New Zealand’s Ryan Yardley has capped off a strong 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America campaign with a 2.850-second victory in front of a sellout crowd at Circuit of the Americas.
The TOPP Racing driver took the lead off provisional champion Loek Hartog 15 minutes into the 35-minute race to win ahead of the JDX Racing duo of Alex Sedgewick and Zachary Vanier.
Yardley also featured on the podium in Race 1, finishing third behind Vanier and Hortog, the latter of whom had secured the title a week earlier at Road Atlanta.
The round was run in support of the United States Grand Prix.
“It’s always nice hearing the New Zealand national anthem on a Formula 1 podium,” Yardley said in a message to Velocity News after the race.
The now-three-time race winner showed strong pace from the outset at Circuit of the Americas, topping Friday’s practice with a 2:07.860, a mere 0.056 to the good of Vanier.
Hartog qualified on pole for the opener with a 2:06.237 flyer, which was nearly two-tenths quicker than second place, Michael Cooper. Vanier and Yardley, who won a race apiece last round at Road Atlanta, made up the second row.
Vanier wasted no time in getting back to the top step, winning a race plagued with three caution periods ahead of the provisional champion and Yardley.
The first incident came on the opening lap, where contact with Joel Johnson sent Masters class points leader Matt Halcome airborne. Halcome escaped uninjured.
Debutant John Gililand stopped on track shortly after the first restart, bringing the second yellow, before a collision between Peter Atwater and Todd Parriot brought out the race-ending third yellow.
Vanier, who had jumped from third to first by Turn 1 on Lap 1, held off Hartog’s challenges on both restarts to lead the field home behind the Safety Car.
Yardley ran second through the early stages of Race 2, before getting past Hartog on Lap 5 and leading for the remainder of an incident-free race.
Sedgewick triumphed in a fierce late battle with Vanier to finish second, leaving Race 1’s winner to complete the podium in third.
Yardley’s 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup campaign featured 10 podiums in 16 races, including three wins, with one at each of Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta and Circuit of the Americas. He only finished outside the top ten twice, which came during race weekends in Montreal and Miami where incidents dropped him from contention.
