PSCNA: Erika Hoffmann scores first ever victory at Road Atlanta
- LIAM REDFORD
- Sep 15
- 6 min read
Erika Hoffmann produced a masterful drive to claim her first ever victory in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Road Atlanta: the Kellymoss driver completed her debut season by securing a front row start with an excellent qualifying performance and went on to showcase her racecraft with a win overall and a second in class.
Erika Hoffmann produced a masterful defensive drive to claim her first ever victory in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Road Atlanta. After securing a front row start for race one following an excellent qualifying performance, Hoffmann defended from teammate Loni Unser throughout the race.
With just two minutes remaining, race leader Jens Hantson suffered a technical issue and this allowed Hoffmann to secure the race win. In race two, Hoffmann claimed a second-place result in the Cayman Pro/Am class to leave the season finale with the largest points haul of any driver across the weekend.
Hoffmann has impressed in her rookie season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America and she was now looking to end the campaign on a high at Road Atlanta. Despite visiting the majority of venues for the first time, Erika has displayed superb adaptability by getting up to speed quickly with the help of her Kellymoss team.
Despite the step up in competition, together with learning a new car, Hoffmann entered the season finale in fourth position in the Cayman Pro/Am class standings. Erika had twice stood on the podium prior to Road Atlanta, with a second-place result at Sonoma a particular highlight. Hoffmann was confident of challenging further podium finishes to conclude the campaign, especially due to the fact that her rivals also had limited experience of the circuit with Road Atlanta a new venue to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America in 2025.
The first two test sessions took place on Wednesday and Hoffmann’s main priority was to gain valuable mileage. As a result, the Kellymoss driver completed 51 laps across the course of the day, with her initial speed particularly impressive. Erika ended both sessions in second position within the Cayman Pro/Am class with her fastest time of a 1:28.239 coming in the morning session.
In Thursday’s two official free practice sessions, Hoffmann improved further as she closed in on the overall pacesetters. In the morning session, she set a quickest lap of a 1:27.845 which placed her fourth overall, before the times closed up further in session two. Improving to third fastest, Erika was just six tenths of a second away from pacesetter Jens Hantson while showing particularly strong speed through the middle sector.
Friday’s action began with qualifying which took place early on Friday morning with cool track temperatures aiding the drivers. The session was disrupted in the early stages following an incident for William Peluchiwski at turn one and therefore qualifying was red flagged.
When the session resumed, Hoffmann was quickly on the pace and immediately challenged for top spot. Erika set the fastest middle sector time of any driver on her way to a second-place qualifying result, her best of the campaign to date. Securing her first front row start of her Porsche Sprint Challenge North America career, Hoffmann’s quickest time of a 1:26.829 was over one second faster than she had managed on the previous day.
The first race of the weekend took place on Friday afternoon with Hoffmann starting from the outside of the front row. As the lights went out, Hoffmann got an excellent start and settled in behind Hantson while pulling clear of Cayman Masters polesitter Keith Grant. Teammate Loni Unser quickly cleared Grant and moved into third as she chased down Erika for the runner-up position.
At the end of lap one, Hoffmann remained in second position with Jens Hantson opening out a lead of just over a second at the head of the field. Unser was just half a second behind and Hoffmann was under pressure from the outset as her teammate looked for a way through. As a battle emerged, this enabled Hantson to stretch his legs out front with four cars now in contention for second position.
Hoffmann’s strength came in the middle sector and it was at this point of the circuit where she was able to open out few car lengths on Unser. However, her teammate closed up under braking, particularly in the final sector and this resulted in a tactical battle for position. After Erika opened out a small margin, Unser responded on lap eight and once again Hoffmann showed her strength in the middle sector by setting the fastest time through this portion of the lap.
As the race approached halfway, Hoffmann opened out the gap to three-quarters of a second, the largest margin of the race to date. Any mistake would drop Erika out of the top-5 and therefore speed and precision was required to claim a spot on the podium. Unser continued to apply significant pressure to Hoffmann throughout the second half of the race, while her Kellymoss teammate remained under threat from Grant.
Despite setting another new fastest middle sector on lap 15, Unser remained in hot pursuit and three laps later, she shaped for a move. Unser got an excellent run down the back straight and almost drew level with Hoffmann, before Erika pulled clear and retained second position into the next braking zone. As a result, Grant got a good run on Unser as the drivers began the following lap and this meant that Hoffmann extended her lead to over one second.
After Unser held third position, she began to close down the margin to Hoffmann once more with both Kellymoss teammates now running lap times faster than leader Hantson. On lap 23, Hantson’s car came to a stop on the exit of turn 10 which allowed Hoffmann to move through into the race lead.
Hoffmann had to defend from Unser before the race entered a full course yellow period with Hantson’s car requiring recovery. As a result, the race ended behind the safety car with Hoffmann securing her first ever victory in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America following a superb defensive drive.
Race two of the weekend was held early on Saturday morning with Hoffmann again lining up from second on the grid. As the drivers approached turn one, Hoffmann was forced to defend from Keith Grant who looked to her inside. Erika was able to get a good exit from the corner and pull clear, while an incident unfolded behind her. After Anna Cecchi had spun and collected Bill Fenech, the race entered a full course yellow period in order for Fenech’s car to be recovered.
The race resumed with twenty-minutes left on the clock and Hoffmann was quickly defending from Grant. After setting the fastest middle sector on the restart lap, Hoffmann was able to gain a few car lengths before the Otto Works driver fought back. On the following lap, Grant looked to the inside of turn 10 and made a move for second position overall. However, with the newcomer competing in the Cayman Masters class, Erika remained in the runner-up spot within the Cayman Pro/Am division.
Hoffmann’s speed through the middle sector remained strong and this ensured she remained in touch with Grant as he looked to cut the deficit to overall leader Jens Hantson. Similarly to race one, Unser was directly behind and applying significant pressure as Hoffmann’s Kellymoss teammate looked to secure second place in the championship standings. Hoffmann was focussing on her corner exits and as a result, she was protecting her position well through the final part of the lap.
On lap 12, Hoffmann was faster than the leader thanks to another overall fastest time through the middle sector. Nonetheless, Unser remained in close contention and Erika was forced to defend her position into turn 10 on lap 13. A strong defensive drive was completed by Hoffmann as she took the chequered flag in third position overall, second in the Cayman Pro/Am class.
Hoffmann completed her debut season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by securing the largest haul of championship points of any driver at Road Atlanta. Hoffmann’s racecraft was put to the test in both races and Erika showed her defensive skills by holding off teammate Unser.
Ending her campaign on a high, Hoffmann now carries significant momentum in the off-season where she will be looking to secure the funding to return to full-time action.
