It was a long week of racing at the Sonoma Raceway as MDK Motorsports and Motul USA backed driver Seth Lucas clawed his way to a pair of top-five results, including a podium finish on Sunday. In his debut with MDK, and at the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS program, Lucas co-drove his Porsche GT3 R 992 with Trenton Estep as the pair proved they can fight for race wins all season long.
After two days of series testing on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday provided another pair of opportunities to fine-tune their machinery, driver changes, and procedures for the qualifying and pair of races to kick start the 2023 season. With both Lucas and Estep getting a chance to pilot the #53, each in a 15-minute qualifying session, both drivers claimed the third fastest lap of their session and lined up on the inside of row three for Saturday and Sunday’s wheel-to-wheel racing.
It was an uneventful first race of the season as Seth Lucas took the green from the inside of row three, falling back one position in the opening laps. Driving until mid-race distance, Lucas handed the controls to Estep who drove to the checkered to cross the line fourth, the team’s first top-five result of the season.
Returning to the track Sunday for the mid-afternoon race, Estep would take the green flag as he quickly moved forward and found him in the second position. Contact with the leader in front of him resulted in a spin for his competitor as Estep inherited the lead before mid-race distance and the mandatory driver change. Pitting and changing to Lucas, the Estep Lucas pairing were one of the first Pro driver combinations to pit as they fell down the running order. Circulating and waiting for others to complete their mandatory stops, Lucas began to climb his way back up the charts and with 40 minutes to go, ran third in class. By the time the pit cycle had concluded, Lucas was back in the lead by just over three seconds to his closest competitor with 35 minutes remaining as he continued to cross the line in third for the first podium of the season for MDK Motorsports.
“It was a great weekend,” explained Lucas. “We had pace in qualifying to line up third for both races, finished fourth on Saturday, led the race Sunday with both Trenton and me, and improved on our results to finish third. All in all, it was a solid start to the season, and we are already ready for the next one.”
With the next event April 28-30 at NOLA Motorsports Park, Seth Lucas will have some exciting news via his social media pages later this week regarding an additional event added to his race calendar in 2023. Stay tuned to the Seth Lucas Racing social media pages for news, information, photos, and results from the entire 2023 season.
Seth Lucas would like to thank MDK Motorsports, Motul USA, and Porsche for their support as we continue the 2023 season.
2023 Schedule for Seth Lucas March 15-18 – Sebring Raceway – Sebring, Florida March 30-April 2 – Sonoma Raceway – Sonoma, California April 28-30 – NOLA Motorsports Park – New Orleans, Louisiana May 19-21 – Circuit of the Americas – Austin, Texas June 16-18 – Virginia International Raceway – Alton, Virginia June 22-25 – Watkins Glen International – Corning, New York August 18-20 – Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin September 22-24 – Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Florida October 5-7 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Indiana October 11-14 – Road Atlanta – Braselton, Georgia
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