PSCNA: Therese Lahlouh closes out season with top-10 finish at Road Atlanta

Therese Lahlouh completed a successful season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with a top-10 result on her first visit to Road Atlanta; despite a challenging qualifying, Lahlouh made good progress in race 1 and charged through the pack after being hit in race 2, eventually ending the season in fourth position within the class standings.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

Therese Lahlouh completed a successful season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with a top-10 result on her first visit to Road Atlanta. Despite a challenging qualifying session, Lahlouh made good progress in race one to finish eighth in the 992 Pro/Am class.

Therese ran as high as sixth overall in race two before she was hit by a competitor, which left her car damaged and dropped her to the rear of the field. Nonetheless, the JDX Racing driver pushed on to secure points for an 11^th place finish within class. As a result, Lahlouh ended the season in fourth position within the 992 Pro/Am class standings.

Arriving at the season finale sitting fourth in the 992 Pro/Am standings, Lahlouh was targeting a strong end to the campaign. Across the 2025 season, Therese has regularly battled for top-5 finishes and has twice stood on the 992 Pro/Am class podium. Her strongest event at Circuit of the Americas yielded a pair of top-four finishes, with Lahlouh having completed every lap the season to date.

The JDX Racing driver has shown excellent consistency throughout the season, with her race starts a particular highlight. This has resulted in Lahlouh often moving forward from her starting positions, including in the final race last time out at Watkins Glen where Therese finished in eighth position after starting from the seventh row of the grid.

Road Atlanta was to provide a different challenge for Lahlouh with the majority of the drivers having not previously competed at the undulating circuit. With the track not featuring on recent Porsche Sprint Challenge North America calendars, the pre-event test sessions were important for the drivers to get up to speed.

The first test session was held on Friday and Lahlouh was able to bank valuable experience ahead of further running which took place on Thursday. Completing 41 laps across the two official free practice sessions, Lahlouh’s quickest time of a 1:24.997 came in the second session. The field was extremely close over one of the shortest laps of the season with Therese ending the day seventh in class, while remaining in touch with those inside the top-5.

Qualifying for the season finale took place on Friday morning with Lahlouh drawn into Group B. Throughout the session, Therese remained out on track as she continued to search for improvements at Road Atlanta. Setting a fastest time of a 1:24.518, Lahlouh was seventh quickest in her group and this resulted in an overall qualifying result of 17^th overall, ninth in class.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

The first race of the weekend was held on Friday afternoon with Lahlouh looking to make progress from the eighth row of the grid. As the lights went out, it was a busy start and Therese initially gained one position through the opening turns. Championship leader Cole Kleck then spun on the exit of turn seven and this disrupted the momentum of some drivers down the long back straight.

A further incident then unfolded at turn 10 as contact between John Gilliland and Mark Boden saw both cars spin and stop at the side of the road. Lahlouh was delayed as a result of this contact and therefore she completed lap one in 18^th position overall, tenth in class. Therese was determined to fight back and with a large group of fellow 992 Pro/Am competitors directly ahead, there was a good chance to gain both track position and places within class.

Ross Poole was her first target and Lahlouh shaped for a move at turn 10 on lap three, however the Goldcrest Motorsport driver protected his position well. Lahlouh was looking much faster at this stage of the race and she soon made her speed count by completing the move on lap four to elevate herself into 17^th overall, ninth in the 992 Pro/Am class.

Lahlouh soon caught the machine of Muzaffar Gafurov and after he passed Chris Hutter, the JDX Racing driver seized her opportunity. After running side-by-side with Hutter through the Esses on lap six, she was able to pull clear and immediately applied pressure to Gafurov ahead. Another great move at turn 10 saw Lahlouh pass Gafurov and she now had a small gap in which to push into.

Lahlouh’s pace in clean air was strong and after just one flying lap, her margin to Gafurov behind was almost two seconds. Her speed in sectors two and three was especially competitive and she was edging herself closer to the group ahead who were battling for 11^th position overall. By lap 12, she was within a second of Hutter and with the next four drivers all fighting for a way ahead of Kyle Washington, there were still opportunities to move forward.

On lap 16, Joel Johnson spun on the exit of turn one and hit the barriers as he battled for a position just outside the top-10. As a result, the race entered a full course yellow period with Lahlouh now in 15^th position overall, eighth in the 992 Pro/Am class. Due to the complex recovery required, the race ended under the safety car with Lahlouh showing good speed throughout the race as she looked to move forward towards the overall top-10.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

Race two at Road Atlanta took place on Saturday afternoon and courtesy of her consistency in qualifying, Lahlouh lined up from 13^th on the overall grid, seventh in class. It was a clean start as the drivers made their way through the opening turns with Therese doing a nice job to overtake class rival Mike Mim while immediately applying pressure to David Musial Jr.

After Musial Jr passed 992 Masters driver Todd Parriott, the Kellymoss machine was now directly ahead. Just a tenth of a second behind, John Gilliland was looking for a way ahead of Lahlouh and after his attempt was unsuccessful, Mim moved back through. With her class rival now behind, Lahlouh was keen to move forward and her race pace was showing signs of improvement from the previous day.

Lahlouh was doing a nice job to hold sixth position in class through the early stages of the race, before she mounted a serious challenge on Parriott. On lap six, Lahlouh set a fast time through the middle sector and this gained her momentum to challenge the Kellymoss driver. Following a nice move at turn 10, Lahlouh passed Parriott and elevated herself into 11^th position overall.

From there, the JDX Racing driver set a personal best time and immediately opened out a comfortable gap behind. On lap seven, Lahlouh was the second fastest driver within the 992 Pro/Am class to further highlight her speed. Lahlouh kept building the advantage to those behind until lap 10 when Therese was hit by one of the Master class entries at turn three. While the car was damaged, Lahlouh countinued to push, despite falling to the rear of the field and completing the lap in 29^th position overall, 12^th in class.

A recovery drive was now on the cards and Lahlouh quickly caught the tail of the field. On lap 12, she overtook class rival Eric Lapp for 11^th in class, before passing the 992 Masters machine of Thomas Herb. Manoeuvres on Jon Manship and Daniel Ammann followed with Therese back inside the overall top-25 by the end of lap 16.

Lahlouh continued to move forward in the closing stages as she overtook both David Musial and Shaun McKaigue. With just a few minutes of the race remaining, Lapp spun through the Esses and with his car stopped in a precarious position, the race entered its first full course yellow period. Consequently, the race ended under the safety car with Lahlouh taking the chequered flag in 23^rd position overall, 11^th in the 992 Pro/Am class, with a damaged car.

Although it was not the finale Lahlouh had hoped for, the JDX Racing driver was able to secure an excellent fourth place finish in the 992 Pro/Am class championship standings. Lahlouh showed superb speed and racecraft throughout the season, with her consistency particularly impressive. Lahlouh enjoyed a positive season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America and will now look ahead to fresh challenges over the off-season.