PSCNA: Erika Hoffmann secures best qualifying result, claims double top-5 finish at VIR
- LIAM REDFORD
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
Erika Hoffmann continued her development in Porsche Sprint Challenge NA by securing her first ever front row start in the championship at Virginia International Raceway, then overcame challenges in race one to finished fourth in race two, narrowly missing out on her third podium of the season.
Kellymoss driver Erika Hoffmann continued her development in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by securing her first ever front row start in the championship at Virginia International Raceway. The Canadian racer qualified third for race one and second for race two as Hoffmann’s displayed outstanding one-lap pace. After overcoming challenges in race one, Hoffmann finished fourth in race two and narrowly missed out on claiming her third podium result of the season.
Despite her limited experience, Hoffmann has adapted superbly to the challenges of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. It was an extremely positive first half of the season for the Canadian racer who continued to improve her performances, while maximising her potential. As a result, she sat third in the Cayman Pro/Am standings prior to Virigina International Raceway with two podium finishes to her name.
Hoffmann’s ability to learn new circuits in a short space of time has been crucial to her progress, while her improvements across each event have allowed her to challenge her more experienced rivals. The Kellymoss racer was therefore targeting a return to the podium as the second half of the campaign got underway.
Hoffmann’s first opportunity to take to the circuit came on Thursday as she participated in three test sessions. Once again, her development was clear to see across the course of the day and despite hotter track temperatures in the afternoon sessions, Erika found over two seconds of lap time improvement throughout Thursday’s running.
On Friday, the drivers took part in a pair of official free practice sessions and again the Canadian racer took a step forward. In session one, Hoffmann was already lapping one and a half seconds faster than the previous day and this saw the Kellymoss racer end the morning in fourth position overall. Erika completed a further 15 laps in the afternoon session and remained within the top-5 of the Cayman Pro/Am class heading into qualifying.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning and Hoffmann aimed to maximise the speed from her new tyres. It was an extremely successful session for the Canadian racer who secured her best ever starting spot in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with a superb third-place effort. Erika had set the fastest time in sector three of all the Cayman Pro/Am class drivers and she was less than half a second away from a front row starting spot.
After a fantastic qualifying session earlier in the day, Hoffmann lined up from third position on the grid for the first race of the weekend. Erika got a superb launch from the inside of the second row and immediately jumped ahead of championship leader Jens Hantson into turn one. Hoffmann was now in second position, however Hantson was applying significant pressure to the Kellymoss racer.
On lap two, Hantson made a move to the inside at Oak Tree and claimed the runner-up spot. Loni Unser was just behind the Speedsport Tuning driver and she drew level with Hoffmann down the back straight. The drivers ran side-by-side into the Roller Coaster with Unser moving ahead into third position. On lap four, Hoffmann had a spin at turn one and this dropped the Canadian driver to 13th overall, fourth in the Cayman Pro/Am class.
Hoffmann was determined to recover lost positions and on lap six, she overtook Cayman Masters driver Dominique Legeuex. On lap nine, she also made a move on Joseph Rizzo while Bill Fenech had stopped out on circuit and his car required recovery which necessitated a full course yellow period. This was a good break for Hoffmann who moved back up into ninth place overall when the race resumed as Alain Scalzo entered the pit lane.
It was a challenging end to the race for Hoffmann who had a second off-track moment at turn 10 on lap 16 which dropped the Canadian racer to 11th overall, while she remained fourth in the Cayman Pro/Am class. Nonetheless, she fought back on the final lap by overtaking Reginald Tartaglione and therefore Hoffmann took the chequered flag in tenth position overall, fourth in class.
For the second race of the weekend on Sunday morning, Hoffmann lined up on the front row of the grid in second position after an extremely consistent qualifying session. The Canadian racer got a good initial launch when the green flag was displayed, however Loni Unser made a move to the inside of turn one. After briefly running side-by-side, Unser pulled clear and this lost Hoffmann some momentum as she was then under attack from Anna Cecchi.
Cecchi made a bold move to the inside at Oak Tree and the Charlie Hayes Racing driver pulled ahead down the back straight. Hoffmann therefore settled into fourth position and set about building a margin to the Cayman Masters drivers behind. Although the leading trio started to edge away, by lap six Hoffmann had a four second gap behind her courtesy of a personal best time.
On lap seven, Erika was the fastest driver on track through sector one and she was doing a nice job to hold fourth position overall. Her pace remained consistent through the middle portion of the race, before Reginald Tartaglione crashed on lap 12 and therefore a full course yellow period was required.
The race resumed with just a little over two minutes remaining and this allowed Hoffmann to close back in on the leading drivers. Her pressure on Cecchi told as the final lap began with a mistake from her rival allowing Hoffmann to draw level as the pair approached turn one. Cecchi defended her position well and Erika settled into fourth position which she held at the chequered flag to complete a race of improvement to end the weekend.
Hoffmann enjoyed a breakthrough in her one-lap pace at Virginia International Raceway and this will give her huge cause for optimism heading into the final races of the season. Although she just missed out on a podium finish, the Kellymoss driver banked vital experience at a challenging circuit.
Hoffmann will now be looking ahead to the next round of the championship which takes place at Road America on the weekend of August 9th/10th.