Lazare, Skeer To Continue See-Saw Race For Platinum Cup Title In Canada - Speedway Digest

The pendulum may continue to swing between young stars Jesse Lazare and Elliott Skeer in the race for the Platinum Cup drivers’ championship in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama on July 10-12 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Lazare, from Montreal, returns to home turf for Rounds 7 and 8 of the 2015 season, the only Canadian event in the championship. He leads the Platinum Cup standings with 84 points in the No. 21 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche.

Skeer, from Carlsbad, California, is second with 81 points in the No. 14 Wright Motorsports entry.

Round 7 will start at 11:25 a.m. (ET) Saturday, July 11. Round 8 will begin at 9:40 a.m. Sunday, July 12 on the fast, 10-turn, 2.459-mile (3.957 km) circuit. Both rounds are 45 minutes each.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama championship produces intense, exciting racing for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world’s most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The series is in its 11^th season in 2015.

Racing is divided into two classes – Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014 and 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the seventh, and current, generation of the street car, and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in Platinum and Gold classes. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.

The multi-class structure of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned series teaches drivers essential skills for an eventual career in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship or professional GT races worldwide.

Lazare and Skeer have swapped the points lead at the last two events in the series. Lazare, 18, opened his second season in the championship by sweeping Rounds 1 and 2 in mid-March at Sebring International Raceway.

But Skeer, 20, won Round 3 in mid-April at NOLA Motorsports Park in torrential rain to take the Platinum Cup lead. Round 4 was postponed by rain at NOLA and will be made up later this season.

Lazare bounced back at Watkins Glen to regain the championship lead with second- and fourth-place finishes. Skeer finished third in Round 5 but spun on the first lap of Round 6 in heavy rain and battled back to place ninth.

While the duel will continue this weekend at CTMP, Lazare may have an edge due to home-track advantage.

Lazare earned his first career victory last year at CTMP, the only track on the 2014 schedule where he had raced previously in his career. He converted that track knowledge into a pole and one victory.

The biggest threat to Lazare and Skeer sits in seventh in the Platinum Cup standings. Series veteran Angel Benitez Jr. swept Rounds 5 and 6 two weeks ago at Watkins Glen International in his first starts of the season in the No. 05 JDX Racing Porsche.

Venezuela native Benitez, who lives in Miami, won a Platinum Cup round in 2013 and a Gold Cup round in 2012 at CTMP en route to the Gold Cup championship.

Reigning Platinum Masters champion Kasey Kuhlman also is a prime contender for an overall podium finish. Kuhlman, from Cincinnati, is third in the overall standings with 72 points in the No. 15 Wright Motorsports entry and has three third-place finishes this season.

Kuhlman also is ruling the Platinum Masters class, leading by 28 points over Jay Patel on the power of four consecutive class victories entering this event.

Andrew Longe is another driver to watch at CTMP. Longe, from Naples, Florida, has produced a solid rookie season in the No. 47 Fall-Line Motorsports Porsche with two podium finishes and is fourth in Platinum Cup points with 60.

Series veteran Patel, from Crown Point, Indiana, is producing a steady season in Platinum Masters after moving to powerhouse team Kelly-Moss Motorsports this season. He has two podium finishes in Platinum Masters and is coming off a season-best finish of second in Round 6 at Watkins Glen.

Jeff Mosing has used metronomic consistency to vault to the top of the Gold Cup and Gold Masters standings. Mosing, from Austin, Texas, opened the season with a class win in Round 1 at Sebring and has followed with four consecutive second-place finishes. He leads the standings with 92 points in the No. 01 TOPP Racing Porsche.

David Ducote, from Houston, is second in the Gold Cup standings with 68 points and one victory in the No. 6 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche.

Another driver to watch is Sebastian Landy in the No. 49 Atlanta Motorsports Group Porsche. Landy, from Great Falls, Virginia, is making his first start since winning Round 2 at Sebring.

Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin Platinum Masters points leader Marco Cirone, Gold Cup points leader Orey Fidani and 2011 Gold Cup Canadian series champion Shaun McKaigue will dip their toes into the USA series by racing at home this weekend at CTMP.

Cirone, from Toronto, will drive in the Platinum and Platinum Masters class in the No. 88 Mark Motors Racing Porsche. Series rookie Fidani, from Woodbridge, Ontario, drives the No. 13 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche. McKaigue, from Gilford, Ontario, is bouncing back from a crash in the Canadian round last weekend at Calabogie Motorsports Park to drive his No. 34 Fiorano Racing Porsche at CTMP.

All drivers in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama compete in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car based on the street version of the current Porsche 911. The 3.8-liter power unit featured in the 911 GT3 Cup car produces 460 horsepower and a maximum engine speed of 8,500 rpm. The 911 GT3 Cup also includes a Porsche six-speed sequential gearbox with a mechanical slip differential, with an electropneumatic paddle shift system creating faster, more efficient gear changes.

The engines and transmissions of all the cars in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama are prepared and sealed by Porsche Motorsports North America, creating a level playing field on which driving talent and team setup skill prevail.

IMSA sanctions an eight-venue, 16-round schedule for the 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama. The series will run 12 of its 16 rounds during TUDOR Championship events.

Tight competition on great circuits in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama has launched many drivers and teams to success in higher levels of professional sports car racing over the last decade. Among those talented drivers are 2012 Platinum Cup champion Sean Johnston, a full-time competitor in 2013-14 in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, 2013 Platinum Cup champion Madison Snow, who completed a successful first GT Daytona season in the TUDOR Championship in 2014, and SportsCar Challenge standout Ashley Freiberg.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.