PCCNA: Season’s best result for Sabré Cook at Indianapolis

Sabré Cook enjoyed a strong weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup North America as she achieved a season’s best finish of seventh at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, moving forward from her starting position while also overcoming damage to her car, in a mature drive to bank vital championship points.

Photo credits: Chris Green Photography

Sabré Cook enjoyed a strong weekend in Porsche Carrera Cup North America as she achieved a season’s best finish of seventh at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Cook moved forward from 12^th on the grid to finish race in one in seventh position, while also overcoming damage to her car. The JDX Racing driver was set for another top-10 finish in race two before a technical issue led to a late-race retirement.

Cook arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the fringes of the top-10 of the overall championship standings. The middle portion of the season was strong for the JDX Racing driver who enjoyed a run of a six consecutive top-11 finishes prior to race two at Road America. Despite an unfortunate end to the last event in Wisconsin, Cook returned from the summer break targeting season’s best results.

In 2024, Cook enjoyed her best weekend of the campaign at the Brickyard as she twice finished inside the top-10, while matching a season’s best result of eighth. Her speed and consistency allowed her to consistently battle in the leading group of drivers and therefore she was looking to replicate this performance in 2025.

On-track action began on Thursday with both free practice sessions taking place over the course of the day. In session one, Cook set the tenth fastest time overall with a fastest lap of a 1:27.714. Despite higher track temperatures in the afternoon session, the JDX Racing driver almost matched her earlier time as she ended the day in tenth. Sabré’s speed through the final sector was particularly impressive as she was regularly on-pace with those inside the top-5 during this part of the circuit.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and was a session of improvement for Cook. The JDX Racing driver improved upon her fastest lap time during the three separate qualifying runs. After initially sitting outside the top-15, Sabré extracted good performance out of her final set of tyres to set a quickest lap of a 1:26.054 which placed her in 12^th overall, just a second away from the pole position time set by Aaron Jeansonne.

Photo credits: Chris Green Photography

The opening race of the weekend took place on Friday afternoon with Cook starting from the sixth row of the grid. It was a clean initial start as the drivers entered turn one, with the JDX Racing driver remaining in 12^th position through the opening lap. At turn seven, a multi-car incident saw JP Martinez, Madeline Stewart and Michael McCann retire from the race with damage. After Martinez’s car made sizeable contact with the tyres, the race entered a lengthy full course yellow period as the marshals re-positioned the tyre barrier.

The race resumed with 22 minutes remaining and Cook was forced to manage damage she had sustained to the rear of her car. This was affecting her balance, however she was still looking to move forward and shaped for a move on Paul Bocuse at the restart. The positions within the Pro class were closely contested and after two separate issues on the restart lap, both Yves Baltas and Matheus Leist spun which promoted Cook into the top-10.

The car of Baltas was damaged and in the barriers with this incident necessitating a second full course yellow period. On lap 13, the green flag was displayed and after Jimmy Llibre lost momentum, Cook began to close in on the ACI Motorsports driver. Llibre was then involved in a close battle with Bocuse and this enabled Cook to keep close order, while Pro-Am class leader Patrick Mulcahy applied pressure to the JDX Racing machine.

As lap 15 got underway, Cook once again challenged Bocuse into turn one and although she was just unable to complete the pass, Sabre was still showing good intent. However, this enabled Mulcahy to get a run and he overtook Cook into turn seven. Prior to the conclusion of the lap, Sabre fought back and re-passed the Pro-Am driver to secure tenth spot.

Just ahead, Bocuse had been awarded a ten-second penalty for incident responsibility and therefore a consistent run to the chequered flag would see Cook move forward in the final classification. Sabré was able to settle into a good rhythm in the closing stages, despite managing the damage, as she pulled clear of the GMG Racing machine of Mulcahy. Cook crossed the line in tenth position, before the JDX Racing driver was elevated to ninth position following Bocuse’s penalty.

This resulted in Cook matching her season’s best finish, before separate post-race penalties assessed to Llibre and Tyler Maxson further promoted Cook to an excellent seventh place in the final classification.

Photo credits: Jessica Johnk

Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with Cook lining up from 12^th on the grid courtesy of her second fastest lap from qualifying. Sabré made a clean start and the JDX Racing driver did well to avoid the spinning car of Jimmy Llibre through the opening turns. Cook completed lap one in tenth position as she overtook Llibre, while she made a nice move on Matheus Leist in the final sector.

The Brazilian driver was keen to fight back and on lap two, he reclaimed a spot inside the top-10. Cook remained directly behind Leist as she looked to push towards the leading group of drivers in the early stages of the race. Her perseverance paid off as on lap six, Leist pitted with Sabré moving back into tenth position. After the leading drivers began to edge away, a battle emerged between Paul Bocuse and Jared Thomas ahead which brought Cook back into contention.

At the halfway point, Cook remained in tenth position with teammate Madeline Stewart starting to close in. Cook was managing an ABS issue during the second half of the race and this was impacting her performance as she fought to remain consistent. Despite Stewart and Michael McCann looming larger in her mirrors, Cook was driving a composed race as she targeted her sixth top-10 result of the season.

Misfortune then struck in the closing stages as the technical ABS issue resulted in Cook spinning at turn 12. As a result of this issue, Cook brought her JDX Racing machine to pit lane and she was forced to retire from the race. It was an unfortunate end to another strong race where Sabre once again contended for a top-10 result.

Nonetheless, Cook still achieved a season’s best result at Indianapolis while narrowly missing out on a career high finish in the series. Cook drove maturely to bank vital championship points and she will be looking to carry forward this momentum into the penultimate event of the season.

The next stop for the Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers will be Road Atlanta with the two races taking place across the weekend of October 10^th/11^th.