Lazare Knows Winning Is Straightest Route In Championship Charge

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Jesse Lazare is 19 points behind Platinum Cup leader Elliott Skeer with just four rounds remaining in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama season.

 
Lazare, 18, from Montreal, isn’t relying on a complicated matrix of scenarios or counting points as the taut, season-long championship fight with Skeer reaches its climax with back-to-back race weeks to close the season. Rounds 13 and 14 will take place Sept. 16-18 during Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, with Rounds 15 and 16 on Sept. 25-27 during Rennsport Reunion V at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
 
Jesse Lazare

Instead, Lazare is keeping it simple.

 
“I need to take these last four rounds like it’s my last race I’m ever going to drive a car,” Lazare said. “And I’m going to do whatever I can to win all four rounds. I know Skeer is not one to make a mistake. He’s great for that, so it’s going to be hard. But I’m going to do my best.”
 
Lazare’s best has been more than good enough this season in the No. 21 Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. He has won a series-high five rounds in his second season in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned Single-Make Series and his first year with reigning Platinum Cup Team Champions Kelly-Moss.
 
Former Canadian karting champion Lazare enjoyed a superb debut with Kelly-Moss by winning Rounds 1 and 2 in mid-March at Sebring International Raceway. But then he went winless through the next five rounds as the team worked to pinpoint and banish a persistent gremlin in the car.
 
The concern and frustration reached a peak in mid-July at his home track on the calendar, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) in Bowmanville, Ontario. He earned his first career victory in the series there last season in a dominant drive with his previous team. But he could only finish third and fourth this year at CTMP.
 
“We just couldn’t find the pace, and it was very frustrating,” Lazare said. “After I got the pole at Road America, I had butterflies all over. It was a great feeling. I knew just don’t make mistakes in the race, and we were good to bring back those two wins.”
 
Still, Lazare showed his talent by finishing in the top four in four of the five races during his dry spell, keeping him within seven points of Skeer entering Rounds 9 and 10 in early August at Road America.
 
Kelly-Moss found and fixed the problem with the car before the Road America rounds, and Lazare unleashed his best weekend of the season at the team’s home track by winning both races from the pole. He regained the Platinum Cup championship lead by three points over rival Skeer.
 
“Unfortunately we had a little problem with the car early in the season,” Lazare said. “By Road America, the team worked so hard, and we finally got it. We proved it with the two poles and the two wins.”
 
Kelly-Moss Motorsports Vice President Jeff Stone, left, and Jesse Lazare

That weekend refocused Lazare’s championship charge and boosted his confidence, which he admits ebbed and flowed as memories of his victories at the season opener at Sebring faded further into the rear-view mirror during the summer.

 
But the resolve of Lazare and the team was tested again after Road America during Round 11 late last month at VIRginia International Raceway.
 
Lazare’s Porsche had a gearbox problem at the start of Round 11, and his car stumbled off the line and was collected in an accident before it barely crossed the start-finish line under the green flag. His race was over, in a season-low 21st place.
 
But the veteran Kelly-Moss Motorsports crew fixed the gearbox with able assistance from Porsche, and the accident damage also was repaired. Lazare rebounded by finishing fourth in Round 12 in a stirring, skilled charge from the 20th starting position in his Garaga-sponsored Porsche.
 
He also capitalized on an extra shot at redemption, as the twice rained-out Round 4 closed a triple-header weekend in Virginia. Lazare beat Skeer in a tense, heads-up duel in that race, holding an advantage of just .188 of a second at the finish.
 
That victory kept Lazare in the hunt for his first Platinum Cup championship.
 
“We’re going to keep pushing and keep improving, and whatever comes, comes,” Lazare said. “I’m learning every time I get in the car and having a great time.”
 
For more information about the 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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