Ryan Yardley continued his strong form in the Carrera Cup North America, claiming another podium finish with a standout drive at Road America.
Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi Madeline Stewart had a more challenging outing, with the tight and competitive racing making it difficult to move forward through the field.
Yardley started just outside of the top 3 in 4th while Stewart had a tougher climb ahead of her, starting in 16th.
Slightly behind off the start, Yardley got pushed behind Tyler Maxson, who had dropped from the lead to 4th, but stayed right on his rear for a few turns until the Kiwi found a spot to get back ahead.
Stewart lost track position on the opening lap after being passed by Alexander Reimann, who had moved up 4 spots, putting her down into 17th, where she held her ground to avoid losing any more places.
Just ahead of Stewart, multiple cars were side by side battling for position before a collision saw 2 drivers come far off the track. Both cars recovered after falling numerous positions.
Riley Dickinson had a major issue 5 minutes in, suddenly dropping from 2nd to 5th, and slotted in behind Yardley, who got up to 3rd.
While Yardley held 3rd with a 1.3 second margin, the four cars behind him were in a battle of their own, fighting for 4th. Jared Thomas managed to hold onto the position, but the time spent battling other cars had him lose time to Yardley.
Ten minutes in, Alex Pratt spun off the track at turn 7 and got stuck in the grass. While he wasn’t able to move at first, the full-course safety car wasn’t brought out, as he managed to get his car going after some effort.
After sitting behind the front two Pro-Am drivers for a while, Stewart found a spot to pass Alan Metni and break the racers apart.
Going around a corner, Reimann suddenly had a major suspension issue, which made the car impossible to race, and he was forced into the pits, where he was unable to get his car fixed in time.
In 4th, Thomas continued to be threatened and briefly passed by Dickinson, which kept pushing the gap to Yardley further, dropping over 4 seconds from the podium position.
As the gap behind him steadily grew, Yardley maintained control of third place and crossed the line to secure another well-earned podium finish for the season.
Stewart ended the race in 14th place, up 2 from the start on a track that is notoriously hard to pass on.
The racing continues tomorrow with Race 2 of Carrera Cup North America running at 3 am NZST on Monday.
Header Image: Topp Racing
