Skeer Regains Platinum Cup Lead After Hard-Fought Win At VIR

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Elliott Skeer prevailed in a frantic, race-long duel with Angel Benitez Jr. to win Round 11 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama on Saturday, Aug. 22 at VIRginia International Raceway.

 
Skeer, from Carlsbad, California, also regained the lead in the Platinum Cup Drivers Championship with his fourth victory of the season in the No. 14 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Skeer leads Jesse Lazare, 171-154. It’s the largest gap of the season between the two young stars, the only drivers to lead the standings.
 
Lazare, from Montreal, entered this weekend with a three-point lead over Skeer but was scoreless after crash damage forced an end to his race right after the green flag flew at the start.
 
“Good points day for us, and I am really happy, ” Skeer said. “We just have to keep it up for tomorrow’s two races.”
 
Two rounds will take place Sunday on the 17-turn, 3.27-mile circuit – Round 12 and the rescheduled Round 4.
 
Michael Schein, from New York, ended up a season-best second in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche, 6.950 seconds behind Skeer. Lucas Catania, from Cazenovia, New York, earned his second consecutive third-place finish in the No. 26 NGT Motorsport Porsche.
 
Andrew Longe, from Naples, Florida, placed fourth in the No. 47 Fall-Line Motorsports Porsche. Santiago Creel, from Mexico City, rounded out the top five in the No. 60 Wright Motorsports Porsche.
 
Bill Peluchiwski, from Chicago, finished sixth in the No. 74 Kelly-Moss Motorsports entry and was the top Platinum Masters finisher.
 
Jeff Mosing, from Austin, Texas, padded his lead in the Gold Cup and Gold Masters class with a victory in the No. 01 TOPP Racing Porsche.
 
Elliott Skeer

Skeer led the entire race from pole, but his margin of victory of 6.950 seconds was deceptive. Benitez, from Miami, hung within a few tenths of a second of Skeer for most of the 45-minute race.

 
With one lap remaining, the gap between leader Skeer and chaser Benitez was .115 of a second. Each driver had points of superiority around the challenging circuit, setting up a compelling final dash for the checkered flag.
 
But Benitez was fighting a steering rack issue in his No. 05 JDX Racing Porsche for the entire race, and the problem bit him on the final lap when he went off track and nosed into the tire barrier in Turn 3, ending his race. Benitez, who was unhurt, was credited with 13th place.
 
Skeer drove away to victory. Again, it was a deceptively peaceful cruise to glory after a thrilling race.
 
The most dramatic and potentially decisive incident occurred right when the green flag flew to start the race.
 
Lazare’s car slowed after it would not upshift into gear as the field approached the starter’s stand. Longe was right behind Lazare and veered right to avoid hitting him. Longe’s car made contact with Platinum Masters points leader Kasey Kuhlman, sending Kuhlman’s No. 15 Wright Motorsports Porsche into the front straightaway wall. Lazare’s 911 GT3 Cup car also was collected in the accident, suffering heavy front-end damage after also hitting the front straightaway wall.
 
Kuhlman and Lazare were out of the race, credited with 20th and 21st place, respectively.
 
The ensuing thrilling duel between Skeer and Benitez wasn’t the only one-on-one battle for the podium. Schein and Catania stayed within tenths of a second of each other for most of the race.
 
“Lucas ran me clean,” Schein said. “We both ran clean. It was a good battle. I had to hit my marks every lap, every corner, just make sure we had no mistakes.”
 
Platinum Masters
 
Platinum Masters podium finishers (from left): David Baker, Bill Peluchiwski, Jay Patel

Peluchiwski capitalized on Kuhlman’s early exit to earn his first class victory of the season.

 
He avoided the chaos at the start but lost a few positions in the field. Once Peluchiwski passed the leading Gold Cup car of Mosing, he clicked off consistent laps to earn the victory.
 
Peluchiwski also earned the Yokohama Hard Charger Award for finishing sixth overall after starting 13th. The win came after Kelly-Moss Motorsports repaired Peluchiwski’s Porsche after he crashed during testing Thursday.
 
“I came off my incident in practice Thursday,” Peluchiwski said. “They put the car back together. It was a little bit difficult getting here, but it was great to cap it off with a victory. I’m really happy.”
 
Yokohama Hard Charger Award winner Bill Peluchiwski

Jay Patel, from Crown Point, Indiana, finished second in the No. 00 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche for his fourth podium finish of the season. Patel held on to second in the Platinum Masters standings, leading teammate Peluchiwski by one point.

 
Patel climbed to second after a late pass of David Baker, who ended up third in the No. 56 TOPP Racing Porsche. This was the second podium finish of the season for Baker, from Colleyville, Texas.
 
Gold Cup/Gold Masters
 
Gold Cup podium finishers (from left): Max Tullman, Jeff Mosing, Mark Llano

Mosing earned his fourth Gold Cup and sixth Gold Masters victories of the season, leading every lap from pole.

 
But much like winner Skeer in Platinum Cup, nothing was easy for Mosing in this race. Sebastian Landy, from Falls Church, Virginia, was in range of Mosing for the first 14 minutes of the race before suffering damage to his No. 49 Champ 1 Motorsport Porsche in a crash before the Esses.
 
That gave Mosing a comfortable lead, and he deftly avoided the crippled car of Will Hardeman after Hardeman rejoined the track after a crash in Turn 5 approximately halfway through the race.
 
Mosing drove to victory by 9.825 seconds over Mark Llano in the No. 22 NGT Motorsport Porsche. Llano, from Wellington, Florida, earned his third Gold Cup and Gold Masters podium finishes.
 
Gold Masters podium finishers (from left): Joe Catania, Jeff Mosing, Mark Llano

“Really was lucky at the start of the race that I was far back enough not to get involved with the incident at the start,” Mosing said. “I was really upset for Landy because I wanted he and I to put our heads down and have a good race. Unfortunately I think he got collected up at the top of the Esses.”

 
Mosing expanded his lead to 63 points over Joe Catania in Gold Cup and 54 points over Llano in Gold Masters.
 
Max Tullman, from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, celebrated his 18th birthday today by finishing third in his first series start in the No. 96 Tullman Walker Racing Porsche.
 
Catania, from Cazenovia, New York, finished third in Gold Masters in the No. 24 NGT Motorsport Porsche.
 
Up Next
 
Round 12 and the rescheduled Round 4 will take place Sunday, Aug. 23. Round 12 will start at 9:20 a.m. (ET), while Round 4 – rained out at NOLA Motorsports Park and Watkins Glen – is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. The races are 45 minutes each.
 
Live streaming of both races will be available at www.imsa.com. For live timing, visit scoring.imsa.com or the new IMSA mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows.
For live updates on all the action, follow @IMSALive on Twitter.
 
For more information about Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, visit www.gt3cupchallengeusa.com, follow hashtag #GT3USA @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.
Adam Sinclair
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