Shift Up Now Athlete Loni Unser’s first double-podium weekend included a second-place finish on Saturday, followed by a third place on Sunday in the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America presented by Yokohama at Road America on August 8-11, 2024.
Unser, who is supported by Hagerty and Mobil1, piloted the No. 4 Speedway Motors Cayman GT4 RS for Kellymoss Racing, amidst a 24-car Cayman field.
The penultimate event of the 2024 season began with practice on Thursday. Unser ran in the top five on the 14-turn, 4.048-mile road course under sunny skies. On Saturday morning, she made the most of her Yokohama tires to run a season-best qualifying session, posting the second-fastest time.
Later that day, the first of the weekend’s two sprint races began at 1:15pm CDT, and was scheduled for 35 minutes plus one lap. Unser was lined up on the outside of the front row during an unusually-long wait for the green flag. Once it flew, she made a strong start, but was immediately challenged by the car on the inside heading into turn one. When her competitor braked too late on cold tires, he went wide at the exit, allowing Unser to complete an over-under move and emerged holding on to her second-place position.
Before the end of the first lap, a full-course caution flag flew for an accident at the kink. A lengthy cleanup left just 17 minutes remaining. Unser had a clean restart and went unchallenged into turn one.
With seven minutes left in the race, the third-place car caught up and started putting on pressure for the second podium spot. Unser raced clean and held her position until two minutes remained, when another full-course caution emerged. Without time to go back to green-flag racing, Unser earned a second-place finish, her second of the season.
Race two began on Sunday at 10:30am CDT. Unser lined up in third, on the inside of the second row. She made a strong start and looked to make the pass for second as the field headed into turn one. She made the pass and then raced her competitor side-by-side into turn three. At the exit, she was in second place, but was forced to defend and brake offline.
Despite getting to her apex perfectly in turn five, the slower minimum speed from entering the corner on a defensive line opened the door into the tricky, blind uphill corner of turn six. When her competitor got a nose on the inside, Unser made a smart decision to cede position rather than risk both cars. This dropped her to third place, which she held until a full-course caution flew with 10 minutes remaining.
The race restarted with six minutes to go. Despite a clean restart, Unser was unable to challenge for second place. She took the checkered flag in third to earn her first back-to-back podium weekend in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America.
“I have learned so much from the entire Kellymoss crew,” said Unser. “And they have given me the ability to grow and learn every single weekend. I couldn’t have done this without their support. Having two podiums in one weekend was a huge win for me, and now we need to carry that momentum into the final rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge presented by Yokohama.”
Next up, Unser will head to Sonoma International Raceway for the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America presented by Yokohama season finale on September 27-29, 2024.
