Porsche Junior driver Laurin Heinrich (Germany) concluded his North American debut with a victory in the 311RS Motorsports No. 12 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. It was the young German’s first weekend of competition in the Porsche Carrera North America Presented by the Cayman Islands. He charged from pole position to the top step of the podium in the premier one-make championship’s final round held today at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The win in the second race of the weekend on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course in Braselton, Georgia by the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany champion was also the first win for 311RS Motorsports, one of the founding teams of the all-Porsche 911 GT3 Cup series in 2021.

The 2022 Celebration of Champions Presented by Visit Cayman Islands will be held tonight, recognizing champions in all three classes as well as the team entrant champion.

Pro class.
Second place overall in the 40-minute race went to Riley Dickinson (New Braunfels, Texas) in the No. 53 Kelly Moss Porsche. As Heinrich was in an invitational class, the Pro class win went to Dickinson. It was his second career win in the series, the first coming at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Porsche Sports Car Together Fest in round 14 of the 16-race championship. The performance awarded the second-year driver third place in the championship.

Parker Thompson (Canadian-native living in Indianapolis, Indiana) drove to third-place overall, second place in Pro class, behind the wheel of the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche. In combination with yesterday’s win, Thompson will be crowned the 2022 Pro class champion and the Al Holbert Cup awarded to the series’ overall champion.

Third place, with his highest finish in the series, was Dimitri Dimakos (Chicago, Illinois) in the No. 11 311RS Motorsport race car. It was the first time the 311RS Motorsports program has placed two cars on the Carrera Cup podium.

Pro-Am class.
Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) won the Pro-Am class race, as he did in race one yesterday, in the No. 65 Kelly Moss Porsche. However, the sweep of the weekend was not enough for the 2021 Pro-Am champion. Just as it did last year, the championship came down to Castro and Kelly Moss teammate Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) in the No. 99. While Castro did everything, he needed to win the title, so did Metni, who finished in third place to take the Drivers’ championship by a single point. Marco Cirone (Canada) placed the No. 84 Mark Motors Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car between the two title contenders to earn the runner-up spot on the weekend.

Am class.
Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio) opened the year with a victory, and he closes it the same way. In that time, he has captured a total of 10 wins in the class for drivers 57 years of age and older. The success led to his first championship in series. Chasing down the No. 43 MDK Motorsports entry was the Bob Mueller (Solana Beach, California) in the Goldcrest Motorsports No. 28. Third place went to John Goetz (Westcon, Connecticut) in the No. 57 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Goetz will finish in second place of the Am championship.

Kelly Moss locked their second Porsche Carrera Cup North America Entrants championship yesterday in round 15.

On Thursdays race Parker Thompson (Canadian-native living in Indianapolis, Indiana) drove a flawless race to earn his fifth win of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Presented by the Cayman Islands season today at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. His victory at the Braselton, Georgia-track moved the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car to within five points of the Pro class championship leader Kay van Berlo (native of the Netherlands studying in Miami, Florida) with one race remaining to be run. In the Pro-Am class, Efrin Castro (Dominican Republic) won his eighth race of the season on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit. It moved his No. 65 Kelly Moss Porsche to within nine points of leader and teammate Alan Metni (Austin, Texas) in the No. 99. The Am class also saw the title contenders finish one-two with John Goetz (Weston, Connecticut) piloting the No. 57 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to a second victory of the year just ahead of championship leader Mark Kvamme (Columbus, Ohio). Goetz trails the No. 43 MDK Motorsports machine by 11 points.

Kelly Moss wrestled home their second-consecutive Porsche Carrera Cup North America Entrants championship. Despite JDX adding 25 points to the team’s total raising it to 285 points, van Berlo’s second-place finish moved the Madison, Wisconsin-based Kelly-Moss operation out of reach with 325 points. 25 points are available for a win, 20 points for a second place in all classes.

Porsche Junior driver Laurin Heinrich (Germany) made his North American debut in the No. 12 311RS Motorsports Porsche. In the Invitational class, the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany champion won the overall pole position and lead from the green flag until the race’s midpoint when the car spun off into the uphill right hand turn one. It was unable to finish.

Overall Winner.
Laurin Heinrich, No. 12 311RS Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“It has always been a dream of mine to come here and race in North America. Now to get to come here at the end of my first season as a Porsche Junior is just an amazing experience. I knew I had all the tools with my team, 311RS Motorsports, to win the race. We were really unlucky yesterday, but the team did an amazing job to make the Deluxe Corporation Porsche really fast again. Today I knew it was really straight forward, I just needed to push as hard as I can again. That is what I did and in the end it was enough. It was a dream of mine to win a race in the U.S. Thank you to the team.”

Pro Class Winner.
Riley Dickinson, No. 53 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“What an unbelievable year for the series as a whole. I feel that Porsche Carrera Cup, from start to finish was, hands down the most entertaining championship that was on track throughout the course of the year. That is a testimony to everything Porsche Motorsport North America has done behind the scenes and at the forefront in making sure this championship is successful. If this is any indication of what years to come is going to look like it is great stuff. A huge thanks to everyone at Porsche for all their hard work. For me, a huge thank you to everyone at Kelly Moss at the track and back home at the shop. I can’t thank them enough. I am proud to represent them and my partners like Race for Childrens and Porsche Austin. I would not be able to do what I am able to do on the weekends without everyone, my friends and family, for their support. I am very much looking forward to what 2023 is going to bring.”

Pro-Am Class. Winner.
Efrin Castro, No. 65 Kelly Moss Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“We did everything we had to do. I want to give a big thanks to the team. They supported me so much this year. It was amazing working with Kelly Moss. It came down to the wire. I am a big believer in whose destiny it is going to win the championship is going to win it. I did everything possible. Alan [Metni] is a great guy and a great racer and I am very happy for his championship win. The race was a very tough race to compete. I found a rhythm and a pace and I kept my position and came home in first place. That is all I could have done.”

Am Class. Winner.
Mark Kvamme, No. 43 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
“I was very focused. Goetz is the guy I was racing against [in the championship]. I got a really good start and he, unfortunately, got stuck in the melee a little bit and got pushed down to P6. About two-thirds into the race I was just focused on that sticker [for a race win]. I had Mueller right behind me the whole time. He was driving really, really well. I would gap him, and he would close, and I would gap him, and he would close. I really just focused on hitting my points. I was praying for no yellows. It was really great race.”

Where to Watch.
All rounds of the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship can be found on the Porsche Motorsport North America TV presented by Deluxe: (https://www.youtube.com/c/PorscheMotorsportNorthAmerica).