ANNOUNCER: When the Porsche IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by
Yokohoma made its way to Laguna Seca, California, the
beauty of this series was showing itself way beyond just
the venues of the series.
Young talents like Madison Snow, Sean Johnston, and Bryce
Miller are racing at the front.
Racers with serious experience, like Fernando
Pena, Michael Mills, and Casey Coleman are keeping them
honest with their own competitive pace.
TOM HAACKER: I think the average age of the top five,
with the exception of Pena, is probably 21 years old.
Lot of young guns up at front, running really fast.
ANNOUNCER: It is not the moderate seaside geography,
but the Leguna Seca topography that makes a
visit here so exciting.
It is all the elements of the Porsche Cup
Challenge that do that.
PATRICK LONG: Down to the last seat and steering wheel in the
car, you can't change anything.
MICHAEL MILLS: For this series, you know within a
certain margin, you're going to be the strongest driver.
Whether you're the guy at the end, you're the one that wins,
you're the best driver.
ANNOUNCER: Racing Laguna Seca presents its own challenges.
FERNANDO PENA: At Laguna, you're going to have a sense
of going somewhere while you're driving the car.
You have a sense of going to a place.
It's very similar to rural America.
You're traveling through the track.
ANGEL BENITEZ: While the [INAUDIBLE]
is a really hard turn, I always remember that movement
from Alex [INAUDIBLE]
passing Brian [INAUDIBLE]
in IndyCar was pretty fun.
Now, I know he was crazy.
It's not as easy as it looks.
ANNOUNCER: Racing the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup type 997 on
Yokohoma racing tires makes it all work.
ANGEL BENITEZ: Well, the tire is really consistent.
They are really good tires.
I like them a lot.
TOM HAACKER: I think they actually get
better as we go along.
ANGEL BENITEZ: [INAUDIBLE]
go, go, go, go.
In Utah, I did my best time in the fourth session with the
same tires.
PATRICK LONG: The good of the tire is going to be in the
first three laps, and if you nail It, from your standpoint
of what you need to do as a driver, and the tires are
there, it's going to be hard to beat.
ANNOUNCER: It's all about car control and tire management.
Race one at Laguna started with Madison Snow in a
becoming customary P1 position, now branded
the BBS Pole 1.
But Snow was surrounded by his young friends Bryce Miller, in
his favorite colors yellow and black, and Sean Johnston in
team colors matching Madison's.
P4 on the grid was series experienced Dr. Pena
interested in keeping the young cats at bay.
With his opening moves, Bryce Miller declared he wanted the
win, and leading all the way was to be his
way to get that done.
But exuberance is not always the path to victory, and how
to lead a race is tougher than just being in front.
You no longer need to be fastest, just fast enough,
easier to say than do when given the situation.
So it came to Sean and Madison to say the race win would come
down to one of them and for Pena to fight
to stay in the fray.
The tension of lap after lap, bumper to bumper racing may
have been pulse jumping to the fans, but Sean and Madison
seemed calm and calculating in their racing and race craft.
Until traffic created a shift from
strategy to visceral emotion.
Sometimes you just have to trust your gut and go.
NARRATOR: The lead was protected and the first win in
Porsche IMSA GT3 Cup challenge by Yokohama
came to Sean Johnston.
Not came--
claimed.
And Sean claimed it was his first P1 ever.
SEAN JOHNSTON: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE] yeah.
Oh my god.
Oh!
NARRATOR: In gold class, Van Hal Benitas Jr. also seems to
combine strategy with passion in his racing.
His closest competition in these early season races is
Melanie Snow, she of experience and
her own planned pace.
Starting ahead of Van Hal, Snow's lead did not hold and
Benitas won again, in the process climbing seven spots
to finish ninth overall, as well as gold P1.
Making passes and mastering the confines and corkscrew of
Laguna Seca requires car control skills and trail
breaking techniques.
The learning curve is often bent.
Race two became a test of knowledge gained from race one
experience.
For Madison and Melanie Snow after both lost their pole
position starting advantage, and most of
all for Brice Miller.
There are defining moments in a young pro racer's career
that determine how far their talents and tenacity will take
them For Brice, his first such moment had arrived.
Race one was thrown away by his own admission.
What Miller did in race two would start to define his
racing character.
Race two qualifying is set by race one fastest laps.
Brice Miller was starting at distance from the front, P8.
On the front row were his two main protagonists, Madison
Snow and Sean Johnston.
26 laps lay ahead for Brice Miller to make something
happen, to make a racing statement.
Fast, focused, just patient enough to not repeat mistakes
and prove lessons were learned.
Brice jumped past five tough Porsche cup racers during the
race earning himself a P3 podium finish and the respect
of the racing veterans that were watching to see how the
young Brice Miller would respond.
Melony Snow is veteran enough to know what she had to do in
race two, to not finish behind Van Hal Benitas Jr. Again.
Starting third fastest in gold class she efficiently worked
her way past Van Hal, and then put pressure on him from the
front with her fast pace.
Catch me if you can became too much, and a late race off was
the result for Benitas.
[INAUDIBLE]
Snow in P1, what would Madison do in the platinum class?
Like [INAUDIBLE]
young Snow was starting from pole position as he had in
Laguna race one, earning him both platinum class
[INAUDIBLE]
pole awards.
But now it was time to prove he learned from his earlier
Laguna experience with Sean Johnston.
MALE VOICE (OVER RADIO): I think you and
Sean are real close.
NARRATOR: Madison popped out to a significant lead but Sean
is relentless.
MALE VOICE (OVER RADIO): Try to get him up here somewhere.
NARRATOR: And the pass for the lead came.
But just as a [INAUDIBLE]
yellow fell on the field, so Sean had to give back what was
not rightfully his.
The final restart was, the final lesson learned.
In race one Madison lost the race to a
restart pass by Sean.
This time it was Sean Johnston who missed this last green
flag and allowed Madison Snow to sustain.
MALE VOICE (OVER RADIO): Nice job, nice job buddy.
Nice job, it should be the checker.
NARRATOR: The 2012 season of Porsche IMSA GT3 Cup challenge
by Yokohama has already become the racing academy for the
next generation of sports car driving talent.
The Laguna Seca races proved knowledge is good, and the
lessons are sticking like Yokohama racing slicks.
Class is definitely in section in Porsche cup in the US.