PCCNA: Sabré Cook overcomes adversity, secures P12 finish at Road Atlanta

Sabré Cook added to her points tally in Porsche Carrera Cup North America following a challenging weekend at Road Atlanta. The JDX Racing driver achieved a best finish of 12^th in race two, showing great tenacity to fight back from a technical issue which took her out of contention in race 1.

Photo credits: Jessica Johnk

Sabré Cook added to her points tally in Porsche Carrera Cup North America following a challenging weekend at Road Atlanta. The JDX Racing driver achieved a best finish of 12^th in race two after coming out on top in a race-long duel with teammate Madeline Stewart. Cook earlier retired from the first race due to a technical issue after she was contending for a top-10 result in the early stages of the contest.

Following a season’s best result last time out at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Cook was looking to continue this momentum into the latter part of the season. The JDX Racing driver displayed excellent speed and racecraft at the Brickyard as she secured a ninth-place finish in race one. Cook was set for back-to-back top-10 finishes before a technical issue forced her to retire from race two in the closing stages.

Courtesy of matching her season’s best result, Cook arrived at Road Atlanta sitting in 13^th position in the overall championship standings and Sabré was targeting a late-season push towards the top-10. Last season’s event at Road Atlanta was one of misfortune for Cook, however she qualified just a second away from pole position on her debut at the circuit and this gave her cause for encouragement as she looked to bank a large haul of championship points this time around.

On-track action at Road Atlanta began on Wednesday as the Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers took part in two official free practice sessions. in the morning session, Cook set a fastest time of a 1:24.043 which placed her in 15^th position overall, 14^th among the Pro class drivers.

Despite the warmer track temperatures in the afternoon session, the JDX Racing driver improved upon her lap time from free practice one. Cook ended the day in 15^th position, once again placing 14^th in the Pro class, while remaining in close contention with the drivers inside the overall top-10.

Qualifying took place on Thursday morning and due to the new tyres available to the drivers and low track temperatures, improvements were significant from Wednesday’s running. On Cook’s first qualifying run, she was already one second faster than the previous day while the lap times within the Pro class remained extremely close.

As the session progressed, Cook remained consistent in pursuit of a fast lap time as she remained on the fringes of the top-10. At the end of the qualifying, Sabré’s quickest lap of a 1:22.385 placed her 15^th overall, while she was also the 15^th fastest driver in the Pro class.

Photo credits: Jessica Johnk

Race one of the weekend was held later that day with Cook targeting progress from her 15^th place grid position. As the lights went out, Sabre made a confident start and made a bold move at turn one to overtake both Michael McCann and Madeline Stewart. Cook ended lap one in 13^th position and she was now looking to apply pressure to teammate Paul Bocuse.

In the early stages of the race, the lap times were extremely close with merely hundredths of a second separating the Pro class drivers. This made overtaking difficult as the quality of racing remained extremely high with mistakes rarely being made among the top drivers in the series. Just half a second separated Cook from Bocuse, while Stewart remained the same distance behind as the JDX Racing trio aimed to move through the field.

On lap nine, Cook set a new personal best lap time and with battles emerging between the drivers inside the top-5, there was a chance to make progress. A number of post-race penalties began being awarded to drivers ahead of her and therefore a top-10 finish was still within reach. Cook’s pace was strong as the race unfolded until a technical issue with the gearbox on lap 12 forced her to retire from the race. It was an unfortunate end to race one for Cook who had displayed excellent speed and consistency on her return to Road Atlanta.

Photo credits: Jessica Johnk

Looking to bounce back in race two on Friday morning, Cook lined up from 15^th on the grid courtesy of her second fastest lap time set in qualifying. The JDX Racing driver made another great start as she overtook teammate Madeline Stewart to move into 14^th position. At the end of the first lap, Cook was just a tenth behind Matheus Leist before shaping for a move at turn one. Sabre looked to the inside of the corner, however Leist got a good exit and pulled clear with Cook remaining ahead of Stewart.

Shortly after, Leist was assessed a ten-second time penalty for a starting infraction and therefore Cook knew she would inherit the position post-race if she remained close behind the Brazilian racer. The lap times remained extremely close among the Pro class drivers in the early stages with less than half a second separating the majority of the drivers inside the top-10. By lap seven, Leist was beginning to edge away as the margin between himself and Cook just exceeded one second.

At the race approached halfway, the majority of the Pro class positions remained unchanged as the racing remained extremely competitive, while overtaking was proving challenging. As the tyres began to wear and their peak performance passed, Cook came under pressure from Stewart who was showing good speed through the middle sector especially. By lap 15, less than half a second separated the JDX Racing teammates and Stewart was looking for a move into turn 10.

On lap 17, Stewart almost drew level with Cook down the back straight, however Sabré protected her position well. After light contact between the drivers, Stewart was assessed a warning by race control as the duel for 14^th position intensified. With Cook defending through the final sector, this was costing her time to Leist and with ten minutes remaining, the gap between the drivers had opened up to five seconds.

On lap 24, Michael McCann had a spin at turn six and this elevated Cook into 13^th position with the JDX Racing driver doing a nice job to avoid the spun McCann Racing machine. With McCann rejoining behind Stewart, this took some pressure away from Cook as Stewart was required to protect her position. Cook was able to extend her margin beyond one second in the closing stages and this additional space enabled her to run a series of consistent times to end the race.

Cook took the chequered flag in 13^th position and was later promoted to 12^th following Leist’s penalty with the margin between the drivers a little under nine seconds at the conclusion of the forty-minute contest. Although it was a challenging weekend for the JDX Racing driver, she showed her tenacity to fight back from adversity and secure a solid 12^th place finish to end the weekend.

Cook will be looking to end the season on a high when the Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers head to Circuit of the Americas for the season finale in less than one week.