Therese Lahlouh Secures Podium Finish at COTA on second GT World Challenge America start
- MIKA BÖCKER
- 5 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Therese Lahlouh continued her impressive rookie season in GT3 machinery with a breakthrough performance in the second round of the GT World Challenge America at Circuit of the Americas, securing a superb second place in the Pro-Am class alongside Thomas Merrill and stepping onto the overall podium after a highly competitive and strategically executed race weekend.
Therese Lahlouh continued her impressive rookie season in GT3 machinery with a breakthrough performance in the second round of the GT World Challenge America at Circuit of the Americas, securing a superb second place in the Pro-Am class alongside Thomas Merrill and stepping onto the overall podium after a highly competitive and strategically executed race weekend.
Arriving in Austin on the back of a strong debut at Sonoma Raceway, where a pit lane penalty had denied her a likely class podium but had still resulted in a suerb top five finish, Lahlouh carried clear momentum into the Texan round.
The American driver, a graduate of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America where she had established herself as a consistent frontrunner, continued to demonstrate rapid adaptation to the Porsche 911 GT3 R run by Wright Motorsports. Circuit of the Americas presented a different challenge with its high-speed sections and technical complexes, but it was also a track where Lahlouh had prior experience in Porsche Cup machinery.
The weekend began positively, with the #242 Porsche showing growing pace across all practice sessions. Lahlouh and Merrill steadily improved their lap times, starting with a 2:06.324 in the opening session before finding nearly a full second in the second practice. Their progress culminated in a 2:05.380 in final practice, placing them second overall and among the leading Pro-Am contenders heading into qualifying.
Qualifying took place on Sunday morning across two 15-minute sessions. Lahlouh took the wheel for Q1 and built her pace as the session evolved. After using the early laps to bring the tyres up to temperature, she posted a 2:11.325 on her first flyer before rapidly improving to a 2:09.731 with a strong final sector. She continued to find time, setting a 2:09.585 and then a 2:09.120 with personal bests in the opening sectors.
On her final attempt, she delivered her best lap of the session, a 2:08.530, once again maximising the final sector and ranking fifth fastest among GT3 Am drivers in that portion of the track. The effort secured P16 overall and P11 in the Pro-Am class.
In Q2, Merrill took over driving duties, but the session was interrupted by a red flag before he could complete his second flying lap. With limited time remaining, the session resumed for a single final push lap for all competitors. Merrill delivered under pressure, improving to a 2:04.731, placing the car P13 overall and P10 in class for the session. The combined average time of 2:06.630 ultimately positioned the Wright Motorsports entry 16th on the overall grid and 11th in Pro-Am for the race.
Later in the day, the American rookie took the start herself. The opening lap was clean without any major incident, and the field sorted itself out smoothly through the initial series of corners, the iconic Esses. On the long straight, Lahlouh remained tucked in behind her class rival Gilliland, and she managed to overtake him in the subsequent hairpin, but was immediately subjected to a counter-attack.
A fierce battle for position within the class followed; however, this skirmish was short-lived, as the first Full Course Yellow was declared after just one and a half laps. The Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang had come to a halt in Turn 20 due to a drivetrain failure. Despite the intense battling during these opening laps, Lahlouh managed to hold onto her overall position, though she slipped back to 12th place within her class, now running behind Mascaro.
The restart took place just under nine minutes into the race. Once again, she quickly managed to overtake the car ahead of her, before another counter-attack. The action continued on the very next lap, however: following contact with another car, the Archangel Motorsports McLaren suffered a puncture, spun out, and dropped a position to the Wright Motorsports team.
Anticipating a second Full Course Yellow due to debris on the track, the team opted to pit immediately. Sure enough, the neutralization was indeed called, and the team’s time loss was kept to a minimum. Thanks to the Safety Car period, they were even able to fully recover the time lost during the pit stop. Lahlouh naturally remained behind the wheel and, at the second restart, was able to immediately begin gaining positions.
Aided by the pit stops of other teams, she rocketed up the Pro-Am standings to 7th place in no time, now trailing 6th place, currently held by Slade Stewart by a mere three seconds. During this stint, Lahlouh couldn't quite make up ground on the sixth-place runner, as her charge was repeatedly disrupted by traffic from other classes. Nevertheless, lap after lap, she managed to steadily increase her gap over the driver behind her, Depew.
When adjusted for pit stops, Lahlouh was at this point already running in podium contention in the ProAm class. This became evident later in the stint, after more than an hour of racing, when she successfully moved up to hold third place.
With minimal traffic to contend with, Lahlouh was able to consistently post faster lap times and build a cushion over the late stoppers. Her performance was strong enough to ensure she handed the car over to her teammate, Thomas Merrill, while still firmly in the leading group.
Although Merrill rejoined right into the midfield immediately after taking over during the pit cycle, his strong pace allowed him to stay right on the heels of his rivals, enabling him to effortlessly reclaim the lost positions, either by overtaking or by inheriting them as his competitors made their own pit stops. Consequently, it came as no surprise that the team soon found itself running near the very front of the overall standings as well.
In the final hour of the race, the Wright Motorsports duo held second place in both their class and the overall standings. The sister car of Yardley ran in the lead, just seven seconds ahead of them. Both Pro-Am contenders however still had one final pit stop to make; during this stop, Merrill rejoined in fifth place, having two cars from other classes go by.
On fresh tires, however, Merrill was able to start making up the lost time immediately after his stop. Once all pit stops had been completed, he was back on course for a podium finish - missing out on the top three by only the narrowest of margins. Ahead of him, Clark was still running on worn tires, attempting to delay his final pit stop for as long as possible.
Merrill quickly closed the gap, and with 48 minutes remaining, he managed to slip past Clark on the inside of the fast quadruple-apex right-hander, securing second place - and with it, a spot on the overall podium. Despite the wheel-to-wheel battle, he also managed to shave a full second off the leader's advantage.
The battle for the overall standings was about to get particularly intense. The leading JMF Motorsports Mercedes was handed penalties for two separate incidents. After serving the first penalty - a drive-through - the Mercedes dropped back, leaving it just five seconds ahead of Merrill. At the same time, Merrill found himself under attack from the Turner Motorsports entry.
The second penalty imposed on the Mercedes was a 10-second post-race time penalty. The Wright Motorsports team of Lahlouh and Merrill therefore suddenly found themselves in contention for a podium spot overall. Meanwhile, the Turner Motorsports BMW was applying pressure from behind, but Merrill always kept it under control.
The final result, in what was only Therese Lahlouh’s second start in the series and third ever GT3 race, sees her secure second place in ProAm, as well as a superb podium finish in the overall classification thanks to a great run by both drivers and another flawless strategy from the team.
With this well-deserved result, Lahlouh adds a second back-to-back top-five finish to make a significant leap in the standings. She will aim to keep momentum at the upcoming race in Sebring, held from May 8th to May 10th.