Therese Lahlouh stars with runner-up finish in second round of Porsche Endurance Challenge North America

Therese Lahlouh, teaming up with Nik Romano, secured a second-place finish in the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America after leading laps for the second consecutive event, having been in contention for the GT3 Cup class race victory up until the checkered flag.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

Leading laps for the second successive event, Therese Lahlouh enjoyed an excellent race in Porsche Endurance Challenge North America as she finished in second position. Teaming up with JDX Racing driver Nik Romano, the duo were in contention for the GT3 Cup class race victory up until the checkered flag, crossing the line less than half a second behind Charlie Hayes.

In the Cayman division, it was disappointing end for both Caroline Candas and Chloe Chambers with their respective cars being caught up in a first lap incident. Fortunately, both Candas and TPC Racing driver Tillman Schmid walked away unharmed from the multi-car crash.

The opening round of Porsche Endurance Challenge North America was a huge success with a competitive grid of cars in both the 992 and Cayman classes battling it out at Circuit of the Americas. In the 992 class, Therese Lahlouh led a number of laps in her JDX Racing prepared machine alongside teammate Nik Romano. Driving in the Cayman class, Caroline Candas teamed up with Madeline Stewart and the duo raced superbly to a top-10 result on their debut weekend as a partnership.

The second RAFA Racing Team by JDX all-female crew of Jem Hepworth and Paige Morales also banked valuable experience and were denied a strong finish by a late technical issue. There were a number of changes to the entry list for the round at Road America with Alec Udell joining Caroline Candas in the Cayman class, while Chloe Chambers was entered alongside Tillman Schmid. Therese Lahlouh continued in her JDX Racing 992 GT3 Cup machine with teammate Nik Romano.

Free practice sessions for Porsche Endurance Challenge North America were combined with those for Porsche Sprint Challenge North America and therefore ensuring both drivers were happy with the car was another challenge to overcome. Lahlouh and Romano, together with Candas and Udell, were consistently challenging for the top positions in their respective classes with the trio female drivers aiming for strong performances in qualifying.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

GT3 Cup

The JDX Racing duo of Therese Lahlouh and Nik Romano were quickly out on track for Saturday morning’s qualifying session and were looking for a strong starting position. Romano got behind the wheel in the first half of the session and was extremely competitive in a talented field of drivers, setting a fastest lap time of a 2:09.047. Completing a driver change midway through the session, Lahlouh then qualified the #242 machine with the team’s combined effort placing them tenth in class.

In a change to the driving order from the opening round at Circuit of the Americas, Lahlouh took the start in the JDX Racing machine. Therese made an excellent launch as she gained three positions on lap one and looked poised to make further moves before the safety car was deployed. An incident among the Cayman class drivers had led to significant debris and barrier damage along the front straight and therefore the race was subsequently red flagged.

The stoppage lasted for around 20 minutes and with the pit window and driving times remaining unchanged, Lahlouh would require to pit shortly after the restart. On the first flying lap of the restart, the majority of the GT3 Cup class competitors made their required pit stop, however Therese remained on the racetrack and enjoyed clear air, while her rivals who stopped at the first possible opportunity were running in traffic.

Lahlouh was now into second position and defending from solo runner Charlie Hayes, before assuming the overall race lead on lap four. This was the second time in successive races that Lahlouh had led laps in Porsche Endurance Challenge North America.

On lap five, the JDX Racing team called Lahlouh into the pits with teammate Nik Romano getting behind the wheel. Completing a successful pit stop, Romano rejoined in fourth position following the pit cycle with Hayes now ahead, along with Scott Blind whose pit stop was under the required time. Shawn Tatum was now the leader, although the debutant had missed the pit window and would therefore be given a penalty for transgressing the regulations.

Romano’s speed was excellent in the early portion of the stint as he made consistent inroads on both Hayes and Blind, with Tatum stopping shortly after. Blind was ahead of Hayes, with Hayes beginning to lose time behind the Ruckus Racing competitor. By lap nine, the gap to Hayes was down to three seconds with Romano holding a comfortable ten second advantage over Elliott Skeer who was the closest driver behind.

On lap 13, Romano made a nice move on Blind to take over second place with a small margin to bridge to race leader Hayes. A late-race charge saw Romano catch Hayes, with the JDX Racing driver coming within one car length of his rival into turn five as a driver from the Cayman class remained on the racing line.

Taking the checkered flag less than half a second behind Hayes, it was a spirited drive from Romano who claimed a runner-up finish in partnership with Lahlouh.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

Cayman

Qualifying for the Cayman division took place alongside the GT3 Cup class on Sunday morning with Candas and Chambers beginning the session in their respective cars. Caroline took to the circuit with teammate Ian Porter directly ahead and showed good speed in the final sector of the circuit. Chambers, meanwhile, was one of the early pacesetters with her first sector pace among the fastest of all the drivers.

She handed over to Tillman Schmid in the closing stages and although he was unable to improve, the TPC Racing duo qualified tenth in class on combined times. Alec Udell got behind the wheel of the RAFA Racing Team by JDX machine at the halfway point and made a time improvement to qualify car #84 in ninth position.

Lining up from ninth and tenth on the grid respectively, Candas and Schmid got behind the wheel for the opening stint in the Cayman class. When the lights went out, an incident at the front of the field led to a multi-car incident on the front straight with both drivers having nowhere to go.

Significant damage was caused to Candas’ car with Schmid able to limp the TPC Racing machine back to the pitlane. As a result, both teams were forced to retire from the race without a lap completed through an incident not of their own making. Fortunately, Candas and Schmid were unharmed in the incident which eliminated almost half of the Cayman field.

Photo credits: Kyle Schwab

Contrasting fortunes were experienced by the female drivers competing in Porsche Endurance Challenge North America, with Lahlouh standing on the podium alongside teammate Nik Romano. The JDX Racing duo have now led laps in both races to start the season and will be looking to build upon this momentum in the final two rounds of the season.

Candas and Chambers meanwhile, had a difficult event at Road America but nevertheless gained good experience being part of a two-driver lineup. The next round of Porsche Endurance Challenge North America will take place at Sonoma Raceway on the weekend of 28th/29th September.