PSCNA: Therese Lahlouh secures first podium finish of the season

Consistently among the top drivers in the 992 Pro/Am class throughout the event, JDX Racing driver Therese Lahlouh enjoyed a superb weekend in the second round of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America as she secured her first podium finish of the season.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

JDX Racing driver Therese Lahlouh enjoyed a superb weekend in the second round of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America as she secured her first podium finish of the season. Lahlouh was consistently among the top-5 drivers in the 992 Pro/Am class throughout the event and finished race one third in class. In race two, Lahlouh was set for a fourth-place finish before she was spun in the closing stages and took the checkered flag in fifth.

Lahlouh began the year with an encouraging showing at Sebring International Raceway. Despite not achieving the results that her pace deserved, the JDX Racing driver took a good step forward in terms of performance. This enabled her to complete a remarkable comeback to finish inside the top-10 of the 992 Pro/Am class in race two, despite the majority of the contest spent behind the safety car.

Now arriving at Sonoma Raceway, Lahlouh was targeting top-5 finishes within class while pushing to challenge those on the overall podium. In 2024, Lahlouh finished both races in fifth position within the 992 Pro/Am class and secured a pair of overall top-10 results. Teaming up with Nik Romano, the pair also drove in the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America contest where Therese impressed in the one-hour endurance race.

On-track action got underway on Thursday with the drivers participating in two test sessions before the first official free practice. Lahlouh completed over 50 laps during the day and finished free practice one in 12th position overall, seventh in the 992 Pro/Am class. Her fastest time of a 1:39.802 was less than a second away from the overall top-5.

On Friday, the second practice session was followed by the all-important qualifying session. Improving upon her best lap time by almost a second, Lahlouh ended free practice two in seventh position overall, while holding down a top-5 position in the 992 Pro/Am class. Her third sector was especially impressive as the JDX Racing driver held the second quickest time in the final part of the lap.

For qualifying at Sonoma Raceway, the drivers were split into two groups in order to provide the best conditions for the field of 27 drivers. Lahlouh was in Group A and her fastest time came on her first flying lap of the session. Although Therese was just unable to match her quickest time from the second practice session, her 1:39.169 placed her fifth in Group A, third in the 992 Pro/Am class.

After the drivers from Group B had set their qualifying times, Lahlouh’s final qualifying result was ninth overall, seventh in the 992 Pro/Am class. Once again, Therese’s third sector was exceptional as she was the fastest driver in Group A through that part of her lap, while her consistency resulted in a superb second fastest qualifying time.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

Lining up ninth on the overall grid for race one, seventh in the 992 Pro/Am class, Lahlouh was looking to make a fast start. After a good launch, a fantastic move to the outside of turn two proved successful as Therese overtook Tony Malito.

Lahlouh’s progress was then halted following a full course yellow period as the cars of Erik Lapp, Joel Johnson and Kyle Washington all required recovery. Due to the complex positions which the cars found themselves in, the stoppage was lengthy and the race resumed with a little over fifteen minutes remaining.

Race leader Cole Kleck made a slow restart at the head of the field and this bunched the cars up as the green flag was displayed. Lahlouh was alert and took advantage while making another excellent move on the outside of turn two. Following the restart, the JDX Racing driver was into sixth position overall, fourth in the 992 Pro/Am class, after overtaking both Mike Mim and Josh Conley.

Lahlouh’s pace was strong in the middle portion of the race and as a result, she did not need to defend from the drivers behind. Kleck then received a drive-through penalty for a restart infringement and once this was served, Lahlouh was into a provisional podium position in the 992 Pro/Am class.

After Conley began to close in and with a podium on the line, Lahlouh responded and opened out the gap to one second. In front of her, Scott Blind and Blake McDonald were battling for position and this brought Lahlouh into contention for a second-place finish within class. A personal best time on lap 15 saw Therese cut the deficit to overall race leader Alan Metni to less than five seconds as she continued to enjoy one of her strongest races in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America to date.

On the final lap of the race, Lahlouh had to negotiate the lapped car of Francisco De Jesus as she caught the 992 Masters driver at the chicane. Using her experience, Lahlouh passed De Jesus and held off Conley to claim her first podium finish of the season. Therese also took the checkered flag in fifth position overall and within five seconds of the race victory to display her potential ahead of race two later that day.

Photo credits: Colin McCarty

Courtesy of her superb consistency in qualifying, Lahlouh’s second fastest time saw her line up sixth on the overall grid for race two, fourth in the 992 Pro/Am class. Again pulling off a stunning move round the outside of turn two, Lahlouh overtook Kayden Kelly on lap one to move into fifth overall, while holding a confident fourth place in class.

In the early stages, Lahlouh had to work hard to hold off Kelly before Kenton King caught the 992 Masters class driver. As Kelly and King battled for position, this allowed Lahlouh to focus forward and she ran a series of fast times in pursuit of her second podium finish of the weekend. The leading seven drivers had now opened up a sizeable gap on the rest of the field and on lap seven, Lahlouh was the third fastest driver on track.

The following lap saw Therese set the overall best final sector as she continued to show her pace through this part of the circuit. As the race reached the halfway point, Kelly began to close in once more as he regularly matched the overall race leaders. The Kellymoss driver then cut the margin to under half a second as he aimed to chase down class leader Scott Blind who was running ahead of Lahlouh.

On lap 15, Kelly made contact with Lahlouh which spun the JDX Racing driver and as a result, she dropped to seventh overall, fifth in the 992 Pro/Am class. Kelly was issued a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, however with Kelly competing in a different class, this did not improve Lahlouh’s 992 Pro/Am position. Despite this setback, her pace in the closing stages was excellent as she fought hard to bridge the deficit to King.

At the end of race two, Lahlouh finished in sixth overall, fifth in the 992 Pro/Am class. Therese’s fighting spirit was illustrated as the JDX Racing set the third fastest time on the final lap of the race as she completed an excellent weekend at Sonoma.

Lahlouh scored her first podium finish of the season and secured a large haul of championship points as she moved up to third in the 992 Pro/Am standings. She will be looking to return to the rostrum as Porsche Sprint Challenge North America resumes at Circuit of the Americas on the weekend of May 17th/18th.