Sabré Cook matches career-best finish on return to Porsche Carrera Cup North America
- LIAM REDFORD
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Sabré Cook made an excellent start to her Porsche Carrera Cup North America campaign by equalling her career-high result of sixth at Sebring International Raceway, where the JDX Racing driver consistently displayed speed to challenge the top-5.
Sabré Cook made an excellent start to her Porsche Carrera Cup North America campaign by equalling her career-high result of sixth at Sebring International Raceway. Remaining with JDX Racing, Cook displayed strong pace throughout the event on her way to a ninth-place qualifying result.
In race one, Cook was set for a top-10 result before late-race contact ended her day prematurely. Bouncing back superbly in race two, Cook took the chequered flag in sixth position after fantastic battles with teammates Paul Bocuse and Connor Bloum to establish herself as a consistent front-runner in the competitive one-make series.
Returning to Porsche Carrera Cup North America for a fourth consecutive season, continuity was important for Cook as she aimed to contend with the leading group of drivers. The American racer remained with established squad JDX Racing as the championship entered a new era with the Porsche 991 Cup (Type 992.2) machine featuring enhanced aerodynamics and performance.
The 2026 calendar sees the return of the iconic Long Beach street circuit in California, while traditional venues such as Watkins Glen and Road America are retained. Porsche Carrera Cup North America continues to support Formula 1 at both the Miami International Autodrome in May and Circuit of the Americas in October, ensuring the one-make series reaches new audiences.
The traditional season-opening venue remained Sebring International Raceway with the Florida circuit providing a stern test of both driver and machine. Cook was looking to improve upon a best result of 13th at the track with the JDX Racing driver often showing better pace than her results have shown in previous years. Using her experience of the series, Sabré was now searching for consistent top-10 finishes while pushing towards the overall top-5.
Free practice one was held on Wednesday morning and the thirty-minute session ran uninterrupted. It was an extremely positive start to the season for Cook whose fastest time of a 2:02.102 placed her in eighth position. With the top-10 drivers in the Pro class covered by just over a second, this was indicative of competitive battles throughout the field in the new 992.2 Porsche Cup car.
The second free practice session was held on Wednesday afternoon and Cook again showed good pace. Her quickest lap of a 2:02.313 came on her 16th and final lap of the session and placed her in eighth overall, just a quarter of a second away from fifth position held by Janne Stiak.
Qualifying was held early on Thursday morning and with the cooler conditions at Sebring International Raceway, the lap times improved throughout the field. At the halfway point, Cook sat in eighth with a fastest time of a 2:01.937. Fitting a new set of tyres for the second half of qualifying, the JDX Racing driver improved by a tenth of a second before the session was ended prematurely after debris was required to be removed from the circuit. As a result, Cook qualified in ninth position with her second fastest time also placing her inside the top-10.
The opening race of the season took place on Thursday afternoon with Cook starting from ninth position. As the green flag was displayed, Cook got a good launch from the inside of the fifth row of the grid and began challenging for eighth position. Approaching turn seven, Sabré moved to the outside line and she overtook JDX Racing teammate Connor Bloum. Completing lap one in eighth, Cook quickly began pulling out a margin to Bloum and therefore she could focus forward on applying pressure to series debutant Janne Stiak.
Pressure behind was eased further after Bloum was overtaken by John Capestro-Dubets with the GMG Racing driver claiming ninth spot. On lap three, Cook was the fastest driver through the fast opening sector as she was showing excellent speed on her return to Porsche Carrera Cup North America. As the race settled into a rhythm, Cook continued to apply pressure to Stiak and on lap four, the JDX Racing driver was the fourth fastest driver on track.
Although Stiak then began to edge away from Cook, there was still little pressure behind as Bloum and Dubets exchanged positions once again. By lap 11, Cook was again fourth quickest within the Pro class and with battles emerging ahead, there were still opportunities to move forward. As Stiak began to struggle for pace in the second half of the race, Cook closed the gap and on lap 12, she was just a quarter of a second behind her rival.
A battle then began between Stiak and Cook and this brought Bloum into contention with a three-way fight for position emerging. Cook was continuing to show excellent pace through the first and third sectors where she was consistently among the fastest in the Pro class. After closing to within two tenths of a second to Stiak on lap 14, Bloum was able to pass both Cook and Stiak on the next lap with Sabre falling to ninth position.
As Bloum pulled clear of the battling duo, Stiak’s defence became increasingly robust as he began to block into the braking zones. On lap 17, Cook shaped for a move on the ACI Motorsport at turn three and contact was made between the drivers. Cook suffered suspension damage as a result of the contact and was forced to retire from the race. It was an unfortunate end to the race for Cook who showed superb pace to rival drivers inside the top-5, while Stiak later was issued a time-penalty for blocking.
Looking to bounce back in race two, Cook lined up from eighth position courtesy of her second fastest time from qualifying. Sabré made another good start and held eighth position through the opening turns, before again lining up an outside manouvure into turn seven. Cook’s bravery was rewarded as she overtook teammate Paul Bocuse to move into seventh position at the end of the first lap.
As the drivers began lap two, Janne Stiak slowed with an issue and this promoted the JDX Racing driver into sixth spot. Bocuse was determined to fight back with a top-5 position in sight and he made a superb pass into Sunset Bend to move back ahead of Cook. Now in seventh position, Cook began showing her strength in sector one and on lap four, she set the overall fastest time through this part of the circuit.
At the conclusion of the lap, Jared Thomas pitted with a puncture and this elevated Sabré back into sixth position as she looked to extend her margin over Connor Bloum who was running just half a second behind. Another overall fastest sector one time on lap six saw Cook cut the margin to Bocuse with all three JDX Racing drivers running nose-to-tail. On lap eight, Cook was the fourth fastest driver on track and she was now beginning to open up a small margin to Bloum.
Two further fast laps from Sabré allowed her to gap her teammate by over a second with the margin to Bocuse now under the one second mark. The gaps remained consistent with ten minutes of the race remaining and although Bloum attempted a late-race charge, Cook’s strong pace ensured she held on to finish in sixth position and match her career best finish in Porsche Carrera Cup North America.
It was an impressive weekend for Cook at Sebring International Raceway who consistently displayed speed to challenge the top-5 drivers. Her pace through the high-speed first sector was among the best in the entire field and the JDX Racing driver will be looking to sustain this momentum throughout the season.
A return to the iconic Long Beach street circuit is next on the cards for the one-make series with Porsche Carrera Cup North America returning on the weekend of April 18th/19th.
