BRASELTON, GA (26 Sept. 2022) – Spending the 2022 IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by Visit Cayman Islands season coming to grips with a brand-new car, Irish Mike’s Racing is set to close the campaign with a doubleheader weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Craig Conway drives the No. 97 Diamond Suzuki Porsche 992 in the Pro-Am class, while Conor Flynn pilots the No. 95 FlynnCo Cars/ Chillout Systems Porsche 992. The series races in a pair of 40-minute races during the Motul Petit Le Mans weekend, at 5 p.m. on Thursday and 10:55 a.m. on Friday (all times ET).
Moving to the new Porsche 992 platform for the 2022 season, Irish Mikes Racing has shown continued progress, learning about the new Porsche while bettering their finishes at each two-race weekend.
“We excited to see 2022 coming to an end, and we’re real excited looking to 2023,” Flynn said. “It’s always nice to close it out at Road Atlanta – one of my favorite tracks in the country. It always makes for a happy ending to the season, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Conway is coming off a pair of 10th-place finishes in the Pro-Am class in the Porsche Together weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while Flynn placed 15th and 12th in the lead Porsche Pro category.
“I’ve been to Road Atlanta a lot, and I really like it,” Conway said. “I’ve done a few SCCA Run-Offs there back in the Nineties and I’ve done tons of IMSA races. So I don’t have to learn the track, so that’s a good thing heading into the weekend.”
Learning the Porsche 992 after campaigning the 991 has been a major transition, even tougher than the team anticipated.
“I’m preparing to figure out the 922 there, opposed to the older car,” Conway said. “Hopefully, we can keep doing what we’ve been doing the last few races, and keep getting faster and moving up the order. Moving from the 991 to the 992 has been very difficult. The newer car is harder to learn, finding how to get to the limit of the car. It’s been a very difficult transition, not only for the drivers, but the crew and everyone on the team. I can’t tell you why, but we’ve struggled. We were doing well with the 991, and now we’ve found ourselves near the back of the pack. We’ve been working on it as a team, learning all the new setup stuff, and finding out all that works on the new car. For the drivers, we’ve been learning where we can go and how far we can push it.”
Conway ended the 2021 campaign with back-to-back third-place finishes at Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.
Flynn also visited the podium last year at Road Atlanta, placing third in the opening race of the weekend.
“We’ve been learning a lot in terms of setup and development on our new 992s, which are totally different from what we’ve raced in the past,” Flynn said. “It’s been a hard learning curve for both drivers and crew, getting used to what works on the new car and what adjustments to make, because it behaves a lot differently from the 991. Each weekend has been like learning from scratch.”
The season finale opens with a pair of practices on Wednesday, at 9:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Qualifying begins at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
For live scoring and live streaming, please visit www.porschecarreracup.us.
