Virginia International Raceway hosted the 2024 Sprint Cup finale on Saturday. The Sprint Cup is the in-series championship of the five sprint races at Long Beach, Laguna Seca, COTA, Road America and VIR and saw 14 different entries compete in the championship this season.
Through their second-place finish in the Virginia Sports Car Grand Prix, the #3 Porsche of Mayer Simspeed Performance clinched the 2024 VSCA Sprint Cup in GTP class.
In five starts, drivers Niclas Pedersen, Kyle Birnie and Jason Birnie garnered two wins, four top-fives and five top-tens for Mayer Simspeed Performance, with a total of 2108 points, putting runners-up the #111 HAC Racing Cadillac a distant second with a 142-point cushion.
The two Sprint Cup wins for the freshly baked Sprint Cup champions came at COTA and Road America, respectively, while the Teisendorf, Germany team also took second-place honors at VIR on Saturday.
Over the course of the 2024 Sprint Cup season, the team achieved a 3.2 average finishing position - a best in class over five races.
The worst finish of the season came at Long Beach - an eighth-place finish following a post-race penalty against the entry for an on-track incident.
Saturday’s VIR race winners, the #51 World of SimRacing Team Cadillac claimed third place in the final Sprint Cup standings.
Celebrating the Sprint Cup triumph, California’s Kyle Birnie, his brother Jason and Niclas Pedersen from Denmark were available for a championship interview.
Kyle Birnie: “It is great for us to win the Sprint Cup title. It definitely feels great to add another championship title to the team and to continue to grow off of the Endurance Cup championship we earned last year.”
“Also, this gives us great motivation for the future to continue and hopefully we can push to bring home all of the championships in a single year!”
Jason Birnie: “Yeah, this is a big accomplishment for the team, especially considering the trials and tribulations from last season. I’m really proud of how we came together and put together a consistent Sprint Cup season, especially considering how we started in Long Beach.”
“The first race at Long Beach put us behind the eight ball, but we knew we had the speed and just kept focus on the overall prize.”
Niclas Pedersen: “Yeah, it wasn’t always easy this season. Long Beach, like Jason said, and also Watkins Glen were difficult for us. At Long Beach, we got caught up in a traffic jam crash. But both times we bounced back the next race, so that was good.”
“I think staying out of trouble and not being overly aggressive early on in the races was important for us. Our focus was on just finding our groove and then putting on the pressure when it mattered.”
Kyle Birnie: “Last year I think we felt that we gave up the overall SportsCar Championship because of poor performance in the Sprint Cup races. So improving in the sprint races was a big push for us this season. We really focused on having clean races and just aimed to consistently be in the top-five, which obviously has paid off.”
“The level of competition was tough this year. The GTP class had a lot of really quick teams this year so our focus really needed to shift from speed, and just focus on staying clean and being consistent. This allowed us to achieve good results in most of the rounds and always be in contention for top-fives, podiums, and occasional wins.”
Jason Birnie: “I think, more than anything, consistency has been our motto all season. We focused on keeping the car clean and not worrying about the finishing position, just finishing the race.”
On the question of how the team plans on celebrating the Sprint Cup championship, the answers varied.
Jason Birnie: “We will celebrate for a bit here and then switch our attention to the overall championship. The job is not done yet!”
Kyle Birnie: “Yeah, we will celebrate when the time is correct. Right now, we are in the lead in the SportsCar Championship and Niclas (Pedersen) is in the lead in the driver's championship. So like Jason said, our work is not done until after the final two races. And we are five points behind in the Endurance Cup. I know it is probably a long shot, but it could happen. Our focus is on finishing the season strong in the overall SportsCar Championship and getting Niclas the driver's championship.”
Niclas Pedersen: “Well, with all due respect to Kyle and Jason, but I think we deserve a little celebration tonight, c'mon (laughing). I’m a Dane. We Danes know how to party (laughing). I think we'll have some drinks and a little celebration. But yeah, after that we’ll focus on the next race and the overall championship.”
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