Robichon and No. 19 CAG/Moorespeed Porsche GT3 Cup Team Cap Perfect Final-Four Stretch of Race Weekends in Dominating Style
Moorespeed and Zach Robichon completed their mission of closing out the final four doubleheader races on the 2018 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama schedule in dominating style with a convincing sweep of both the Thursday and Friday season-ending races at Road Atlanta in the No. 19 CAG/Moorespeed Porsche GT3 Cup.
After winning from the pole in Thursday’s first 45-minute sprint, Robichon and Moorespeed turned up the wick even more in Friday’s season finale. Robichon took control of the race from the pole at the drop of the green flag and led every lap to take the win with a comfortable 9.654-second margin of victory.
“It’s really satisfying to see the fruits of our labor as a team come together,” said Moorespeed President David Moore. “Zach is a special race car driver and just a great human being. We knew he and the team were capable of pulling this off and we proved it again today.”
Friday’s win was the eighth time in as many race starts together that Moorespeed and Robichon were first to the checkered flag in a special schedule of races that saw them join forces for the final four doubleheader events of the year.
“The deal with David and the guys from Moorespeed came together in late July,” Robichon said. “I had heard from a lot of guys how good the team was, and saw it firsthand in racing against them, so to be able to come together with them and accomplish what we did against this field is something to be very proud of. The guys deserve the results. They put in the work and they made it really easy for me.”
Robichon took over the No. 19 from fourth-year team driver Will Hardeman who stepped out of the Moorespeed ride at mid-season despite winning at the Sebring opener and moving off to the best season start of his career.
“Will was right there at that winning precipice when he had to step out of the car for family health reasons,” Moore said. “It was really difficult at the time because we knew we were right there. Will had already won a race and we had a great test at Watkins Glen. So, it really hurt when he had to step away, but we rebounded and found a young man who needed some help in getting seen down here from Canada. Porsche gave us some advice on possibly making a deal for Zach to come down and see if we couldn’t help the whole field step up the level of competition to get these guys ready for the next level. It was our goal to bring Zach in to go for race wins but also to help everyone in the field.”
Friday’s lesson for the competition was another flag-to-flag trounce by Moorespeed and Robichon.
“There was an incident at the start, so it sort of made it a shorter race,” Robichon said. “I knew I could push the whole race, so the first few laps under green were borderline qualifying laps. I had the good speed and just kind of kept it going. The car was fantastic. We improved it even more over Thursday and I think that showed in the results.”
Robichon partnered with Moorespeed for the season-ending IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup USA races while also winning the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama title back home in his native Canada.
In total, Robichon racked up an incredible tally of 18 Porsche GT3 Cup race wins in combined USA and Canada competition this season.
“It has been a crazy year,” Robichon said. “Just the number of race wins on its own is special, between Canada and the U.S. It’s safe to say I have never had so much fun as I have had this year racing. I just have to thank the people that surround me.”
Moorespeed returns to IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama competition in 2019 with Karting National Champion Riley Dickinson, who is making the step up to auto racing competition with a full Platinum Cup campaign.
