Therese Lahlouh and Madeline Stewart made their European racing debuts in the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup at Spa-Francorchamps and gained valuable experience in the first edition of the 12 hour race, showing strong performance in the Pro/Am class and making significant improvements over the course of the event in both wet and dry conditions.
Racing at the legendary Spa-Fracorchamps circuit, Therese Lahlouh and Madeline Stewart made their European racing debuts in the first edition of the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup.
Driving alongside Nik Romano and Alex Sedgwick for MRS GT Racing, the quartet showed good performance in the Pro/Am class before a technical failure led to an early retirement.
Nonetheless, all four drivers gained valuable experience in changeable conditions while competing against some of the best drivers and teams in Europe.
The inaugural Michelin 992 Endurance Cup provided an opportunity for drivers and teams from around the world to compete at one of most iconic circuits in motorsport, Spa-Francorchamps. The 12-hour race was open to all categories of driver, while every team was required to utilise the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) machine.
Both Madeline Stewart and Therese Lahlouh were familiar with this car due to their full-season commitments in America. Stewart has successfully stepped up to Porsche Carrera Cup North America in 2024, recently scoring her maiden top-10 finish in the series at Road America. Lahlouh meanwhile, is in her rookie season of the main Porsche Sprint Challenge North America championship and has stepped onto the podium in the 992 Pro/Am category at Watkins Glen.
Stewart and Lahlouh were joined by fellow JDX Racing teammates from their stateside programmes. Nik Romano has joined Lahlouh for both Porsche Endurance Challenge North America events to date which has seen the pair lead laps overall at both Circuit of the Americas and Road America. British racer Alex Sedgwick is a race winner in Porsche Carrera Cup North America and remains in mathematical contention for the overall title in his sophomore season.
Driving for established Porsche team MRS GT Racing at Spa-Francorchamps, the German squad have experience competing in Creventic sanctioned events, including the flagship 24 Hours of Dubai. Entered in the highly-competitive Pro/Am class, the quartet were aiming to fight towards the front of the class while even looking to challenge some of the more established Pro class outfits.
The race weekend saw a pair of free practice sessions take place on Friday, split by a qualifying session which would enable three of the four drivers to set a lap time with the aggregate taken to form the starting grid.
Conditions for the opening test session on Friday were typical of Spa-Francorchamps with a wet track. It was a productive session for all four drivers who gained valuable experience while building up their confidence. During the second session, the track progressively dried and this allowed the quartet to judge the crossover point from wet to slick tyres.
The single official practice session for the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup took place on Friday afternoon with conditions now fully dry. The MRS GT Racing squad were all able to set their best lap times of the day, with Sedgwick’s final lap of the session being the quickest overall for the team. This placed them sixth in the Pro/Am class with the field extremely close heading into qualifying.
In qualifying, the aggregate of the three times set the overall starting grid and therefore consistency was vital. Light rain began to fall as qualifying began with Nik Romano taking part in the first session. Leaving the pits on slick tyres, track conditions were treacherous and therefore getting heat into the tyres was a significant challenge. A red flag period also halted the session but Romano delivered an exceptional lap to set the third fastest time overall, while being the quickest drivers in the Pro/Am class.
Alex Sedgwick drove in the second session and although he had a limited amount of time to set a fast lap, he ensured the team remained on provisional pole position in the Pro/Am class. Driving in the third session, Madeline Stewart was looking for a strong lap to ensure MRS GT Racing started at the head of the field.
Stewart found significant lap time improvements from practice, however her two fastest laps were removed for exceeding the track limits. As a result, her quickest time dropped the quarter to fourth in Pro/Am, ninth overall. Nonetheless, it was still a positive qualifying session where all three drivers displayed improved performance.
The 12-hour race began on Saturday morning and would run through to sunset, with Nik Romano behind the wheel for the start. Romano did a superb job to avoid a first corner incident and remain within the top-5 of the Pro/Am class, although he did pick up some damage to the car. With a number of cars out of position, including many drivers in the Pro class, Romano drove smartly as they moved their way ahead. At the conclusion of his first stint, the MRS GT Racing crew sat fifth in the Pro/Am class, while running in 16th position overall.
Romano remained in the car for a double stint and by stopping early in the window, the team were able to undercut the Muhlner Motorsport machine driven by Anthony McIntosh. With a significant number of teams also changing drivers, Romano was able to run as high as 12th overall, fourth in Pro/Am during his second stint. Just past the two-hour mark, Romano came into the pits for the first driver change with Therese Lahlouh taking over for the first time.
The damage to the car was causing some impact to performance, both from displaced bodywork on the rear-left corner and a loose undertray. Nonetheless, Lahlouh found her feet in her first race at Spa-Francorchamps and set a number of competitive times.
Early in her stint, the first full course yellow period of the race occurred when Peter Munnichs spun and impacted the barrier. Consequently, this led to a safety car period with Lahlouh running in 17th position overall, fifth in the Pro/Am class.
Lahlouh was one of the last drivers one lap down and therefore the safety car was a fortunate break as it allowed her to catch the train of cars ahead. Now running with drivers of a similar speed, she was able to improve her times during her maiden stint of the race before handing over to Madeline Stewart.
After duelling with Mustafa Mehmet Kaya, Stewart served a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits. This was a common penalty among teams and the MRS GT Racing squad were one of the few which had not served this penalty at one-third distance.
Stewart’s speed following the penalty was strong and this allowed her to remain in the car for a second stint. During her stop, the team spent extra time to patch up the damage and this dropped Stewart to eighth in class as she rejoined the track.
The repairs did not remedy the undertray issue and therefore the team made the decision to bring the car into the garage for a more substantial fix. The extensive stop lasted almost ten minutes and with Alex Sedgwick now taking over, the quartet ran 24th overall, ninth in Pro/Am.
Early in Sedgwick’s stint, a second full course yellow period led to a safety car when Reinhold Krahn got beached in the gravel. Sedgwick was able to race comfortably in the leading group of drivers at the restart and although he served two penalties for exceeding track limits, his speed was excellent in light of the challenging circumstances.
After a single stint, Sedgwick handed over to Stewart for her second outing of the race. On the out lap, the left-rear wheel detached from the car and left the Kiwi racer stranded out on track. This resulted in a third full course yellow period of the race with the car recovered to the pit lane.
A hub failure had caused the issue and the team decided not to rejoin the race following this incident on safety grounds. It was an unfortunate end to the event where all four drivers had shown great promise and were targeting a podium finish in class.
Despite the setbacks faced by the quartet, they all gained valuable experience competing in the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup. Driving in both wet and dry conditions at Spa-Fracorchamps, both Stewart and Lahlouh turned their first ever laps at the circuit and made significant improvements over the course of the event.
They will he aiming to use the knowledge gained in the remaining rounds of their respective championships, with a particular focus towards the six-hour season-ending Porsche Endurance Challenge North America event at Circuit of the Americas.
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