For the first time in its short history, the Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America will be the featured support race of the world’s most popular motorsport series – the Miami International Autodrome hosting the championship in conjunction with the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.

The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has been acting as the open wheel championship’s primary support series since 1993. The series of all Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars will join F1 twice in 2023. The season will close with the US Grand Prix at The Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, October 20 – 22.

MIAMI FAST FACTS

Full Field. 40 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars are entered for Miami. Like Long Beach, this is full capacity for the event based on paddock space. With five more cars than last round, it is only one car short of the largest grid of the year, the Sebring opener, which enjoyed 41.

Pro class. 21, Pro-Am class. 10, Am class. 9.

14 race teams are represented across all three classes.

Point Leaders. Riley Dickinson, the winner of three of the four rounds held thus far, has an 18-point lead over Tom Sargent. Third in points is Will Martin, winner of round four, 31 back from the lead. Marco Cirone and Mark Kvamme lead Pro-Am and Am, respectively. Kellymoss tops the team standings, while Dickinson tops the Junior ranks.

Hard Rock. The Miami International Autodrome is a 3.362-mile, 19-turn road course circling Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Hometown Hero. Porsche Selected Driver Kay van Berlo will make his return to the series in Miami. The two-time series’ runner-up has moved into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD class driving for Kellymoss with Riley but, as a student at the University of Miami, will return to race in his adopted hometown behind the wheel of the No. 33 Accelerating Performance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the Pro class.

DR in the house. The Dominican Republic has two drivers entered: Jimmy Libre, driver of the No. 74 MDK Motorsports Porsche in the Pro class is from Santo Domingo. 2021 Pro-Am class champion Efrin Castro, piloting the No. 65 Kellymoss Porsche, is from Santiago.

Top Ten. Sabré Cook, driver of the No. 37 Deluxe Kellymoss Porsche and the first recipient of the Porsche Female Driver Development Program scholarship, has been named one of the ten finalists to receive the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship. The recipient, to be named later this year, will receive benefits worth more than $250,000 to assist them in competing in one of three IMSA-sanctioned series during the 2024 season.

Florida’s Own. Five drivers call Florida their full-time home, as do two race teams. Elias De La Torre (Key Largo), Michael McCarthy (Clearwater), Grant Talkie (Sarasota), Conor Flynn (Jacksonville), and Moisey Uretsky (Miami) are residents of the Sunshine State. Kay van Berlo is a temporary resident while studying at the University of Miami. Irish Mike’s Racing is based in Orlando, while BGB Motorsports is headquartered in Ormond Beach.

Racing for Children’s. Kellymoss drivers Riley Dickinson and Michael McCarthy participated in last weekend’s Porsche Spring Challenge North America by Yokohama weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. The pairing ran as unclassified entries to recognize Racing for Children’s, the program’s longtime partner. Dickinson and McCarthy joined in special activities off track supporting the Children’s of Alabama hospital, including the 13th annual gala dinner where each was assigned an honorary car chief for the event, a patient at Children’s of Alabama.

Up the Pyramid. In 2002, the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America ran in support of F1 in Miami. The move to Carrera Cup this year is a step up the Porsche Motorsport Pyramid North America to the premier one-make series.

All races air on the Peacock streaming app, IMSA.tv and PorscheCarreraCup.us and are archived at: https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica.

VAN BERLO RETURNS FOR CAMEO APPEARANCE IN MIAMI

He holds the series records for the most wins, poles, and fastest laps – now Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America stand-out Kay van Berlo is set to make a return cameo appearance this weekend in Miami.

Rounds five and six of the 2023 championship will be staged in conjunction with this weekend’s Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.

Van Berlo competed in the championship last season, finishing runner-up in the title chase for the second season in a row.

Across 2021 and 2022, van Berlo scored 13 victories, 10 poles, and 11 fastest laps for Kellymoss. The Miami-based Dutchman’s “day job” in 2023 is competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Kellymoss in the GTD class alongside Carrera Cup Pro-Am ace Alan Metni.

In Miami, van Berlo will race against Kellymoss for the first time – competing for Accelerating Performance as team-mate to Sebring Pro-Am race winner Moisey Uretsky.

“I’m just excited to be back in a Carrera Cup car. Having been out of the series for a couple of months, I now realize what a fun championship this is, and I can’t wait to get back,“ van Berlo said.

“The fact that it’s in Miami – it’s a big happening over here – and being part of it this weekend is pretty awesome. I can’t think of the last time I had a “home” race. It was probably in karting six or seven years ago but it will be awesome to go racing and still be able to sleep in my own bed.”

Van Berlo took on a coaching role for Uretsky at the Porche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America pre-season test at Sebring. Whatever advice he passed on obviously worked – his fellow Miami-based driver came away with victory in the Pro-Am class in the opening race of the season.

“I did some coaching with Moisey at the pre-season test and we stayed in touch and talked about the idea of running two cars. From a team perspective it is a huge help as you have more data to work with and can try different things on the cars,” van Berlo said.

“But at that stage, we thought the grid was going to be completely full, but then two weeks ago, a spot opened up, and here I am – I’m really looking forward to it – it was totally unexpected.”

For the first time in van Berlo’s time in the Carrera Cup championship, he will actually race against the Kellymoss team that he has had so much success with and continues to race with in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship today.

“That is certainly going to be interesting, and I’m curious to see what it is going to be like with a different group of people around me,” he said.

“It’s still the same car, so the basic principles will apply. However, since I haven’t been in a cup car for a while, I’m coming into this weekend without any expectations. The rest of the guys are two races into their championship battle and ready to push really hard.

“I’m just going into the weekend and will do whatever I need to do on track to make the best out of it, and hopefully, that will end up with a strong result.”

On the web. PorscheCarreraCup.us .

MIAMI SCHEDULE (all times US Eastern)

Friday, May 5.
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Practice 1
7:25 p.m. – 7:55 p.m. – Practice 2

Saturday, May 6.
10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. – Qualifying (all classes)
2:05 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. – Race 1 (40-minute race)

Sunday, May 7.
12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Race 2 (40-minute race)