Australian Tom Sargent’s first season in Porsche Carrera Cup North America with McElrea Racing is set to continue into a second year. Five rounds have been completed in 2023 and the summer break is almost at an end.
He and the team sit second in the series with three rounds to go, plus he will have a yet to be announced GT Indianapolis drive in early October.
The team has just wrapped up two days of testing at the Circuit Of The Americas before Sargent went on to test a Mercedes with an undisclosed outfit at the Carolina Motorsport Park. While the 21-year-old from Young in NSW has the goal to progress to race GT in Porsches, the unexpected invite to drive the Mercedes was most welcome.
Sargent won the 2021 Australian Formula Ford Series and continued that winning form to take out the 2022 Hi Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour with Cameron Hill. He subsequently won the Porsche Australia Carrera Cup Championship before he signed with Andy McElrea and ventured off to the United States to tackle the US Porsche series.
Even though Carrera Cup is staged in several countries, the US has a few unique features, namely rolling starts and the use of ABS braking system.
“Two of my strengths were my standing starts and my braking, both of which I learnt during my time in Formula Ford. I am slowly adjusting to these changes, and I feel this will help me with the latter part of the season,” Sargent said.
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“Andy [McElrea] has put together a great US team in a short time, and I can’t believe the dedication and support they have given me, together with the Aussie-based McElrea team working in the background.”
Sargent and his family have been particularly impressed with the effort put in by McElrea Racing to establish a team in North America and organising Tom’s paperwork and contacts to establish him there. That included key Gold Coast-based engineers for data, training, initial tests and the race weekends.
Round 6 of the North American series will be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (September 15-17) followed by Laguna Seca (September 28-October 1) and Circuit Of The Americas (October 20-22).
The 2024 draft calendar is nearly done and again will cover most of the US’s major circuits, two F1 rounds, plus a much bigger TV deal.
At the five rounds and 10 races completed, Sargent has put together seven podium finishes and one pole position. A race win remains elusive, but Sargent is confident that he can achieve one in the remaining six races in his rookie year.
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