Sebring International Raceway Porsche Carrera Cup North America - Round 1

Published on the 21st of March 2023 by McElrea Racing

So the time had finally come after 9 months of planning, where we finally got to embark on an extremely exciting phase of our history and launching our new Porsche Carrera Cup team in the US.

We had signed exciting young Aussie Tom Sargent back in October and Canadian single-seater hot-shot Thomas Nepveu in December. To avoid any confusion we have decided to rename the drivers after the national furry animal of their respective countries, so Thomas is ‘Beaver’ and Tom is ‘Wombat’!

We had tested at NOLA in Louisiana to shakedown the new team, crew, drivers and cars in February then two tests at Sebring in the weeks before the race ‘weekend’, so confident we were going to leave the weekend with Wombat in the top 3 of the championship and Beaver in or close to the top 10.

It was particularly appropriate that our first race weekend in the US should be as a support to the classic American sports car race, the 12 Hours of Sebring, which just happened to include MR’s Australian Carrera Cup champions, Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans.

Tom Sargent #17

2nd, 2nd - Porsche Carrera Cup North America 'Pro Class'

Thomas Nepveu #24

14th, 11th - Porsche Carrera Cup North America 'Pro Class'

Summary

What an amazing weekend – both drivers hit their target’s with Tom ‘Wombat’ Sargent sitting 2nd in the championship and Thomas ‘Beaver’ Nepveu 12th.

It was also quite surreal to see McElrea Racing sitting 2nd in the North American Teams Championship, right amongst the established heavy weights.

We are well aware that there is a long season ahead and we will need to use the same focus as always to stay near the front, but confident we are going to have a fun year!