Laissez les bon temps rouler, the Cajun French translation of "let the good times roll", and that is what SRO America is about to do as we meet the championships in "The Big Easy", New Orleans, Louisiana, at NOLA Motorsports Park. This venue is a late substitution for the completed, but still to be safety proven, Ozarks Park in Missouri that was originally going to host this round of the championship for all SRO America classes. They needed a replacement track, and found it, here at NOLA. Maybe, just maybe, we will see SRO racing at Ozarks next year, in 2023. For now, settle back and enjoy this first day of racing in N'awlinz. We begin the program today with TC America and the touring cars. As always, the races are open to three classes. TCX, TC, and TCA. This is the first of two touring car events and of course, the races will both be 40 minutes in duration, with a single driver.
This is the first time TC America has been to NOLA Motorsports Park. 16 turns, 2 and 3/4 miles is the track layout, as we join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the booth, and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. A steep learning curve for the drivers and this track is a raceable facility. Stephen Cugliari is the polesitter. We have a grid of 34 cars. Jacob Ruud, he starts third but is not happy. He wants to win. He is hungry for victory and wants to taste the champagne. He is going to go for it. Colin Garrett is in his second round in TC America. Everyone wants to win in this class.
Jacob Ruud has won 12 of 16 races he has run in so far. The competition is really stepping up. Here we go. The safety car will duck too the pit lane and the classes are split for safety. Green flag! We're racing! Here we go. To the lead, Cugliari gets the jump down towards turn one and Jacob Ruud was caught out, trying to go past Colin Garrett. Kevin Boehm and Clay Williams racing each other in TC. TCA start, and it's Gresham Wagner and Carter Fartuch pushing, pushing, pushing. A 40 foot wide front straight. Cugliari has the lead as Garrett is really showing his stuff.
A twisty course here at NOLA with not much elevation chage apparently. We think in TCX, there will be more manufacturers coming, but the BMW M2 CS is the car to have. Steve Streimer wriggling through the technical esses. The TCA field is really mixing it up. Honda vs. Subaru vs. Mini. The Mini's have an updated front end to make them more like the road going Mini. It allows for more cooling. It is hot and sticky here on the bayou in New Orleans. The Honda teams have been speaking about their turbo timing being in a mess with the heat.
Kevin Boehm and Carter Fartuch both mentioned it. Spencer Bucknum is going for it and backt o the TC fight, we see Clay Williams monstering Kevin Boehm already. Boehm struggled during the summer events in the heat. Boehm swept the weekend at Sonoma Raceway last time out last month. The overflow system kicks in, look, on the Honda. Fuel overflow? Water? Hard to say. The Mini is gaining. He is very stable, is Clay Williams, in the Mini, as far as how the car handles. LAP Motorsports running this team. Pay attention to any liquid coming out of the back of that Honda.
We can see the battle in TCX. Lucas Catania is chasing Jacob Ruud already. The top four in TCX qualifying were separated by 23 hundredths of a second. Wow. Spencer Bucknum goes around Gresham Wagner for second place. Devin Anderson as well, running well. Spencer Bucknum's dad Jeff and grandfather Ronnie raced and Ronnie was a Honda Formula 1 driver. So, Gresham Wagner is challenging Spencer Bucknum, hard. Race clean. This is a very bumpy circuit as well and as we said, relatively flat. P.J. Groenke presses team mate Cristian Perocarpi as well, look. Carter Fartuch leads Gresham Wagner in TC America.
Devin Anderson passes Spencer Bucknum as well. The Honda's are more softly sprung, bouncing around over the bumps. This track has a soft underbelly under the pavement, very wavy and rippling. Into the braking zones, it is jarring for the cars and the drivers. It is a rodeo ride. We are nearly 1/4 through the motor race. These events are very rapid. No time to lollygag. Cugliari is doing a very good job fending off Colin Garrett. Garrett has a head of steam but cannot make the pass. He comes from a stock car racing background, running NASCAR Xfinity series last year at Daytona, Talladega, Michigan, Martinsville, and one other track.
The antilock brakes are something he is adjusting to. The tires are narrower on a stock car compared to a road racing tire. The sidewalls are lower profile for road racing than the tires on a stock car, with a lot more roll in the car while these touring cars are far more responsive. Kevin Boehm is leading in TC America. Boehm checks an Xcel spreadsheet to look at the data on his tires and on his fuel. The Pirelli P Zero tires fall off immediately with the front wheel drive. In Thursday and Friday Free Practice, the tires began to plateau. Clay Williams is pushing but can't quite make it. Boehm is a senior vehicle dynamics and testing driver at Honda R&D. He won the SCCA Runoffs many times and now, he is a champion in TCA and contended in TC last year.
Ken Fukuda is in the pit lane and has dropped like a stone to tenth spot. An unscheduled pit stop to be sure. Battle is on for the final step on the podium in TCX. Jacob Ruud is being monstered by Lucas Catania. He is applying the pressure. He has to hang onto the final podium place, does Ruud. Catania must be quicker. He has to be, and is a couple tenths up. Hard to find passing places here at NOLA. There are spots that can present a passing opportunity, but you have to commit to a move. You need confidence to run side by side and give some elbow room to your competitors as Carter Fartuch's margin over Gresham Wagner is growing.
Wow. Wagner runs a tad wide and is pushing like no tomorrow. Race Director Brian Till and the SRO broadcast crew checked out the track earlier in the weekend. This is only round three of the championship. Spencer Bucknum is being monstered now by Cristian Perocarpi, a graduation present, getting into racing, from his dad who is the team boss. Deep on the braes, side by side through turn two. Wow. This is a spectacular circuit. Spencer Bucknum eases away, runs wide, opens the door for Cristian Perocarpi. Perocarpi is opening a margin. 22 minutes on the board yet. Louis Perocarpi, Cristian's father and team boss knows the weakness of the Honda's. He believes the Mini team can catch the Honda boys.
They expect the Honda's might run into trouble. The Mini team does not have any weather issues. LAP Motorsports got lost over the tail end of 2021 but have found their feet in 2022 so far. LAP Motorsports also ran the L.A. Honda World team up to last year. So, we're halfway home in TC race one. Nicholas Barbato has retired from the motor race. Game over. Cugliari is in trouble too as Jacob Ruud and Colin Garrett have both passed. Ruud uncorked the fastest lap at 1:50.529 but that was laps ago. Traffic a factor. Cugliari was off the road and back on. Nicholas Barbato is indeed parked on the grass.
Ah. Barbato did go off the road and there's smoke and flames out the back of the car. The engine looks like it has gone bang. Cugliari's car is fine but he is eating the curbs, clobbering them. Could he have suspension damage? Catania passes Stephen Cugliari. The scrap is on too, look, between Cristian Perocarpi and Spencer Bucknum. Perocarpi is ahead of Bucknum. The Mini and the Honda are equal over the lap but he is having trouble on corner exit. Bucknum drops to fifth and Clay Williams is dropping down the TC running order as well, look. He tried making a move and it did not work.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have some tech issues with the streaming broadcast on SRO's end. Hoping to see how the end of the motor race shakes out here. Hang on, mate. We're in the dark. Cameras, audio? Anyone home? OK. Looks like the picture is OK. Sound is a wee bit iffy. C'est la vie. C'est la guerre. Pictures are up and running but the audio is still on the fritz. We follow Colin Harrison aboard the #2 Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic and now see the renewed battle for position at the top of the shop. Ruud it looks like is chasing down Streimer and the Subaru there, look, of Gresham Wagner wants a bite of the cherry as well.
Long straightaways and sweeping corners characterize this circuit here at NOLA. A fascinating track that yours truly is seeing for the first time. We have also lost the countdown clock for the race time. So it is difficult to tell where we are and how many minutes remain on the board. Ruud is on a Saturday cruise in TCX as he comes 'round to complete another lap of the motor race and now we see Kevin Boehm in the Honda Civic pushing hard. A pass here between a couple of the Hond'as and we have a Hyundai and BMW battle as well back in the pack. SRO tech team, have you folks got the sound issues fixed? Keep working on it.
One car still off the road in the grass. We can see Boehm on a Saturday drive as well and now, that is Carter Fartuch I believe, in one of the Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic coupes and he could be on his way to a class victory here before long. Fartuch clearing the traffic well in this sedan version of the Honda Civic. I believe it is a hatchback, truthfully. Ah. He is going to be passed by someone, one of the BMW's and he is pressing hard to come back as we look again at Kevin Boehm, who is also having a successful race.
He seems to be in control. Colin Gareett leads as the clock is back on the screen with just under seven minutes remaining. We seem to have lst timing and scoring and that is back now, but the audio is still out. Ryan, Calvin, are you blokes there? To the pit lane comes one of the Hyundai's. Ah. Darn it. Stream is intermittent. Let' see. We now follow another TCX BMW. That is the #44 of Colin Gareett, the race leader for Rooster Hall Racing in the black and silver car. It is black with silver trim on the top and the bottom. Garrett leading Jacob Ruud now by 1.8 seconds.
Mario Biundo in one of the other Honda's is having a good run of it chasing after one of the two Hyundai Elantra's from Bryan Herta Autosport. That is either Tyler Delgado or Branyon Tiner. In TCA, Gresham Wagner is chasing Careter Fartuch in the Subaru vs. Honda battle but it appears the Honda team will have this one sewn up as Wagner dives to the pit lane. Has the Subaru BRZ got a problem? The team appears to tell Gresham Wagner to shut the car off. In the meatime, this will be the last lap and Colin Garrett on his merry way in the TCX lead, he is on a Saturday drive as we said earlier.
Ah. Audio working again. Thanks, guys! So, Colin Garrett is in the pound seats. He just has to hit his marks. Maybe his driver coach Johann Schwarz is giving him some encouragement. He has done a lot of NASCAR racing. But with Rooster Hall Racing, Colin Garrett will break the duck and get his first TCX win in SRO America! Down the front straight, Colin Garrett is the winner at NOLA! In TC, Kevin Boehm will win in class and in TCA, we are going to see Carter Fartuch coming in for the victory. Win number two of the year for Skip Barber Racing School and Carter Fartuch! Wow.
Overall/TCX: #44 Colin Garrett Rooster Hall Racing BMW M2 CS Racing
TC: #9 Kevin Boehm Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R TC
TCA: #16 Carter Fartuch Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
Some major points swing with troubles for contenders in today's race which had a 30-car field. Some drivers are going to have to do all they can to pick up the pieces before tomorrow's action and tomorrow we will be looking to the skies for rain, as well as today. We are going to be ready for more action today. As I said at the opening, stay tuned. TC polesitter Kevin Boehm wins the race. Boehm knows he has a plan and executes on it. He wants a championship and knows it won't be easy. A happy racing driver indeed.
Carter Fartuch says the success of his Honda Civic Si has clearly been able to be successful on several types of race tracks and knows how quick the rival Subaru BRZ's are. This is a brand new car. It is the only one running in the world right now. So, a great race today and we will be set for tomorrow's race too. So long for now. See you for race two and there's plenty more action to come today yet. Stay with us.
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