Double points for De La Torre at COTA Finale

The final round of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas supporting the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix over the weekend.

With less track time than normal the 36-car field only had one 35-minute practice session on Friday before 30 minutes of qualifying on Saturday morning. Elias managed to put the #4 JDX-HCB Yachts Porsche into P9 in qualifying for the first race.

Starting in P9 Elias got a good start as they headed into the tight uphill turn one and halfway through the lap, he had moved into P8 but towards the end of the lap the safety car was deployed neutralising the race. The race resumed on lap 3 with Elias immediately moving into P7 but another safety car was required at the end of the lap. Racing resumed on lap 7 with only 12 minutes remaining and Elias was immediately in a tight battle for position being shuffled back to P9 and swapping positions several times over the lap eventually getting the better of the cars around him and slotting into P8 but unfortunately another incident at turn 12 required the safety car. With cars needing to be recovered the time ran out and the race finished under safety car with Elias in P8.

Starting again from P9 on Sunday Elias got another great start and moved up two positions as the field went through turns 1 & 2 but was nudged back to P8 at the end of the first lap. As the race unfolded over the next few laps Elias began closing the gap to sixth & seventh but on lap 12 was coming under pressure from the #8 in P9. On lap 13 the #8 passed Elias but he immediately fought back taking back the position but clipped the kerb at turn 9 sending him into a spin. After rejoining the circuit Elias had dropped to P14 until the final lap where he managed to move into P13 at the flag.

In the final Porsche Carrera Cup North America championship standings Elias finished in ninth overall.

The next race for Elias will be in Jerez, Spain where he will be racing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series World Finals with TR3 Racing.