Shift Up Now Athletes Ashley Freiberg and Sabré Cook hit the streets of Miami for round two of Porsche Carrera Cup North America at the Miami International Autodrome on May 2-4, 2025.
Freiberg piloted the No. 22 “Be Your Own Hero” Porsche Cup car for Kellymoss Racing, while Cook, a Hagerty-supported athlete, was behind the wheel of the No. 37 privé / PenFed Credit Union entry for JDX Racing.
Two practice sessions for the 28-car field took place on Friday afternoon and evening, followed by qualifying on Saturday. Then the two 40-minute sprint races, which were part of the supporting schedule for the Miami F1 main event, were held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
The initial practice on Friday marked Freiberg’s first time on the 3.363-mile, 19-turn Miami street circuit. She quickly got up to speed with a top ten in the first practice. Both Shift Up Now Athletes ran within the top 15 in the second practice session.
Saturday’s qualifying took place in the mid-day heat, creating slick track conditions. Each drivers’ fastest lap would set the grid for race one, and second-fastest lap would determine the race two lineup.
Freiberg earned a 12th-place spot for the first race, and her 10th-place position for the second race marked her first top-ten Porsche Carrera Cup qualifying. Cook qualified 14th for race one and 12th for race two. However, when the pole position qualifier failed to pass tech, both Freiberg and Cook moved up one spot for each race.
Later that afternoon, the field lined up for the start of the first 40-minute competition. Freiberg sat on the inside of row six with Cook directly behind her in row seven.
A late green flag flew as the pack ran side-by-side to start the race. When the car on the outside of row six spun, Freiberg and Cook avoided the incident and both moved into the top ten. But before the end of the second lap was complete, a full-course yellow flew to retrieve one of the cars collected in the incident.
Thirty minutes remained as the field lined up single file to restart. The first couple corners were clean and the Shift Up Now Athletes found themselves running side-by-side though several turns, then heading into 11.
As they approached the turn, Freiberg was putting pressure on the car ahead. As she attempted an over/under pass, she was tagged into a spin. While she was able to recover and
shuffle into the back of the field, unfortunately Cook was forced to retire her 992 due to damage.
Green-flag racing continued before a yellow flag emerged and closed up the pack. After a short cleanup period, the race resumed with 17 minutes remaining. It took Freiberg just a few laps to work her way back into the top 15. Once she made the pass for 14th, the gap to the car ahead was three seconds.
By the time the white flag flew, Freiberg had closed the gap and moved into 13th. And on the final lap, she gained two more position to finish 11th overall and ninth in class. However, post- race penalties assessed to other cars gave her another position and a top-ten finish overall, her second of the season.
Sunday morning dawned humid and overcast with the threat of rain for the start of race two. Freiberg took her place on the starting grid on the outside of row five, with Cook once again directly behind in row six.
At the drop of the green flag, cars fanned out four-wide as they headed for turn one. Despite everyone making it through cleanly, Freiberg was shuffled back to 10th in the melee.
On repeat from the day before, Cook and Freiberg once again ended up side-by-side through several corners. When Cook made the pass, Freiberg was forced to leave the door open to the inside for the car drafting Cook, causing her to lose two places.
When the third car in line made a late move, Freiberg was hit on the rear corner and tagged into a spin.
Once the chaos of the first few laps was over, it would be green-flag racing throughout the remainder of the race. Freiberg fought to gain back as many places as possible and fought her way back into the top 20, finishing 19th.
On the last lap of the race, Cook made a pass to claim an 11th-place finish, narrowly missing the top ten but earning her best finish of the season so far.
“I feel good about the weekend we had in Miami,” said Freiberg. “It was exciting to finish ninth in class on Saturday after driving up from the back of the pack. After I was hit, I was just grateful that my car was still drive-able to be able to continue the fight forward. Miami is such a fun track, and to be racing during the F1 event was truly a bucket list moment. I know I personally learned a ton as a driver, and am really excited to bring that to the next event!”
Next up, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series heads to Canada for round three at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 13-15, 2025.
