PSCNA: Erika Hoffmann shows her speed, secures double top-5 finish at Watkins Glen
- LIAM REDFORD
- 54 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Erika Hoffmann enjoyed one of her strongest showings in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America as she raced at Watkins Glen for the first time. The Kellymoss driver topped free practice two and was unfortunate not to convert this speed into a third podium finish of the season.
Erika Hoffmann enjoyed one of her strongest showings in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America as she raced at Watkins Glen for the first time. The Kellymoss driver topped free practice two and was unfortunate not to convert this speed into a third podium finish of the season.
After Hoffmann encountered misfortune in a disrupted qualifying session, an incident in race one saw her just miss out on the rostrum. In race two, Erika enjoyed a number of close midfield battles on her way to a second fourth-place result of the weekend in the Cayman Pro/Am class.
After missing the last round of the season at Road America due to funding challenges, Hoffmann returned to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Watkins Glen. Hoffmann has impressed during her rookie campaign with the Canadian racer having twice finished on the Cayman Pro/Am class podium. Despite visiting the majority of venues for the first time, Erika’s improvements have been key to her success and have enabled her to regularly challenge her more experienced rivals.
Hoffmann was looking to replicate this progress at Watkins Glen, while aiming to contend for podium finishes. Therefore, taking full advantage of Friday’s two practice sessions was her first objective as the Kellymoss driver reacclimatised with her Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport machine. In session one, Hoffmann completed just five laps but secured the fourth fastest time within the Cayman Pro/Am class before significant improvements were made in session two.
On her way to completing 17 laps of Watkins Glen, Hoffmann set the quickest time in the Cayman Pro/Am class as she topped a session for the first time during the season. Her fastest lap of a 1:54.928 was just over a tenth of a second quicker than championship leader Jens Hantson, while she was almost half a second clear of teammate Loni Unser.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning with Hoffmann looking to replicate her speed from practice. The session was quickly halted as fluid on the circuit resulted in a lengthy red flag period as the marshals cleaned the track surface. At this point, only a handful of drivers had set a representative time with Hoffmann yet to set a flying lap.
The session resumed with just six minutes remaining and the Kellymoss driver had an unfortunate spin during her qualifying run. Nonetheless, Hoffmann ended the session in seventh position overall, setting the fourth quickest time in the Cayman Pro/Am class. Erika’s speed in the middle sector was especially competitive and this gave her additional encouragement ahead of the pair of races which followed.
Race one at Watkins Glen was held on Saturday afternoon with Hoffmann lining up from seventh overall, fourth within the Cayman Pro/Am class. A fast start saw the Kellymoss driver quickly pass the Cayman Masters machine of Bill Fenech before the JDX Racing driver fought back. Fenech ended the first lap just a quarter of a second behind Hoffmann as she now looked to break clear of her more experienced rival.
After resisting Fenech’s early challenge, Hoffmann set the overall fastest final sector on lap three and this saw her margin to the car behind grow to one second. Following this quick lap, Hoffmann closed to within half a second of William Peluchiwski who was running between Erika and her Cayman Pro/Am rival Anna Cecchi. As Fenech and Tom Kopczynski began battling behind, Hoffmann could focus forward on mounting a challenge on the duo ahead.
At the end of lap six, Cecchi lost some momentum and this brought both Peluchiwski and Hoffmann into contention as the drivers approached turn one. Less than half a second separated all three drivers and as Hoffmann made a move on Peluchiwski, she made contact with Cecchi which spun the Charlie Hayes Racing driver while Erika herself was also delayed.
As a result of this incident, Hoffmann was now in ninth position overall, fourth in class, with newcomer Ramy Farid now directly ahead. After cutting the deficit to just one tenth of a second, Hoffmann overtook Farid on lap nine to move into eighth overall. Hoffmann’s speed remained strong despite the contact with Cecchi and the Kellymoss driver was now on the tail of class rival Spencer Propper.
Two laps later, Hoffmann made her move by overtaking Propper for a provisional podium place within the Cayman Pro/Am class. However, she was then forced to serve a drive-through penalty for the contact with Cecchi which dropped her to 14th overall, fourth in class. On her first flying lap following the drive-through, Hoffmann was the fastest driver on track as she set a personal best time.
Hoffmann’s pace enabled her to catch a group of Cayman Masters drivers and she quickly overtook both Reginald Tartaglione and Joseph Rizzo to move into 12th position overall. Erika was lining up a move on Speedsport Tuning driver Charles Craig before the race entered a full course yellow period after the car of Ramy Farid had come to a stop.
The race resumed for one final lap and Hoffmann did a nice job to remain clean despite a number of battles taking place around her. The Kellymoss driver took the chequered flag in 11th position overall, while securing a fourth-place finish in the Cayman Pro/Am class.
Race two of the weekend took place on Sunday morning with Hoffmann aiming to make progress from eighth on the overall grid, fifth in the Cayman Pro/Am class. As the lights went out, it was a clean start throughout the field with Hoffmann holding her position while she started to come under pressure from Ramy Farid. Farid’s early race speed prevented Hoffmann from mounting a sustained challenge on the drivers ahead, with Cayman Masters class championship leader Alain Scalzo her next target.
After the race settled into a rhythm, Hoffmann began to increase her speed and on lap five she was quickest driver in the Cayman Pro/Am class through sector one. As Scalzo caught Erika’s class rival Spencer Propper, this brought Hoffmann and Farid in contention. On lap six, all three drivers passed Propper at turn one and this promoted the Kellymoss driver into seventh overall, fourth in the Cayman Pro/Am class.
Now in a small amount of clean air, Erika could show her speed and on lap seven, she was the fastest driver on track. Despite this, Farid remained close behind and he was able to move his KMC machine in front shortly after. Hoffmann settled in behind the Cayman Masters driver and after setting the quickest time of any driver through sector one on lap 10, she began applying pressure to her rival.
Hoffmann continued to search for consistency during the second half of the race and after Tom Kopczynski closed to within half a second, she was forced to defend as well as attack. This fantastic midfield battle continued into the closing stages and on lap 14, Hoffmann got an excellent run on Farid out of the Esses. She was almost able to draw her Kellymoss machine level into the Inner Loop, however Farid protected his position well.
Hoffmann’s attack was then halted as the race entered a full course yellow period on lap 16 after Reginald Tartaglione went off the circuit at the Inner Loop. Great work from the marshals allowed the race to be resumed for one final lap with Erika not quite able to gain any further ground. As a result, the Kellymoss driver took the chequered flag in seventh overall, fourth within the Cayman Pro/Am class.
Hoffmann showed excellent speed throughout the weekend and was unfortunate not to stand on the Cayman Pro/Am class podium. After topping free practice two, circumstances worked against Erika for the remainder of the weekend, however there were significant positives to take from an event which featured limited testing.
The Kellymoss driver will now be eager to return to the rostrum at the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America finale which takes place at Road Atlanta on the weekend of 13th/14th September.