Race two of the weekend is ready to get underway for TC America here at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Lucas Catania broke through in TCX while Clay Williams and Devin Anderson won in TC and TCA. We are ready to race once again at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in the capital of Texas. Colin Garrett and Maddie Aust had sensational performances in yesterday’s race, Aust, a recent high school graduate. We have seen some changing conditions here at COTA. Devin Anderson controlled the race in the TC class yesterday. The weather is what we will be looking at. We had changing weather during the second GT America race.
What will the conditions be for the touring cars? That is the question. Some small sprinkles at this moment. Maddie Aust has run in the rain in open wheel racing and the “Mad Dog” is ready to send it. Stay in front and control the race, that would be the ideal plan. Daijiro Shihara and Kyle Loh will be the ones to watch in TCX as well. Kyle Loh finished fifth yesterday. We have a mix of platforms between front and rear wheel drive. Nick Roberts, from Dallas, Texas, is making his TC America debut. He is driving the #29 Fast Track Racing BMW M2 CS Racing in a third car for Fast Track Racing.
Another debutant in this race is Jeremiah Burton. No relation to Jeff Burton who races in GT World Challenge America. But Jeremiah Burton will be driving the #34 Honda Civic Type R TC as the second of three cars entered by the Skip Barber Racing School. We have a field of 30 cars ready to race. There is plenty of room for side-by-side racing here at COTA and the track conditions are surely improving. Sensational action yesterday in race one.
We have many contenders who will be in the fight in today’s race. Cooper Broll got into racing after getting his driver’s license and realized he liked driving, went into driving, autocross, and training to become a race car driver with Skip Barber Racing School. He is learning and having fun doing it, gaining experience. He has been taught the approach of how to race and drive safely. Having fun is another part of what it is all about. Skip Barber Racing school is the gold standard of racing schools. They train NASCAR stars to go road racing and have had successful drivers like A.J. Allmendinger and Juan Pablo Montoya come through their school.
Before the race even begins, former touring car champion Michael Hurczyn is in trouble. VGRT are working on the car and they might not make the start. I don’t think so. Safety car lights off. Three distinct starts for each class. TCX followed by TC and TCA. Maddie Aust leads the field to green for the first time. Green flag and away we go! Aust into the lead of the race and Colin Garrett is trying to be patient but going for it.
Here come the TC and TCA fields. P.J. Groenke in the Mini going for the lead and here comes Spencer Bucknum as well, look. William Lambros into third spot. Through the high speed esses for the first time, modeled loosely after the Maggots/Becketts esses at Silverstone in England. Groenke to the lead as we said. Groenke, the former champion in the TCB class of SRO America touring cars. To the hairpin for the first time, Colin Garrett now leads Maddie Aust and here comes Kyle Loh and Joseph Catania as well. Garrett has more bite off turn one and goes to the inside.
Garrett leads the motor race for Rooster Hall Racing. Aust settling in behind Garrett. Loh is in a scrap with Adam Gleason and Lucas Catania along with Kenny Schmied. Aust using lots of curbing on the entrance to turn 19. She has the track time here at COTA. Loh started third and he is now making inroads on the BMW’s. Adam Gleason up to fourth, Lucas Catania, fifth, and Kenny Schmied in sixth. Groenke got shuffled back and has some trouble. Bucknum and Anderson going side by side. Three wins for Anderson and two to Bucknum so far this year.
Putting everything in perspective. That is what Spencer Bucknum is doing. He now has a chance to drag race down the ¾ mile long backstretch. The Honda has the power and Anderson is good on the brakes aboard the Subaru BRZ. Bucknum comes right back into the fight and here comes Alain Lauziere. His calling card is running an orange Mini. He is the second car on the Mini JCW Team this weekend. So, they have an all-Canadian driving team this weekend here at Austin. Louis Perocarpi, team boss, says that this could be the last racing weekend for Alain Lauziere this year.
Kris Valdez is in a spot of bother and dropping like a stone down the race order. Trouble early doors for the #11 DRS Honda Civic Type R-TC. Lambros in the Honda leads Anderson in the Subaru. At the front, Kyle Loh has caught Maddie Aust as Adam Gleason and Lucas Catania battle behind, probing the defenses, going for it. The top six are extremely evenly matched thus far in the race. The track conditions have dried out rapidly since the end of the GT America race. Colin Garrett showing the way.
Garrett will be sharing with Johann Schwartz immediately after this race in race two for Pirelli GT4 America. Trust me, you will want to stay tuned for that one. Aust is not afraid to lead this motor race as we have seen. Rooster Hall Racing have Command Sergeant Major Gretchen Evans embedded with them in the pit lane. It is commendable for them to be working with and helping our combat and military veterans. Adam Gleason, another driver, who is learning a lot. Fast Track Racing and team boss Toby Grahovec are running well.
They are based in Dallas, Texas, and have a lot of drivers from the Dallas area in the races this weekend. Catania makes a bold but quality move on Adam Gleason and Gleason gave him enough room. Catania could be struggling for straightaway speed as we see one of the Honda’s in the pit lane. Recall yesterday, Lucas Catania had oil smoke pouring out of the car after a differential change. Kenny Schmied has now entered the picture and is monstering Lucas Catania. Maddie Aust, too, she is beginning to push with half an hour of racing left on the board.
That was Kris Valdez in the Honda in the pit lane, and we could be seeing him switching to dry weather Pirelli tires after starting the race on wets. We very well could have seen a crewman down in the lane with a rattle gun at the ready. Maybe it was a cut down tire. Colin Garrett has gapped Maddie Aust and so she needs to begin pushing. Colin Garrett won seven races in 2022 and had 11 podiums coming up just short of Jacob Ruud for the title. Garrett won the final four races last year. There are new challengers this year and Garrett has earned many podiums early in the season.
The series has been working hard on the Balance of Performance in TCX between BMW and Honda. Clay Williams leads in TC ahead of both Cristian Perocarpi and Celso Neto. So, Mini 1-2 followed by Honda. Neto comes from a great pedigree of racing touring cars in Brazil. He has been on pole the last few race weekends. So, at the front it is Garrett, Aust, Loh, Gleason, Catania, and Schmied, the top six. Maddie Aust has done very well and Colin Garrett, he was a former track champion at South Boston Speedway in Virginia and raced in both of the levels below the NASCAR Cup Series in both the truck series and the Xfinity Series with some regularity in recent years. Road racing and particularly touring car racing now seem to be his cup of tea, his calling card.
Maddie Aust is following in his tire tracks. The Honda seems to have the handling prowess while the BMW has the straightaway speed. The gaps are chopping and changing in TCA. Devin Anderson is running down Will Lambros. He is closing on Lambros hand over fist. Spencer Bucknum’s consistency continues. He is really showing what he has and is very consistent. He wants to win a championship. He is learning the ropes, with Ryan Eversley coaching the Honda drivers. Gleason given room by Loh but can’t quite make the pass stick.
Gleason is originally from Indiana, but now lives in Dallas, Texas. Colin Garrett said he has been sick this weekend and feels far better today than he did yesterday. Colin Garrett must maximize the weekend. Horses for courses, circuits you love, and circuits you loathe. It is really all about the ebb and flow of the championship. Catania going for it against Gleason. Catania, winner of race one yesterday, is now fifth. Find a gap, look for a draft from the car in front, and leverage that.
Colin Garrett sets the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap so far at 2:24 dead. 2:24.031. Each of the top three turned their respective quickest lap last time by. Kyle Loh is menacing through the first half of the track and loses out on the dyno run to turn 12. Lucas Catania is moving in on Gleason. Aust, makes a move for the lead late on the power. She got in the corner deep and made the pass as Colin Garrett consolidates his gap.
Kenny Schmied and Adam Gleason both going for it. Gleason has speed. Here comes Catania. Keep it off the curb but don’t hit the inside curb so you aren’t tossed across the road. Gleason hanging on by the skin of his teeth. Catania had eight runner up finishes before winning yesterday and has been on the podium at every single race so far. Win in Austin and celebrate with barbecue. A good thing to do here in Austin, Texas. Halfway home in this second race of the weekend.
Yikes! Door to door racing there in TCA as Lambros leans on Devin Anderson and Anderson is off the pace! Did he cut down a tire? Spencer Bucknum goes to the second spot. Something is wrong with Devin Anderson, look. Maybe there is a flat tire. Anderson could duck for the pit lane. Colin Garrett leads Maddie Aust by over a second and this gaggle has continued to be nose to tail. Gleason, Catania, Schmied, and Joseph Catania, Lucas’ dad. Joseph Catania had a massive accident towards the end of the race at NOLA Motorsports Park last time out.
Garrett’s lead is extending. Maddie Aust has to lean on her competitors. She might be being too kind to give her competitors racing room. Kyle Loh in the L.A. Honda World Honda, is fighting with Maddie Aust. People are going to be pulling the pin towards the end of this race. Garrett extending his lead. He is in a rhythm and in the zone. Suspension damage for the Mini of P.J. Groenke. Game over for the Canadian. Catania trying the inside on Gleason and makes the pass. Gleason gave him room on that one. Get the power down with a late apex.
Lucas Catania chasing Adam Gleason for fourth spot in TCX. Traffic ahead. Colin Garrett has a comfortable, second and a half lead over Maddie Aust with 15 minutes remaining. Catania’s car does not have the pep of the other BMW’s. Is their residual damage to the driveline after we saw that smoke in yesterday’s race? Was it the differential? Was it a seal on the diff? Loh and Gleason next in the serial and a Subaru is off the pace. It could be Shaoyi Che or Devin Anderson. It is Anderson. Shaoyi Che did not start race two for the touring cars this morning.
Dai Yoshihara makes the pass. Spencer Bucknum wants a win and Will Lambros is ahead. Lambros wants a win after many runners up finishes. You have these two Honda’s with Skip Barber Racing School and I can’t remember the name of the other team. Colin Garrett gets balked by a Mini. Alan Lozier and Cooper Broll are lapped traffic. Broll is fourth in class. Aust stuck on the outside of Alain Lauziere. Gleason is closing on the Honda and Schmied had to put in a boatload of opposite lock, sliding the rear wheels! That was a shemozzle! Yikes!
Kenny Schmied for AOA Racing battling with Catania and Rigid Speed. Joseph Catania is hanging right in there, look. He is right behind his son. This is as close as they’ve run together as I can remember. Wow. It will be elbows out in the final ten minutes or so of this motor race here at COTA with the wide expanses the track provides. Warnings for track limits are being issued but it isn’t so bad. Schmied makes a great move, taking the fight to Lucas Catania. Loh is still closing on Aust in second place. Garret is trying his best to clear the traffic and maintain the gap.
Clay Williams leading in the TC class with the Mini. Mario Biundo and Spencer Bucknum too are running in podium places in TCA. Cristian Perocarpi second in TC behind teammate Clay Williams. Celso Neto is now way behind these two in third, having been warned for track limits. Williams will gain points. Jeff Ricca, is closest rival is not here. He is racing at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Mini could be 1-2 and Sally McNulty could get a position.
There was a Hyundai factory driver slated to take Ricca’s place and take points away from their rivals but the drive for this mystery factory pilot never materialized. So, for now we shall just refer to that person (a la Speed Racer), as Racer X. With Racer X not coming to fruition, Hyundai could be on the back foot for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Maddie Aust has her hands full with less than eight minutes to go, with Kyle Loh breathing down her neck. Loh can carve the turns and has not figured out the solution to Aust’s puzzle.
Lucas Catania in the lane and so our thoughts of a technical issue are correct. Colin Garrett will bag a bunch of points here in Austin, this afternoon, in control overall and in TCX. Solid run by Maddie Aust as well and Kyle Loh is surely keeping her honest. She does have a gap. Time is running out and so she has to punch it while Loh is playing defense. It is a very different feeling with a stiff and rigid single-seater vs. racing a GT car or a touring car with a lot more body roll. Aust does not have much single-seater racing and she makes her transition a lot easier.
A bent control arm for Lucas Catania. Game over. The battle is hotting up again for second and third. The Honda is being gapped by a car length or two by the BMW of Maddie Aust. Kyle Loh went through the HPD Driving Academy in 2022 and it had a touring car component to it. He finished third in west coast Formula 4 in 2019 and has been working as a racing school instructor as well. Loh closing up on Aust hand over fist, coming into this weekend third in points and today has been better for him than yesterday was.
Three minutes to go as the overall leaders catch the TCA class leaders. Can Bucknum make a pass on Lambros? Aust is closing. Colin Garrett will be catching the traffic in an awkward spot. Lambros is high and dry and here comes Bucknum, look. Aust and Loh pass the TCA leaders and so do Gleason and Schmied. Gleadson moves past Loh for P3! Oh boy! Gleason tags Loh and Loh gets loose! Kenny Schmied is right in the picture too.
Game over for Gleason with a cut tire. The gap has been cut in half and now, Gleason, Schmied, and Loh fighting for third place. Gleason takes a deep entry into the turn and runs wide! He can’t stop in time and skitters to the outside of the circuit! Up front it is nip and tuck. Out of turn 11 and into the stadium section after the backstretch. Joseph Catania has his hands full with Dai Yoshihara! Bucknum closing and closing on Lambros. Can Bucknum pull the rabbit out of the hat? He has a look. Closing under braking.
Lambros has three consecutive runners up finishes. A handful of turns to go. Meanwhile, Colin Garrett snagged the lead early and held on. He is going for yet another win off the final turn and Colin Garrett wins race two at COTA! Maddie Aust comes home second. In TCA it will be Lambros winning! Bucknum in second place with a pair of podiums. Now for the fight in TCA to the finish. Break out the broom! Clay Williams and LAP Motorsports sweep the weekend! Adam Gleason has gone off the road and has dropped through the order. Trouble for Adam Gleason in the final stages.
Kenny Schmied earns the CrowdStrike fastest lap of the race at 2:23.976. Mario Biundo scores a podium as well!
Overall/TCX: #44 Colin Garrett Rooster Hall Racing BMW M2 CS Racing
TC: #60 Clay Williams MINI JCW Team MINI JCW Pro TC
TCA: #77 William Lambros Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si (FE1)
Alain Lauziere may reconsider ending his season early. We’ll see about that. So, that wraps up the touring car races for the weekend from Circuit of the Americas. What a race! This place at COTA might have been built for Formula 1 and motorcycles, but the touring cars put on a show here indeed. The next event of the championship is a doubleheader at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. We’ll see you at VIR for more touring car action in a wee while. Looking forward to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment