It was a weekend of progress for Sabré Cook in Porsche Carrera Cup North America, as she made a smooth transition to Era Motorsport and achieved her sixth top-10 finish of the season despite some misfortune at Road America – including contact from a competitor and a technical issue – that prevented the Shift Up Now athlete from contending for a top-five.
Sabré Cook made a smooth transition to competing with Era Motorsport as she achieved her sixth top-10 finish of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America season. It was a weekend of progress for Cook who qualified 12th overall, before running as high as seventh in the first race at Road America. Taking the checkered flag ninth in race one, Sabré was set for another top-10 result in race two before a technical issue led to a late-race retirement.
Following a run of three consecutive top-10 finishes prior to Road America, Cook was confident of continuing this strong run of form. Switching to Porsche Carrera Cup North America newcomers Era Motorsport for the remainder of the season, Sabré was looking to settle in quickly with the established sportscar squad.
The American racer had fond memories of Road America prior to the weekend after scoring a pair of top-10 results in the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 Championship, while also scoring points on her first visit to the circuit in her rookie Porsche Carrera Cup North America campaign.
The race weekend began on Thursday with the first of two practice sessions. Cook got herself up to speed in the opening session and set the 14th fastest time among the Pro class competitors. Improving by seventh tenths of a second in free practice two on Friday morning, Sabré’s quickest time of a 2:10.648 placed her 13th in the Pro class.
Qualifying was Cook’s next chance to make improvements and secure a good starting position for the pair of races to follow. It was an excellent start to the session for the Era Motorsport driver who was comfortably inside the top-10 after the first flying laps, before a red flag interrupted qualifying.
Although Sabré was unable to take a sizeable step forward in the closing stages of the session, she had improved a further eight tenths of a second from free practice two. Her time of a 2:09.854 placed her 12th overall, 11th among the Pro class drivers with her second fastest time quick enough for 14th overall and 12th in class.
Lining up from the sixth row of the overall grid, Cook made an excellent start and successfully negotiated a number of opening lap incidents. Ending lap one in seventh position while also clearing the Pro-Am car of Alan Metni, Sabré was running in the leading group and showing excellent early race speed.
Drivers within the top-5 were starting to battle for position and this allowed the Era Motorsport driver to remain in touch with Elias De La Torre.
At the end of lap four, the gap between Cook and the JDX Racing driver was less than a second with Sabré now applying consistent pressure to her rival.
De La Torre was also carrying damage and was struggling to maintain position on lap six as Sabré’s pace remained strong. Although unable to move into sixth position, Cook was holding seventh and set a personal best time on lap eight. Her momentum was halted on lap ten as the safety car was deployed following an incident for Kenton King with the restart coming two laps later.
Colin Kaminsky had closed in on the Era Motorsport driver and launched an optimistic attack into turn one on the restart, sending both drivers wide and off the course, dropping the pair down the order.
At the end of lap 12, Cook had fallen to 11th overall, ninth in the Pro class with Kaminsky issued a 10 second penalty for avoidable contact. Nonetheless, there was still time to mount a comeback and Cook was back inside the top-10 with a move on Marco Cirone. Overtaking Pedro Torres on the penultimate lap, Sabré was up to ninth overall and set her personal best time on the final lap of the race to score her fourth straight top-10 result in Porsche Carrera Cup North America.
For the second race of the weekend, Sabré lined up 12th on the overall grid, 11th among the Pro class drivers and made an excellent start to move into ninth at the end of lap one.
Smart driving had seen the Era Motorsport driver move ahead of her rivals and hold down a comfortable position within the top-10 as the safety car was quickly deployed. As the race restarted, Cook lost out to Colin Kaminsky at Canada Corner and settled into tenth position.
Cook ensured the gap to Kaminsky rarely extended to over a second and by lap eight, she was just over half a second behind her rival. Capitalising on a wide moment from Elias De La Torre at turn two, Sabré was into ninth position on lap nine and immediately set a number of fast sectors.
This culminated in her setting a personal best time on lap 11 as she extended the gap to the JDX Racing driver beyond one second. Sabré was on course to secure another top-10 result until a technical issue forced her into the pits on lap 15 where she retired from the race for the first time this season.
Although it was an unfortunate end to the weekend for Cook, she displayed her adaptability by quickly settling in with Era Motorsport. Sabré’s pace in the first race of the weekend was particularly impressive as she ran confidently inside the top-10 and was unlucky not to contend for a top-5 finish.
Cook will be looking to bounce back when the Porsche Carrera Cup North America drivers tackle the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the weekend of September 21st/22nd.
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