It was Donn Vickrey in his Porsche GT3 Cup car who managed to win Super Touring 1 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. After being disqualified for sound on Friday and a yellow flag violation on Saturday, Vickrey was forced to start from the back of the pack.
“Robert Kahn and I had to start toward the back even though we were the two fastest cars in the group,” Vickrey said. “We made our way through traffic fairly quickly. The only person that gave me a little bit of trouble, because he was just driving faster than me, was one of the other Porsche drivers. He put up a good fight, but I figure it’s such a long race I could take my time. Then, once I got by, it was a matter of just managing the car and the traffic.”
In his Porsche GT3 Cup car, he was able to finish the race nearly 10 seconds clear of Patrick Laughlin despite beginning to misfire toward the closing stages of the race. Patrick Laughlin was able to match his best performance of the weekend on Sunday to bring home a second-place trophy. After starting on the front row, Laughlin was able to stay out in front, until the charging Vickrey managed to pass him. Laughlin did however, set the second fastest time of the finishers in ST1. Martin Daszkal was able to complete the Porsche sweep of the ST1 podium in his Porsche GT3. A fifth and third respectively for Daszkal on Friday and Saturday secured him a third place starting position. Daszkal was one of the slower front-running cars, but he used the endurance aspect of the 45-minute race to his advantage.
