PSCNA: Anna Cecchi rebounds to score podium finish at Sonoma

Anna Cecchi secured her third podium finish of the season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America after a superb rebound at Sonoma Raceway, producing an impressive comeback after an incident in race 1 to end the weekend with a third place in the Cayman Pro/Am class.

Photo credits: Kyle Schwab

Anna Cecchi secured her third podium finish of the season in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America after a superb rebound at Sonoma Raceway. The Charlie Hayes Racing driver continued her strong start to the season as she displayed excellent pace in California.

After being involved in an incident in race one, Cecchi produced an impressive comeback drive in race two to end the weekend with a third place result in the Cayman Pro/Am class.

Cecchi arrived at Sonoma Raceway high on confidence after an excellent start to the season at Sebring International Raceway. Driving for Charlie Hayes Racing, Cecchi adapted superbly to the challenges of the one-make championship and secured two podium finishes in the Cayman Pro/Am class. Her one-lap pace was particularly strong as she secured third place on the grid, while completing the fewest laps of any driver.

With prior experience of Sonoma Raceway, Cecchi was aiming to use her knowledge to continue challenging at the head of the field. In 2024, Anna raced in the USA West division of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America where she qualified third in the Cayman class.

From the opening test session on Thursday morning, Cecchi was immediately on the pace. After setting the third fastest time in session one, she improved on her quickest lap by almost half a second in session two. Thursday’s action concluded with the first official free practice session and after setting a time of a 1:43.909, the Charlie Hayes Racing driver ended the day third fastest.

On Friday morning, the drivers took part in one final practice session ahead of qualifying with Cecchi improving further. Dipping below a lap time of 1:43 for the first time, Anna’s quickest lap of a 1:42.987 placed her fourth overall, third in the Cayman Pro/Am class.

Photo credits: Logan Skidan

Qualifying took place later in the afternoon and was disrupted by a red flag brought out by Bill Fenech. Cecchi’s fastest time came on her final lap of the session and the Charlie Hayes Racing driver set the quickest overall final sector. This enabled her to set the fifth fastest time, third in the Cayman Pro/Am class, while her second fastest time jumped her ahead of father Greg Cecchi into fourth overall.

For the opening race of the weekend, Cecchi lined up from fifth position overall, third in the Cayman Pro/Am class. Anna made an excellent start and quickly moved ahead of her father to claim fourth position overall, while opening up a small margin to Loni Unser who was now rounding out the top-5.

The battle for the overall runner-up position was intense in the early stages as Cayman Pro/Am rival Jens Hantson mounted a challenge on Cayman Masters class leader Alain Scalzo. As this duo battled, Cecchi was able to close in before Hantson completed the pass on lap three. Although Scalzo was not in Cecchi’s class, the Canadian racer was defending his position with Anna running just three tenths of a second behind Scalzo at the end of lap four.

Cecchi’s pace was strong, however overtaking was challenging at Sonoma Raceway and Unser began closing in on the duo. On lap eight, Cecchi made a small error on the exit of the second part of the chicane and while attempting to correct oversteer, Unser and Cecchi made contact. Both cars received damage with Cecchi able to bring the car back to the pit lane where she was forced to retire from the race.

Photo credits: Logan Skidan

With a short turnaround before race two, the team worked hard to repair the car and Cecchi was able to take her place on the grid. Looking to bounce back and end the weekend on a high, Anna lined up from fourth position overall, third in the Cayman Pro/Am class. It was another well-controlled start from Cecchi who held her position through the opening lap, before the first full course yellow period of the weekend was required on lap two. Debris on the frontstretch was removed and following quick work from the marshals, just one lap was spent behind the safety car.

When the green flags were displayed, Cecchi made a good restart and opened up a small gap behind her which enabled Anna to focus forward. Similarly to race one, Hantson and Scalzo were battling in the early exchanges and when the Cayman Pro/Am driver made his move on lap six, Cecchi looked to capitalise. She immediately put pressure on Scalzo and was consistently running just half a second behind the multiple Cayman Masters class race winner.

In the middle portion of the race Scalzo began to open up a small margin, however Cecchi rallied with a series of strong lap times. Despite the gap extending to two seconds, a personal best time on lap 15 brought the margin under a second, before Cecchi cut the deficit further. With five minutes remaining, Scalzo’s advantage was barely half a second and a spell of late pressure signalled Cecchi’s intent.

Although she was unable to make the move, Cecchi finished race two fourth overall, while claiming third position in the Cayman Pro/Am class.

It was an excellent rebound from Cecchi who displayed great determination to recover from the setback in race one. Her pace in qualifying and both races was strong as she continued her positive start to the season for Charlie Hayes Racing. Cecchi will now be looking ahead to the next round of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America which takes place at Circuit of the Americas on the weekend of May 17th/18th.