PSCNA: Double podium finish for Loni Unser at VIR
- LIAM REDFORD
- Jul 15
- 5 min read
Loni Unser enjoyed a successful weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge NA at Virginia International Raceway as she twice finished on the Cayman Pro/Am class podium, displaying excellent race pace and narrowly missing out on her maiden victory in the series during race two.
Loni Unser enjoyed a successful weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Virginia International Raceway as she twice finished on the Cayman Pro/Am class podium. The Kellymoss driver displayed excellent race pace and narrowly missed out on her maiden victory in the series during race two as she finished just half a second behind championship leader Jens Hantson.
As the second half of the season got underway, Unser was looking to convert her speed into a maiden win in the series. In the previous round at Circuit of the Americas, the Kellymoss driver narrowly missed out on a race victory after a thrilling duel with Cayman Pro/Am championship leader Jens Hantson. Despite a run of bad luck seeing Unser drop to fourth in the standings, she was looking to bank a large haul of points at Virginia International Raceway.
Following her rookie Porsche Sprint Challenge North America campaign in 2024, Unser had experience of the circuit and she was looking to put this to good use. Loni twice finished fourth in the Cayman Pro/Am class last season and therefore she had a solid foundation on which to work from.
Unser’s weekend began on Thursday as she participated in three short test sessions in order to work on car setup. The Kellymoss driver completed a total of 62 laps across the course of the day, the second-highest of the whole Cayman field. As a result, she was able to gain important mileage with her fastest lap of a 1:56.300 coming in the first session where track temperatures were at their coolest.
On Friday, the Porsche Sprint North America drivers took part in two official free practice sessions which served as the final opportunity to fine tune their cars ahead of qualifying. In the first session, Unser improved significantly from her quickest time set on the previous day and this saw her end the morning in third position overall. In session two, Loni continued her consistent form and completed a further 17 laps on her way to a fourth-place overall result, third within the Cayman Pro/Am class.
Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and it was a challenging start to the session for Unser as she was involved in an incident with Alain Scalzo. As a result, the Canadian racer lost his two fastest laps from the session, while Loni was forced to pit. When she returned to the track, Unser did a nice job to improve her lap times and set the fourth fastest time in the Cayman Pro/Am class, less than a tenth of a second away from third.
For the first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, Unser lined up from fourth on the grid. It was a clean start at the head of the field and the Kellymoss driver held her position, while Anna Cecchi moved into the lead with Erika Hoffmann in second. With championship leader Jens Hantson falling to third, Unser was looking to follow Hantson through the field as he aimed to return to the top step of the podium.
As Hantson challenged Hoffmann for second, this brought Unser into contention for a podium position. On lap two, the Speedsport Tuning driver passed Hoffmann at Oak Tree and Loni made an excellent opportunistic move to draw level with the Canadian racer down the back straight. As the drivers entered the Roller Coaster, Unser completed the most and claimed third position.
Unser quickly built a margin to Hoffmann behind and by the end of lap three, she had a gap of over two seconds to her Kellymoss teammate. The following lap saw Unser set the fastest first sector of any driver and after replicating this on lap five, she was now right behind Cecchi for second.
Unser began to apply pressure to her young rival ahead and this forced Cecchi to defend her position. On lap eight, she looked to the inside of turn 1 and almost drew level with the Charlie Hayes Racing driver before settling back into third. A full course yellow period was then required as the car of Bill Fenech had stopped out on circuit and required recovery.
The race resumed on lap 13 and Alain Scalzo, the driver directly behind Unser, pitted and therefore any pressure was relieved. This allowed Loni to focus forward and she mounted a sustained challenge on Cecchi as the race entered the closing stages. With just one lap to go, Unser was a quarter of a second behind Cecchi and she maintained this margin to the chequered flag as the Kellymoss driver finished in third position, just one second behind overall race winner Hantson.
Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with Unser again lining up from fourth overall, but this from third within the Cayman Pro/Am class. As the lights went out, Unser made an excellent start and she immediately cleared the Cayman Masters machine of Daniel Ammann on the run to the first turn, before also running side-by-side with Erika Hoffmann.
Unser displayed her racecraft by overtaking Hoffmann on the exit of turn one and immediately applied pressure to race leader Hantson. After setting the fastest final sector time of any driver on the first lap, Unser was running in Hantson’s slipstream while she had also built a small gap to Anna Cecchi who was now in third position.
Hantson began to edge away through the opening stages of the race and by lap four, the Speedsport Tuning driver had a lead of two seconds. However, Unser found a fast and consistent rhythm and by lap seven, she was the fastest driver on track. The lap times among the leading trio remained extremely close and the margin for error remained slim at Virginia International Raceway.
Nonetheless, Unser was continuing to improve and a succession of fast laps saw her reduce the margin to less than a second at the end of lap 12. As the Kellymoss driver was ready to line up a move, the race entered a full course yellow period after Reginald Tartaglione hit the barriers.
The restart came with just two minutes remaining on the clock and Unser was directly behind Hantson as the drivers returned to full racing speed. With just one lap remaining, the Kellymoss driver was a quarter of a second behind Hantson and she forced her rival to defend his position. Taking the chequered flag just half a second behind the Cayman Pro/Am championship leader, Unser secured her second podium finish of the weekend while matching her career best result of second.
It was an excellent weekend at Virginia International Raceway for Unser who again challenged for the overall race victory. The Kellymoss driver bounced back from a challenging qualifying session to show impressive race pace throughout the event. Unser will now be looking to continue this momentum when the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America drivers visit Road America on the weekend of August 9th/10th.
