Dickinson Third-Straight Porsche Carrera Cup Victory for Kellymoss

Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America points leader Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) brought home his third-straight Pro class victory today as part of the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The first of two 40-minute feature events for the all-Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car series saw the 20-year-old Texan hold off early pressure to claim a pole-to-checkered flag victory in the No. 53 Kellymoss-prepared Porsche. Race 2 will close the 48th weekend of the Grand Prix of Long Beach at 7:20 p.m. ET/4:20 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 16.

• Pro class

  • Race Riley Dickinson (No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).

• Pro-Am class

  • Race Alan Metni (No. 99 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).

• Am class

  • Race Mark Kvamme (No. 42 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup)

Highlights.

• Green to Checker. This was the third straight race Dickinson has led start-to-finish.

• Four-Timer. Dickinson now has four victories in his career. He has started all 35 races in the history of the premier one-make series.

• Staying close. Series rookies Tom Sargent (No. 17 McElrea Racing) has finished second to Dickinson in all three of his North American race starts.

• Metni on top. Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) won his first race of the 2023 season. The 2022 Pro-Am class champion was elevated to the victory after race officials declared a start line infringement for Toronto’s Marco Cirone.

• No Amateur. Mark Kvamme won his second Am class race of the year in the MDK Motorsports car. The 2022 class champion will start from the class pole position in Race 2.

• Under Yellow. Unlike the season-opening races, round three saw two separate caution periods, the second ending the race under yellow. The first incident involved John Goetz (Weston, Connecticut) when the No. 57 Wright Motorsports Porsche was pushed into the flower bed at the famous fountain corner on lap one. He was unhurt but the car was not able to continue. The second incident involved Michael McCarthy (Clearwater, Florida), Travis Wiley (Austin, Texas) and Jason Hart (Flower Mound, Texas) with eight minutes remaining in the race. McCarthy’s No. 7 Kellymoss Porsche and Wiley’s No. 77 Topp Racing-entered machine made contact. Wiley continued but the No. 7 was turned backwards against the wall with rear end damage. Hart rounded the corner and made heavy head-on contact with the green and white Porsche. All involved were evaluated and released from the infield care center.

• All races air on the Peacock streaming app, on IMSA.tv and at PorscheCarreraCup.us before being archived on Porsche Motorsport North America TV: (https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica).

• Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America: www.PorscheCarreraCup.us .

• Next Race 2. The Grand Prix of Long Beach. Streets of Long Beach, California. 7:20 p.m. ET/4:20 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 16.

Quotes.

Riley Dickinson, No. 53 Kellymoss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Winner, Race 1.

“A bit tricky at the beginning. We fought a bit of understeer with the car. I don’t think we were expecting the track conditions to be what they were. The [first] full course caution helped us quite a bit to get some temperature in the front tires which is what I needed. When we went back green, we put together a few good laps and grew a gap. The full course caution at the end of the race with my teammate Mike McCarthy was a disappointment. I feel bad for him, and I feel bad for the team. Looking forward to the race tomorrow. It is going to be a little different starting P2 [second starting position] but I am looking forward to building off what we had today.”

Marco Cirone, No. 82 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Pro-Am Winner, Race 1.

“I am thankful that I have Parker [Thompson, 2022 Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America champion] and my teammate Grant Talkie here. We went through a ton of video as I have never been here before. They accelerated the learning curve very quickly for me. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do so well. I want to thank Parker, the team ACI, Mark Motors and of course Porsche Motorsport and Michelin. I want to try and do the exact same thing tomorrow.”

Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Am Winner, Race 1.

“Long Beach is just about survival. Those cement walls are very, very close. That first lap, I just wanted to survive, and I barely survived. I got hit from behind and I rear ended the guy in front of me who rear-ended the guy in front of him. It was a big old stack up at the Fountain. As the old expression goes, in order to finish first, you first must finish. I was just focused on that. My sponsor, Racing to End Alzheimer’s is local, they are in Palos Verdes  so it is big to win for the sponsors. Obviously, I would like to do a double-win. I am further-up in the pack [the starting grid] tomorrow,  so we are just going to try and survive and win the race.”