SEBRING, Florida (March 13, 2021) – TPC Racing drivers Pedro Torres and Rob Lorndale completed the opening weekend of the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama doubleheader on Friday and Saturday at Sebring International Raceway, the opener of the Championship.

Both Torres and Lorndale competed in the Gold Class for 991.1-generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars on the legendary 17-turn, 3.74-mile race track in a pair of 40-minute timed races, with each driver making their professional racing debuts and leaving with a host of positives.

“It really was a very successful weekend,” Director of Race Operations Harris Levitas said. “Our TPC Racing team worked extremely hard all week. We’ve been here for a week and a half now, and the guys have been on all the cars, nut and bolting everything and working their butts off. Rob and Pedro, my hat’s off to them. The guys drove extremely well and worked hard. I look to see them at the front of the field later this year. Both took a great approach to the weekend. We’re very happy with what USAC has put together, It’s a wonderful race series here. It’s a great environment to be in and it’s very encouraging.”

Torres showed promise and speed throughout the weekend. An unfortunate series of events prevented a better result for Torres in both races. During Friday’s race, Torres was running third in the Gold Class and near the top-five overall under a full-course caution when the car in front kicked up debris. That debris punctured the radiator in the No. 16 Stoneleaf/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, cutting his run short.

Having qualified for Saturday’s race second in the class, Torres began in the hunt for a podium but debris on the track led to a cut tire and contact with the wall on lap three, ending his day early once again. Despite the hard luck, Torres leaves encouraged.

“It was a big step from our test weekend two weeks ago,” Torres said. “I was able to get more comfortable with the car. I’m starting to find the pace where I want to be, working with Spencer Pumpelly as my coach. The car felt fantastic, the guys did a great job. I had two unfortunate events on track and I guess that happens. I got lucky, even though that tire blew out, I had enough spins before hitting the wall. It could have been worse. I’m excited for the rest of the season, excited to learn more, get faster, and hopefully start winning.”

Lorndale spent the weekend improving in each session, walking away with a pair of sixth-place finishes in the No. 6 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. With a handful of years of SCCA Club Racing under his belt, this is also Lorndale’s first venture into the professional ranks.

“This is a tough series, and this is my first time in a one-make series,” Lorndale said. “It is a lot of very fast racers, and I am going to have to work on my game throughout the season. We’ve got a great team. Mike and Harris Levitas have put together a great crew. The cars are terrific. We’ve got a great coach in Spencer Pumpelly and he’s getting Pedro and me where we need to go. Because of COVID, I didn’t race at all last year so I’m a little bit rusty as far as race craft goes. I took that into account and I just wanted to use this first weekend to get used to wheel to wheel racing. I wanted to be competitive, have a good time, and just feel like I drove a solid race from a race craft standpoint and from a driving standpoint. I feel good about both.”

Torres, Lorndale and the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America return to action with a doubleheader April 16-18 at Barber Motorsports Park in conjunction with the IndyCar Series event that same weekend.

Noteworthy: TPC Racing will be back in action later this week in IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring week. Vernon McClure’s brand-new 992-generation No. 10 Main Street Homes/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup will run in the Pro-Am class for the latest generation of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars.