Scott Noble wasn’t supposed to be racing GT4 cars in 2022. The plan for the relatively new racer was to continue working with Jason Hart in a a lower series until he was ready to step up to Pirelli GT4 America. But that plan accelerated, and when the pair scored second- and third-place finishes at the Sonoma Raceway season opener in the NOLASPORT Porsche Cayman GT4, it was becoming more clear that perhaps Noble was indeed ready for GT4 racing. If that didn’t make it obvious, perhaps winning the Pro-Am championship did.

It was the second consecutive Pro-Am title for Hart, having won the title in 2021 with Matt Travis, and the second consecutive GT4 America Pro-Am titles for NOLASPORT and Porsche as well. Hart and Noble won the title on the strength of two victories and four other podium finishes. Their closest competitors for the title, Elliot Skeer and Adam Adelson in the Premier1 Racing Porsche, had one more win and one more podium, but also three non-points finishes to Hart and Noble’s single no-point finish.

“I’m really happy. I can’t thank NOLASPORT enough,” said Noble, who had joked with Hart that they would get matching leprechaun tattoos should they win the title. “There were times during this year when I put the car at risk. They got it back together; they piecemealed the car together more than once. And we still made the podium, ended up winning the championship. It’s just been a lot of hard work. We put in a lot of time. And I appreciate the time that both NOLASPORT and Jason allowed me to be able to develop as a driver. We had some good things go our way, but I think in the end, we earned it. We drove smart and safe. And I think the other drivers will respect the way that we drive our cars.”

Noble credits not only NOLASPORT, but Hart for his success in racing at this level. Noble’s racing background begins in motocross, but in recent years he has been competing in Spec Boxster; he also credits the Spec Boxster group at his home tracks in Texas, known as the Texas Tornados, in helping him develop as a driver, as well as Eagle’s Canyon Raceway in North Texas, where he received much of his coaching from Hart.

“When I decided to start racing, I had a few coaches … that was more like interviews — I’d have them come out to the track. Jason just had that uncanny professional attitude of talking to me like a third grader, but really being able to get across to me all the technical skills that I needed to develop to be able to race safely, race fast, race smart. And he said if we protect the car and finish races, then good things will happen.”

Hart is celebrating his second-consecutive Pro-Am title with NOLASPORT, in a season where a victory didn’t even seem likely with a rookie GT4 driver.

“The fact that we won a race this year was was pretty special,” Hart declares. “Seeing as we were not supposed to be racing GT4 cars this year, right? We were supposed to be doing a lower class continuing to develop Scott to one day do GT4 cars. So the win at VIR was 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 the win at Sebring was also special; everybody wants to win at Sebring. This championship has had me pretty wound up for the last couple of months, I’ll be honest. For all the reasons we wanted this championship, it just means a ton to have it.”

Noble isn’t sure yet what’s next for him, but he’s eager to continue his racing education. He’s already learned much about what works in motocross doesn’t necessarily work in sports cars.

“In motocross, you can drive really hard in, overdrive into the corner and you just lean the bike more and, and hit a berm. You can’t do that here. If you overdrive it into the corner, you go off. I still struggle with that a little bit, trying to find speed going in, rather than learning how to get the speed coming out. Jason taught me how to balance that. And NOLASPORT set up a great car to where we had good balance coming in and coming out and I think they probably favored my style a little bit the way they set up the car.”