Shift Up Now Athlete Sabré Cook earned a pair of top-ten finishes in round four of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Championship presented by Only Golfers, alongside the IMSA Sahlin’s “Six Hours at the Glen,” at Watkins Glen International (WGI) on June 19-23, 2024.
Driving the No. 37 PenFed Credit Union 992 Porsche Carrera Cup Car for MDK Motorsports, and supported by Hagerty and Mobil1, Cook geared up for two practice sessions on Thursday before qualifying on Friday morning.
The 3.377-mile, 11-turn WGI race track was dry for both practice sessions, despite a heavy downpour between the first and second. Following her P8 finish in Montreal, Cook was in the top 15 in championship points and looking forward to qualifying.
On Friday, she immediately set her personal-best lap times of the weekend. When the session ran green the entire time, Cook and her competitors got a second run, and she had her sights set on matching her previous-best qualifying performance in Montreal. She used the opportunity to go even faster on her Yokohama tires, further lowering her personal-best and qualifying in the top ten for the first time in her Carrera Cup career with a fastest lap of 1:49.279.
The first of two 40-minute sprint races of the weekend took place on Friday at 4:20pm EDT. Cook was lined up P9 for the rolling start on a dry track, with dark clouds looming overhead. At the drop of the green flag, she got boxed in, emerging P10 as the field drove through the esses toward the bus stop.
Cook spent the next several laps working on the competitor ahead, forcing him to defend his position. As the pair raced into the toe of the boot, she made the move to the outside and pulled alongside in the brake zone. They ran side-by-side through the turn and up the hill to turn eight. The battle continued until Cook was on the inside at the off-camber lefthand turn in nine, and able to complete the pass.
Once clear of traffic, she began to set fast times, running top-five pace and closing the gap to the train of P3 through P8 cars ahead. When a full-course caution came out, the field was bunched up and Cook found herself once again in P9 with sights set on P8. After only a couple laps of green-flag racing, another caution emerged, forcing the field to finish the race behind the safety car. When a start-infraction penalty was assessed to one of the cars ahead, Cook finished race one in P8.
On Saturday morning, race two began at 11am EDT, once again on a dry track. Based on her second-fastest lap in qualifying, Cook would once again start P9. In a repeat of the previous day’s start, she once again got boxed in at turn one, and emerged in tenth place.
Just behind the top ten, two competitors made contact heading into turn two, causing a chain- reaction, multi-car accident and subsequently, a long clean-up period. When the track was clear, only 15 minutes remained in the race.
Cook spent the rest of the competition in a chain of cars from P6 to P14, focused forward but constantly monitoring the action in her mirrors, and managing both attack and defense simultaneously. When the checkered flag fell, she finished P10, earning her third consecutive top-ten finish.
"The past few races have shown a really positive trend," said Cook. "As I'm continuing to learn this series, and the car, I'm starting to gain some momentum in terms of overall performance each weekend, my out-right pace, and my results.
"I want to thank MDK Motorsports for giving me such a strong car, and all the sponsors who make it possible for me to compete in this Championship. I'm really looking forward to our next event at Road America, and I can't wait to continue the progress."
Cook and Porsche Carrera Cup North America are headed to Wisconsin for round five of the championship at Road America on August 2-4, 2024.
