The win extended De Angelis’ lead in the Platinum Cup USA standings to 59 points over Jeff Kingsley, who finished second
It was a familiar refrain in Saturday’s first race of a weekend doubleheader at Road America for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama, as 18-year-old Canadian Roman De Angelis started the No. 79 Kelly-Moss Road and Race Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car from the pole position and led every lap en route to the victory.
The event weekend combines both the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada series in the same events. De Angelis has been racing and dominating in both series this season, which he did again Saturday. It was his eighth win in nine USA races this season and was his eighth win in nine Canadian races also.
“I looked forward to actually racing,” said De Angelis, who kept the field at bay throughout a race that was slowed by full-course caution three times and finished under yellow. “Not a lot of green laps, so it was kind of difficult, but I guess I got some good practice on restarts. I screwed up the first one big time.
“I had to do some defending for Jeff (Kingsley), who did a great job at kind of leading me into a mistake and being right there before the green went. I fixed that for the second one and was just able to do the few laps we were given for this race. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully, it’s the same result but a bit more of a hectic and fun race for us.”
The win extended his lead in the Platinum Cup USA standings to 59 points over Jeff Kingsley, who finished second in the No. 16 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machine. In the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada Platinum Cup standings, he also leads Kingsley by 46 points. The Platinum Cup class features 911 GT3 Cup race cars built in 2017 or later.
As Kingsley is also pulling double duty in both series this season, he took home a pair of second-place trophies with his runner-up performance in the No. 16 JDX Racing Porsche. Ethan Simioni finished third on the road and third in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada class in the No. 40 Policaro Motorsport Porsche. The third-place performance matched Simioni’s best result of the season.
Alan Metni crossed the line fourth overall in the No. 99 Kelly-Moss/AM Motorsports, but finished third for his first overall Platinum Cup USA podium result. The defending Platinum Cup Masters champion also picked up the class victory in both USA and Canada. It was his fourth Platinum Masters USA victory of the season and was his second Platinum Masters Canada victory.
“Today was a lot of fun, and I’m really overwhelmed by how lucky I am to get to do this,” Metni said. “To drive these wonderful machines close to the limit of their performance. I want to thank my lovely wife and four daughters for putting up with how much time I’m traveling in order to do this and also my team for giving me a great and safe car and being the hardest training team in the paddock.”
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