Chloe Chambers returned to the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Road America achieving a second-place finish in race two, demonstrating strong pace and making steady improvements to the MI Racing Porsche Cayman throughout the weekend.
Racing at the challenging Road America circuit, Chloe Chambers secured a runner-up finish on her return to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. Driving for Monoflo International-TPC Racing, it was a weekend of progress which saw Chambers improve her lap times and develop the car setup during the course of the event. A fourth-place result in race one was followed by a second place finish in race two as she challenged Ian Porter for the race victory.
Returning to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America for the second time during the 2024 season, Chambers was looking to add to her double victory she scored at Barber Motorsports Park. Once again competing with TPC Racing, Chloe would pull double duty with a debut appearance in Porsche Endurance Challenge North America alongside Tillman Schmid. Therefore, the F1 Academy racer would gain valuable track time in close competition at one of the most demanding circuits in America.
Chambers participated in a number of test and practice sessions leading up to the weekend in order to work on a car setup both for herself and Schmid ahead of the round and shaking down a new car after a Watkins Glen accident had damaged Schmid's chassis.
In the final session on Friday, reserved only for Porsche Sprint Challenge North America drivers, Chloe set the fastest time in the Cayman Pro/Am class and was therefore poised for a strong result in qualifying.
From the outset of qualifying on Saturday morning, Chambers was displaying her pace and immediately set the fastest first sector of any driver on her maiden flying lap. She backed this up on her second lap with another overall best in the first sector and although a red flag ended qualifying early, Chloe was still able to qualify in third position and was therefore in contention to challenge for the race victory.
Lining up from the second row of the grid, Chambers made an excellent initial start and moved into second position at the opening turn, before falling behind Loni Unser into third. Chloe challenged Unser for the remainder of lap one, with the safety car then deployed for an incident at The Kink. The cleanup process was lengthy and thus the race resumed on lap six with the TPC Racing driver looking to move back into the runner-up position.
On the restart, Chambers set an overall best first sector as she fought-off an early challenge from Caroline Candas. Candas continued to apply the pressure throughout lap six and was able to slip through on the exit of Canada Corner to move into the final podium position. However, Chloe was determined to fight back and set another fastest first sector as she lined up a pass into turn five.
Chambers’ strength in the first part of the lap continued into the closing stages of the race as she set another quickest sector one of the race on lap ten. This allowed her to mount a late challenge on Candas and she looked set to make a move before a late safety car period, following a spin for Patrick Dempsey, saw the race end under yellow flag conditions. A fourth-place result represented a good result for Chambers, who fought a challenging set up in a competitive field of drivers at Road America.
On Sunday, a few more adjustments to the car resulted in improved performance.
Starting race two of the weekend from second on the grid, Chambers lost out to Loni Unser on the initial start but completed an excellent move for second under the Corvette Bridge. This put the TPC Racing driver back into the runner-up position at the end of the first lap.
Chloe was immediately showing her strength in the first sector and was the fastest driver through that part of the circuit on laps two and three. As a result, she was able to close down the lead margin to Ian Porter after the RAFA Racing Team by JDX driver had opened up a margin in the early stages.
By lap four, Chambers had cut the gap to less than one and a half seconds with her pace in sectors one and three helping her to close in on her rival. A series of fast laps saw the margin reduce to less than one second at the conclusion of lap nine.
Chloe was slowly closing in on Porter as the second half of the race progressed and was sizing up her best opportunity to make a manoeuvre. On lap 12, however, a full course yellow neutralised the race and halted her momentum as Chris Hutter’s car required recovery.
As a result, a late race restart decided the second Porsche Sprint Challenge North America race of the weekend. Chloe remained less than half a second behind Porter as the racing resumed and applied pressure to her rival as the tyres got back up to temperature. A late-race charge was prevented by a second full course yellow period with Chambers taking the checkered flag in a superb second position on her return to the championship.
It was a positive weekend of progress for Chambers at Road America who worked well with TPC Racing to improve the car throughout the event. Chloe’s one lap pace was strong during the weekend and this saw her qualify in third, before her exceptional race pace saw her close out race two with a runner-up finish.
Her attentions will now turn towards her F1 Academy campaign which resumes at Zandvoort on the weekend of 24th/25th August.
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