 overall and 16th in the Pro class.
Despite the unlucky end to the weekend, Cook maintained her streak of top-ten finishes with a strong showing in Race 1 and once again demonstrated her pace and racecraft. She now sits 13th in the championship standings with 38 points.
Next up will be another iconic venue, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on 19–21 September, after the summer break.
