PSCNA: Therese Lahlouh battles challenging conditions at Road America

The latest round of Porsche Sprint Challenge NA was impacted by changeable weather conditions with Therese Lahlouh scoring a top-10 finish at Road America. After lighting and heavy rain forced the postponement of race 1, a single race took place on Sunday with Lahlouh battling to a ninth-place class finish in wet conditions while managing a tyre issue.

Photo credits: Porsche NA / Kyle Schwab

The latest round of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America was impacted by changeable weather conditions with Therese Lahlouh scoring a top-10 finish at Road America. The JDX Racing driver showed excellent speed in free practice, before an unfortunate red flag in her qualifying group led to a difficult starting position of 14^th overall, ninth in the 992 Pro/Am class.

After lighting and heavy rain forced the postponement of race one on Saturday, a single race took place on Sunday with Lahlouh battling to a ninth-place class finish in wet conditions while managing a tyre issue.

Lahlouh showed fantastic determination during the previous round at Virginia International Raceway as she battled back from a challenging qualifying session to make significant progress during the races. The JDX Racing driver displayed her racecraft by moving through from 19^th on the overall grid to finish eighth in race one, while securing a top-5 result in the 992 Pro/Am class.

Now arriving at the challenging Road America circuit, Therese was aiming to contend for podium finishes in the 992 Pro/Am class while consolidating her strong championship position of third. Last season, Lahlouh displayed excellent pace in Wisconsin as she finished both races in the 992 Pro/Am class in sixth, while claiming a pair of top-eight overall results.

Since the previous round, Lahlouh had enjoyed testing opportunities in both LMP2 and GT3 machinery, before returning to her Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car for the first test session on Wednesday. Lahlouh was able to bank vital mileage and this continued into Thursday with good conditions remaining throughout testing. Therese’s lap times were consistently among the top-5 in class and this gave her cause for optimism heading into the official race weekend.

On Friday, Lahlouh took part in two official free practice sessions and the JDX Racing driver continued her strong form. She began the day by setting the fifth fastest time overall, fourth in the 992 Pro/Am class, while being less than half a second away from pacesetter David Musial Jr. Lahlouh ended Friday’s running by maintaining fourth in class, further underlining her speed at Road America.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and once again the drivers were split into two groups with Lahlouh in Group A. Therese was one of the first drivers out on the circuit, however before she could complete a flying lap the session was red flagged after Joel Johnson had stopped out on track.

The clock reset to 7:30 and this allowed the Group A drivers to set a representative lap time. Lahlouh improved on each of her three laps with her quickest time of a 2:11.613 placing her sixth overall in Group A, third within the 992 Pro/Am class. When the groups were combined following the second session, this resulted in an overall qualifying result of 14^th overall, ninth in the 992 Pro/Am class.

Photo credits: Porsche NA / Kyle Schwab

The first race of the weekend was scheduled to take place on Saturday afternoon, however lightning and heavy rain at Road America forced its postponement. Instead, race one was rescheduled in the place of race two on Sunday morning, while the original second race was now set to take place at Watkins Glen at the end of the month.

Conditions had improved sufficiently on Sunday morning and therefore the GT3 Cup drivers lined up on the grid for their first contest of the event. With the starting lineup based on the results from qualifying, this meant Lahlouh took her place on the seventh row of the grid in 14^th overall, ninth within the 992 Pro/Am class. The track was still extremely wet and as a result, the drivers were given two laps behind the safety car before the contest got underway.

As the drivers searched for grip on the second sighting lap, Alex Pratt went off the road at turn five and therefore Lahlouh was already up to 13^th overall, eighth in the 992 Pro/Am class. David Musial Jr then elected to pit, before championship leader Cole Kleck did likewise as the green flag was displayed. As a result, Therese took the start in 11^th position overall, sixth in class.

It was an extremely chaotic first lap of green flag racing as conditions remained treacherous and Lahlouh did a superb job to remain on the racetrack. Despite avoiding a number of incidents ahead of her, the JDX Racing driver moved inside the top-5 of the 992 Pro/Am class at the completion of the first lap at racing speed. Due to the car of Matthew Siegal requiring recovery, the race then entered a full course yellow period with the neutralisation lasting for just a single lap.

At the restart, Jimmy Llibre entered the pits ahead of Lahlouh and with Laura Ely slowing to avoid the ACI Motorsports driver, Therese capitalised and passed both cars to claim a spot inside the overall top-10. It was a strong restart lap for the JDX Racing driver, before she lost a little momentum as a number of faster cars moved ahead on their recovery drives.

On lap six, Kleck overtook Lahlouh at the first turn and this manoeuvre allowed Matt Dusek to pass the JDX Racing driver. Ely then mounted a challenge and she moved her Black Sheep Racing machine ahead with Therese running in 13^th overall, sixth in class, at the end of lap six. Class rival Ross Poole was now behind and after he moved his Goldcrest Motorsports car into 13^th, Frank Vitiello followed him through.

The middle portion of the race was challenging for Lahlouh who was fighting a slow puncture. At the conclusion of lap eight, the JDX Racing driver was in 19^th overall, tenth in the 992 Pro/Am class, before she was able to settle into a rhythm. After receiving a drive-through penalty earlier in the race, Todd Treffert passed Lahlouh on lap nine.

As the track began to dry with the rain having now stopped, Lahlouh’s pace improved and she was now matching the drivers ahead. Up ahead, Javier Ripoll Jr was caught out by conditions and after his off-track moment, the JDX Racing driver was now into 19^th overall, ninth within class. Therese was now cutting the margin to class rival Muzaffar Gafurov and although she was required to defend from Jon Manship, she was showing good speed through the first sector in particular.

The margin between the trio remained extremely tight in the closing stages and Lahlouh was displaying improved confidence as visibility continued to improve. Completing the race with a series of personal best times, Lahlouh banked valuable championship points by taking the chequered flag in 19^th position overall, ninth within the 992 Pro/Am class.

It was a challenging single race for Lahlouh at Road America, however she banked vital experience in difficult conditions. Her speed in dry conditions was strong and Therese was unfortunate not to achieve a stronger qualifying result due to the red flag in her part of qualifying.

The additional race from Road America is set to take place at Watkins Glen with the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America drivers visiting New York state on the weekend of August 30^th/31^st.