Moorespeed driver Rob Ferriol finished on the Gold Cup podium for the fifth time this season in IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama competition, placing third on Friday at Watkins Glen International in the 45-minute race.
Ferriol started third in class after Friday morning’s qualifying and drove his No. 5 Moorespeed/GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 Cup into a battle for the lead by lap six.
Teammate Riley Dickinson qualified the No. 53 Moorespeed Porsche 911 GT3 Cup third overall and in the Platinum Cup class, but saw his day derailed by contact on the first lap.
“We’re really proud of Rob and the entire Moorespeed team for his podium finish today,” Moorespeed President David Moore said. “And we know Riley has the capacity to come back from a difficult race like he had today. We’ll be ready to go again tomorrow.”
Ferriol made his early charge to the front, but in the process overused his rear tires and finished the final laps conservatively to protect his podium finish.
“It feels good,” Ferriol said. “I obviously wanted to be higher up on the steps, but the last two times here I’ve missed the podium so I’m happy to be back up there tomorrow. It was certainly a nice, clean race for the Gold drivers. It was good to get out there and mix it up and trust that we were all going to bring it home still shiny.”
The damage to Dickinson’s Porsche from the early contact and ensuing run off-course left him an eventual five laps down to the leaders, scored in 18th place.
The Moorespeed duo will be back in action again on Saturday morning for the second round of the doubleheader, round eight in the championship. Dickinson starts fifth on Saturday based on his second-fastest lap in Friday’s qualifying. Ferriol will be the third Gold Cup car on the grid.
Saturday’s 45-minute race can be seen live on IMSA.tv at 9:20 a.m. EDT.
