Therese Lahlouh concluded her maiden season in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with two top-5 finishes at Sonoma, securing fifth in the 992 Pro/Am class standings after consistently demonstrating strong racecraft throughout the weekend and season.
JDX Racing driver Therese Lahlouh completed her maiden season in the 992 Pro/Am class of Porsche Sprint Challenge North America with a pair of top-5 finishes at Sonoma. Lahlouh showed excellent speed throughout the weekend, with her race pace seeing her move through the field during both races.
After starting race one from 11th overall, sixth in class, Therese finished in eighth overall, fifth in class. Once again lining up from the sixth row of the grid in race two, Lahlouh replicated her result from Saturday’s race to end the season with another eighth-place overall finish, while securing her fifth 992 Pro/Am top-5 result of the campaign.
Lahlouh arrived at Sonoma fifth in the 992 Pro/Am Porsche Sprint Challenge North America standings and with a realistic chance to move into fourth position, she was looking to get up to speed quickly in California.
Since the previous of the championship, Lahlouh made her European racing debut by competing in the Michelin 992 Endurance Cup at Spa-Francorchamps alongside three JDX Racing teammates. With the aim of using this additional experience to enhance her full-season campaign, Therese was keen to end her sprint racing season on a high.
On-track action at Sonoma began on Wednesday with Lahlouh using the additional test sessions to get up to speed at the challenging circuit. This was followed by further sessions on Thursday with an expanded group of drivers working on their car setup ahead of two races to follow over the course of the weekend.
Consistently contending for a top-5 position within class, Lahlouh maintained this speed in Friday’s final pair of practice sessions. Ending final practice in seventh position overall, fifth in the 992 Pro/Am class, the JDX Racing driver was showing good form at Sonoma.
Qualifying was held on Saturday morning and was set to be an important session with the lap times extremely close throughout the field. Lahlouh’s quickest time was set on her fifth lap of the session and saw her qualify in 11th position, sixth in the 992 Pro/Am class, but just half a second away from eighth position overall.
Lahlouh lined up on the sixth row of the grid for opening race of the weekend and made an excellent start, gaining two positions to move up to ninth overall while holding down sixth place in the 992 Pro/Am class. Running directly behind Rob Walker, Therese was applying pressure to the JTR Motorsports Engineering driver from the outset.
After the driver directly behind, Mark Boden, was issued a drive through penalty, Lahlouh now had a comfortable gap behind and could focus forward. The gap between Walker and Lahlouh remained at just half a second and the JDX Racing driver was aiming to force her rival into a mistake.
On lap seven, Therese set a new personal best time and she was now faster than the next three drivers ahead, while also closing into within two tenths of a second of Walker. Although her rival began to open out a small margin during the middle portion of the race, new fastest times on laps 13 and 16 saw Lahlouh cut to the gap to under a second.
Starting the final lap just half a second behind Walker, Lahlouh was just unable to make a move, however she finished race one of the weekend in ninth place overall, sixth in the 992 Pro/Am class, before being promoted to eighth overall, fifth in class following a post-race penalty issued to Jared Thomas.
For the final race of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America season, Lahlouh lined up 11th on the grid, sixth in the 992 Pro/Am class. Although it was a challenging initial start for Therese as she lost out to class rival Shane Leathers, she was quickly able to regain position and also overtake Joel Johnson to enter the overall top-10.
The next target was 992 Masters competitor Mark Boden and after applying pressure to her rival, Lahlouh moved ahead to gain ninth position overall, while remaining sixth in the 992 Pro/Am class.
Lahlouh then set her personal best lap of the race and she was now faster than the next two drivers ahead. The JDX Racing driver was pulling away from Boden and now catching Ruckus Racing driver Scott Blind for eighth position. On lap 12, the race entered its first full course yellow period with two cars requiring recovery and this led to a three-lap restart.
Lahlouh showed good speed in the closing stages of the race, however she was unable to gain any further on-track positions to end the final Porsche Sprint Challenge North America race of the season in ninth place overall, sixth in the 992 Pro/Am class. However, a post-race penalty assessed to Aaron Jeansonne saw Lahlouh promoted to fifth in class, a positive end to a hard-fought weekend.
Following these two strong results at Sonoma, Lahlouh sealed fifth position in the 992 Pro/Am class of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America standings. The JDX Racing driver has made superb progress during the course of the season, with her podium finish at Watkins Glen highlighting this.
Lahlouh ended the campaign as a consistent challenger for a top-5 position within class as she developed her racecraft in a highly competitive grid of drivers. She will now aim to complete her season with an appearance in the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America finale which takes place at Circuit of the Americas on the weekend of November 23rd/24th.
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