Loni Unser continues her excellent form at Road America with a brace of podium finishes

Loni Unser had her most competitive weekend in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Road America, securing her second runner-up finish of the season and a strong third place in race two, demonstrating consistent progress as she targets her first race victory in the final round at Sonoma Raceway.

Photo credits: Kyle Schwab / Porsche Motorsport North America

Enjoying her most competitive weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America to date, Loni Unser secured her second runner-up finish of the season. The Kellymoss driver was consistently one of the fastest drivers in the Cayman Pro/Am class throughout the event at Road America, qualifying a season’s best second. A runner-up finish in race one was achieved with excellent race pace, before Unser closed out the weekend with a strong third-place finish in race two on Sunday.

Fresh from her career best result in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America at Watkins Glen, Unser was looking forward to returning to competitive action at Road America. A runner-up finish in the previous round saw the Kellymoss driver consolidate third place in the Cayman Pro/Am standings with two events remaining. Having only finished outside the top-5 once in the previous ten races, Loni’s consistency has been the key to her success in her debut season in the championship.

Unser was one of just a handful of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America drivers not to be competing in the parallel round of Porsche Endurance Challenge North America and this was arguably an advantage for the Kellymoss racer.

As a result, she could drive the entirety of the test and free practice sessions, whereas many of her rivals were swapping between two drivers and ensuring car setup suited both racers. In the final free practice session ahead of qualifying, Loni put her knowledge to good use and set the second fastest time among the Cayman Pro/Am competitors and was encouraged by her speed heading into qualifying.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and Unser was looking to continue her positive momentum. It was an excellent start to the session for the Kellymoss driver who jumped to second position overall on her second flying lap at Road America. A red flag was then brought out mid-way through the session and without time for qualifying to be resumed, Loni qualified a career best second, ahead of 2024 race winners Chloe Chambers and Caroline Candas.

Following her excellent qualifying performance, Unser was targeting a strong race one result and made an excellent start from the front row of the grid. Although Chloe Chambers briefly moved ahead, Loni regained second spot at the conclusion of lap one before the safety car was deployed for an incident among the Cayman Masters drivers. When the race resumed on lap six, Loni held her runner-up position confidently and began pulling out a gap from Caroline Candas.

Despite having two race-winning drivers behind her, Unser continued to run extremely fast and consistent lap times with her speed in sector one ensuring her margin remained healthy. As Chambers closed in on Candas, this ensured that Loni remained in a secure second position prior to a late-race safety car for an incident involving Patrick Dempsey.

With the race unable to be resumed, Unser took the checkered flag in a superb second position to match her best result in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America to date.

Unser started the second race of the weekend from third on the grid and made an excellent initial launch as she moved ahead of Chloe Chambers. However, the TPC Racing driver fought back during the opening lap and regained second position as the drivers headed under the Corvette Bridge. Loni settled into a comfortable third position and with Caroline Candas going off-track at The Kink on lap one, the Kellymoss driver had a significant gap behind.

Both Chambers and race leader Ian Porter pulled out a good margin in the initial exchanges, however by lap six Unser was matching their sectors. This was followed by a personal best time on lap seven and this ensured she remained just five seconds away from the overall race lead.

On lap 12, the race was brought under full course yellow conditions after a spin for Chris Hutter with Unser looking to make moves on the restart. Despite making a good result, Loni was unable to gain any further positions and with a second full course yellow period ending the race, Unser finished in third position to secure another superb podium finish.

Unser achieved her largest haul of points in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America to date and consistently ran in the podium positions on merit. Her speed allowed her to challenge race winners Chloe Chambers and Caroline Candas, while matching championship leader Ian Porter during portions of both races.

Loni will now be targeting her maiden race victory in the final round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America season which takes place at Sonoma Raceway on the weekend of 28th/29th September.