Shift Up Now Athlete Erika Hoffmann earned a fourth-place finish in the Silver Class during round 3 of the 2026 Pirelli GT4 America championship at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) on Sunday, April 26, 2026.
Hoffmann piloted the No. 73 Coverly Home Protection and Kaufmann de Suisse Montreal Porsche Cayman GT4 with temporary teammate Riley Dickinson, after a qualifying incident left her usual teammate Jack Parriott unable to participate in the race.
The field also included two other Shift Up Now Athletes, driving for Kellymoss in the Silver class: Loni Unser and Ashley Freiberg—both supported by Speedway Motors, PenFed Credit Union, Acumatica, Mobil1, Radius, and Pagid—driving the No. 24 “Be Your Own Hero” Porsche Cayman GT4.
The COTA weekend began with testing on Thursday and two official practice sessions on Friday. The 28-car field spent the time gathering data and dialing in their cars on the 3.426- mile, 20-turn permanent road course.
Qualifying began mid-day on Saturday with Unser behind the wheel of the No. 24 car. She got up to speed quickly and was running in fifth place overall when the session got red-flagged for the incident with Hoffmann’s teammate, Parriott. After a significant crash, the No. 73 chassis was unrepairable.
At first, it seemed that the team’s day was done. However, Connect Invest—one of the car’s sponsors—stepped up to help them compete. Then, when competing-team Nolasport agreed to loan their spare chassis to Kellymoss, the crew went to work. The incredible effort lasted until it was time to roll out to the grid. Hoffmann noted that they actually completely missed pre-grid, getting the car on track with just moments to spare before the race began.
In the meantime, Parriott wasn’t feeling up to competing, so Kellymoss GT3 driver (and GT4 driver coach) Dickinson agreed to fill in, with no testing or practice time. He would be behind the wheel first and—due to causing a red flag in qualifying—would start from the back of the grid.
Instead of the usual two one-hour races, the Lone Star Enduro at COTA was a single, three-hour race that awarded double points. The maximum time at the wheel is 50 minutes per stint per driver, with no double stints allowed.
As the Texas sun set, Unser rolled off the starting grid on the outside of row six. The field ran two-by-two down the front start to the green flag. They then fanned out to four-wide before heading up the hill into the tight first turn.
From her starting position on the outside, Unser got shuffled out wide and off the racing surface, costing her several positions.
Despite zero laps of practice time, Dickinson quickly got up to speed and began moving up through the field. When it came time to swap drivers at the end of the first hour, he had advanced the team to 12th overall.
Freiberg took over for the No. 24 car, running in 15th. Shortly after beginning her stint, a full- course caution for a stopped car on track bunched the field up for the restart. One hour and 45 minutes remained when the green flag flew for the field’s single-file restart.
Both Hoffmann and Freiberg drove clean stints, handing the car over to Dickinson and Unser in 9th and 11th, respectively. The team elected to have Dickinson complete as long of a final stint as allowed, and they cycled up to the lead of the race as other cars pitted.
Hoffmann took the wheel for her final stint running 4th in class (10th overall), with Freiberg just behind her, 5th in class (12th overall). With 20 minutes to go, one final yellow flag bunched the field together for the restart.
Freiberg was forced to retire the No. 24 with just a few laps remaining in the competition, but Hoffmann brought the No. 73 car across the finish line fourth in the Silver class, and 11th overall.
“What a roller coaster of a weekend,” said Hoffmann. “Most importantly, I’m very grateful that Jack is okay after his qualifying incident.
“It was an incredible effort from the team to get a new car prepared in under three hours. We went from thinking we wouldn’t race to fighting for a podium. Huge credit to Riley Dickinson for stepping into a completely new car at the last minute.
“Thank you to everyone at Kellymoss for their hard work, and to Connect Invest for stepping in and making the car swap possible. Also to Coverly Home Protection and Kaufmann de Suisse for their continued support.”
Next up, Hoffmann, Unser, Freiberg and fellow Shift Up Now Athlete Laura Hayes head to Florida for rounds four and five of the Pirelli GT4 America championship, at Sebring International Raceway on May 7-9, 2026.
