Sabré Cook secured a top-15 finish on her return to Porsche Carrera Cup North America at Sebring International Raceway and, despite being caught up in an incident in race two not of her own making, she showed good speed all weekend on her debut with JDX Racing.
Sabré Cook secured a top-15 finish on her return to Porsche Carrera Cup North America at Sebring International Raceway.
The JDX Racing driver qualified in 13th position despite the session being interrupted by a red flag and secured her first points of the season with a 14th place finish race one. Cook was caught up in an unfortunate incident not of her own making and therefore she was forced to retire in race two.
After two strong campaigns in Porsche Carrera Cup North America, Cook switched to JDX Racing for her third season in America’s premier single-make championship. Scoring eight top-10 finishes during the 2024 season, including six in seven races during the middle portion of the campaign, Sabre established herself as a fast and consistent driver.
Prior to this weekend, Sabré had scored points in three of her four previous starts at Sebring and was now targeting her first top-10 result at the circuit.
The weekend began with two free practice sessions which were held on Wednesday. In session one, Sabré made consistent improvements and set a quickest time of a 2:04.558 which placed her inside the top-15 of the Pro class. Improving to 11th fastest in session two, less than a second away from the top-5, Cook was now aiming to break inside the top-10 during the first qualifying session of the season.
Qualifying was held on Thursday morning and Cook was immediately on the pace with her initial flying laps. At the halfway stage the JDX Racing driver sat just outside the top-15, however she was within half a second of the top-10.
A good improvement on her second set of new tyres saw Cook set a time of a 2:03.529, before a late red flag disrupted the session. Although Sabre was able to set one final flying lap, improvements were difficult for all drivers with Cook’s fastest time placing her in 13th overall.
The first race of the weekend took place on Thursday afternoon with Cook lining up from 13th on the grid. It was a clean start for the JDX Racing driver who move up one position in the Pro class to 12th, however she remained in 13th overall after Pro-Am class leader JP Martinez moved ahead. Cook quickly passed Martinez on lap two with a recovering Paul Bocuse following her through.
Bocuse then overtook Cook on lap three with Sabré remaining close behind her teammate in attempt to follow him up the order. The race then entered a rhythm with Cook lapping consistently to keep the top-10 drivers within sight. As the battles ahead started to intensify, Sabre closed in on the top-10 runners and aimed to capitalise on any mistakes.
In the middle portion of the race, Sabré found herself under pressure from fellow female driver Ashley Freiberg with the Kellymoss driver shaping for a move. Cook did a good job to resist Freiberg’s initial challenge and following a personal best time on lap nine, she opened up a small margin. However, Freiberg moved ahead on lap 11 and began to edge away from Cook.
Now running in 14th position overall, Cook fell back into the clutches of Martinez and Alan Metni who were enjoying a close battle for the Pro-Am lead. A series of strong laps in the final stages of race one allowed Sabré to pull clear of the duo and take the checkered flag in 14th position. It was a clean and consistent race from Cook who banked championship points on her first start of the season.
For race two of the weekend, Cook lined up from 14th on the grid and was looking to use the knowledge gained from the first race. Sabré made a clean start and although she lost a few positions through the opening turns, she remained in a strong position.
Misfortune then struck as the drivers approached Cunningham Corner. Grant Talkie was slowing off-line with a puncture and as Cook approached the slower car, Michael McCann was arriving at a higher speed and made contact with the rear of the JDX Racing machine.
This sent Cook into John Jodoin with all three cars receiving damage and spinning off the road. Cook was able to bring her car back to the pit lane, however the damage was too substantial for her to rejoin.
It was an unfortunate end to the event for Sabré who looking to start the season with back-to-back points scoring finishes. Cook showed good speed on her debut with JDX Racing and was unlucky to be caught up in an incident in race two which was not of her own making.
She will be looking to bounce back as Porsche Carrera Cup North America returns on the weekend of May 3rd/4th at Miami in support of Formula 1.
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