Scott Noble is not due to race GT4 cars in 2022. The plan for the relatively new racer is to continue working with Jason Hart in a lower series until he is ready to step up to Pirelli GT4 America. But that plan took off, and when the pair scored second- and third-place finishes at the Sonoma Raceway season opener in the NOLASPORT Porsche Cayman GT4, it became even clearer that Noble might be ready for GT4 racing. If that wasn’t already clear, maybe winning the Pro-Am championship.
It was the second consecutive Pro-Am title for Hart, who won the title in 2021 with Matt Travis, and the second consecutive GT4 America Pro-Am title for NOLASPORT and Porsche as well. Hart and Noble won the title on the strength of two wins and four more podium finishes. Their nearest rivals for the title, Elliot Skeer and Adam Adelson in the Premier1 Racing Porsche, had another win and another podium, but also had three non-points finishes with Hart’s only non-point finish and Noble.
“I’m really happy. I can’t thank NOLASPORT enough,” said Noble, who joked with Hart that they would get matching leprechaun tattoos should they win the title. “There were times this year that I put the car in danger. They got it back; they took the car apart a few times. And we still made the podium, ended up winning the championship. It was just very difficult. We put a lot of time. And I appreciate the time that both NOLASPORT and Jason allowed me to develop as a driver. We had some good things, but I think in the end, we got it. We drove smart and safe. And in I think other drivers will respect the way we drive our cars.”
Scott Noble (left) and Jason Hart celebrate their title.
Not only does Noble credit NOLASPORT, but Hart for his career success at this level. Noble’s racing background begins in motocross, but in recent years he has been competing in the Spec Boxster; he also credits the Spec Boxster group at his home tracks in Texas, known as the Texas Tornados, for helping him develop as a driver, as well as Eagle’s Canyon Raceway in North Texas, where he received most of his instruction from to Hart.
“When I decided to start racing, I had a couple of coaches … that were like interviews — I wanted them out on the track. Jason just had this weird professional attitude of talking to me like a third grader, but really imparted to me all the technical skills I needed to develop to run safe, race fast, race smart. And he said if we protect the car and finish the races, then good things will happen.
Hart is celebrating his second straight Pro-Am title at NOLASPORT, in a season where a win for a rookie GT4 driver seems unlikely.
“The fact that we won a race this year is pretty special,” Hart said. “Seeing we’re not supposed to race GT4 cars this year, right? We’re supposed to make a lower class that continues to develop Scott to one day make a GT4 car. So winning at VIR is really special, where Scott had a little mishap in race one and then we came back and won race two, which is one of the reasons why we love the SRO format, right? You can have a bad race on Saturday, and you come back and win on Sunday. But winning at Sebring is also special; everybody wants to win at Sebring. This championship has kind of wound me up the last two months, I’ll be honest. For all the reasons we want this championship, it just means it’s a ton to have it.”
Noble isn’t sure what’s next for her yet, but she’s eager to continue her career education. He has learned a lot about what works in motocross that doesn’t work in sports cars.
“In motocross, you can drive hard, overdrive in the corner and you’ll lean the bike more and, and hit a berm. You can’t do that here. If you overdrive it in the corner, you’re going to come off. It’s a little more difficult me too, I was trying to find the entry speed, instead of learning how to get the exit speed. Jason taught me how to balance that. And NOLASPORT set up a great car where there we had a good balance going in and out and I think maybe they favored my style a little bit with the way they set up the car.
