Entering the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup North America penultimate event this weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Dan Clarke’s path through the first 14 rounds wasn’t straightforward.

The team Clarke drove the first half of the season departed in July, leaving the British ex-Champ Car racer without a ride despite sitting seventh in the Pro class point standings. However, Clarke’s misfortune was quick to turn around before the ninth and 10th rounds at Road America the next month.

“I’ve known (Era Motorsport Team Owner) Kyle Tilley for a while,” Clarke explained.

“He lives here in Indianapolis, he’s English like me, and naturally, he’s part of the ‘racing expat fraternity’ in Indianapolis. A lot of people reached out, and a lot of different teams reached out.

“It was a unique experience in that my existing teammates and I had a really good working relationship, and we wanted to try to keep that together. I was looking for a program that worked for all of us and allowed us to have a minimum amount of disruption to what was already the halfway point of our season.

“Kyle was one team and obviously, the credentials of Era were impressive, not just for me, but for my teammates and my sponsors too. I think the timing was perfect for Era as well.”

The partnership was an instant hit, as Clarke landed on the podium on Sunday at Road America after a sixth-place finish the day prior. The team followed up with another podium and a top-five finish at Indianapolis last month. Clarke’s Era teammate Sabre Cook has also performed strongly, scoring three top tens in the four races that the Indianapolis-based team has contested.

“I enjoy the team I’m with, I enjoy the personalities,” said Clarke.

“I like that team environment and that challenge, whether it’s communication or organization or personalities. I like being in the middle of that. I liked getting good results for Era in the first race to do my bit and to keep the guys motivated, and also to remember that any operation in the beginning, while it’s new, has its difficulties, but it was a reason to keep going.”

Clarke – who also builds driving simulators for customers as a business between events – is now fifth in the Pro championship with four races remaining this season. And as he races amongst the front contenders, his goals for this weekend at Road Atlanta and the season finale at Circuit of The Americas are to qualify well to position himself strongly in the race.

“I just don’t seem to be able to say no to the challenge of the Carrera Cup series,” said Clarke, who has been racing for more than 30 years.

“It fits really nicely in my wheelhouse of being a fun car to drive, it’s really reliable, and you can really hustle it. I’m the first to admit I don’t ever want to step back from that challenge. We had a few handicaps this year with testing and stuff like that, but it doesn’t stop me from going out there and giving it my all. That’s why podiums feel like a victory.”