It is the finale, here at "The Brickyard" for the SRO TC America touring car championship. Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish call the action from the broadcast booth with Amanda Busick in the pit lane. Colin Garrett is the 2023 TCX champion. But we will be watching the TC and TCA contests. Dai Yoshihara is the TCX polesitter. In TC, Cristian Perocarpi has pole position. We have three drivers, Perocarpi, Jeff Ricca, and Clay Williams going for the title and in TC it is a battle between Devin Anderson and Spencer Bucknum. Anderson suffers a five-place grid penalty for missing the driver's meeting. Bucknum came up one one thousandth of a second to Will Lambros in yesterday's race.
Devin Anderson would have started on pole but now finds himself down the order. It is a six-point margin between Bucknum and Anderson. He has lots of roles for Techsport Racing and not just the driver. Here we go. First, the TCX cars with Dai Yoshihara and champion-elect Colin Garrett leading the field. Jackson Lee and Kenny Schmied on row two. The race is on. In TC, Cristian Perocarpi accelerates. Clay WIlliams has a new gearbox. Spencer Bucknum goign for it and so is P.J. Groenke and here comes Shaoyu Che as Mario Biundo spins and Ricca and Perocarpi both in trouble! Oh my! Williams continues. Damage to Ricca'ds Hyundai Elantra N TC.
Left front tagged. Rear bumper tagged. Perocarpi sideways and Ricca has no place to go. Clay Williams might be in the pound seats for the title. it is freezing cold outside, ambient, right now. The tires are stone cold. Ricca's car has bodywork damage. Garrett, Schmied, Yoshihara, Lee, Aust. Maddie Aust late on the brakes scrapping with Jackson Lee. The TC and TCA cars really run well here at Indianapolis. Williams passes Jeremiah Burton for P2. Ricca still in the fight. What drama on the opening lap. Celso Neto has some battle scars on his Honda Civic. Williams, 13 points ahead of Ricca, 255-242. A new transmission in Williams' Mini.
Valez late on the brakes and makes it work! Holy mackerel! Ricca's Hyundai is OK mechanically, but that damaged rear bumper is like a parachute and slows him down. It is like dropping an anchor. Devin Anderson doing all he can to charge forward as Lambros gets sideways. Anderson upmon the wheel in the Subaru BRZ. He has to pass Lambros and go after Bucknum. Whoever wins this race, is the champion. Lambros was really pushing it on Friday afternoon. Bucknum looking comfortable up front in TCA. Ricca has caught the traffic and he is chasing teammate Sally McNulty, pointing her team boss by.
Ricca locked horns with Perocarpi as we saw. Lambros closing on Bucknum and Anderson is right with him. Similar to Jason Bell's GT America GT4 championship run we just saw. Anderson inside of Lambros! Wow! Lambros not in the title fight. Ruben Iglesias coming through after early race misfortune. In Jeff Ricca's camp, with the loose bumper, Cristian Perocarpi was tagging Ricca's car before the race even started. Wow. Ricca committed in passing Jeremiah Burton. In replay, he bicycles the car and Kris Valdez swung cross. Watch those sausage curbs at turns one, seven, and 12, while other curbs here are relatively flat.
Cristian Perocarpi, game over. Out of race. You are allowed to move over as far as you want as the pole man, and Ricca clobbered Perocarpi. He said I did not mean to hit him, and he didn't let me through. There's a lot on the line but I don't want to destroy my own car. Perocarpi clearly unhappy. Ricca is feeling he is squeezing Perocarpi out of the final turn. He says he has the right of way. That pulled the Pirelli tire off the bead and he was sideways with three wheels on me wagon. Meantime, Dai Yoshihara makes his move on Colin Garrett in TCX. Honda Civic Type R TCX vs. BMW M2 CS Racing.
Yoshihara had a whole second up on the field in qualifying. But in race trim it is close. Anderson passes Lambros. This is battle royal for the title between Spencer Bucknum in the Honda and Devin Anderson in the Subaru. 13 points is the gap, 266-253. Williams is next in line. The delta is 14 points by switching positions. Ricca is up to third aggressively passing Kris Valdez. Celso Neto leads in class, the Brazilian. Ricca needs points to gain on Clayton Williams. He must catch and pass and then motor away from Clayton Williams. Celso Neto is the class leader.
Jeff Ricca in the championship fight feeling Perocarpi was leaning on him. The gap is now nine points. Williams 258, Ricca 249. Ricca did not run at Circuit of the Americas because he was racing for Hyundai on their factory team at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. They should have drafted in a Hyundai factory driver that weekend like Mark Wilkins for instance. Cooper Broll in the Skip Barber Racing School Honda is a lapped car. Dai Yoshihara has massive pace and is a second and a half faster than Colin Garrett. Final race for this Honda Civic TCX car and there will be a new Acura coming next year.
Maddie Aust, Kenny Schmied, and Jackson Lee are scrapping with each other. Lee very impressive on his debut. He and teammate Kenny Schmied came together but he is settling into the championship very well. Maddie Aust, too, has been sensational. She has her BMW in third place. Will she continue racing or choose to do other things? She is a freshman at TCU. Bruce Myrehn staying out of the way of the TCX fight in another Mini. Devin Anderson all over Spencer Bucknum going for the win and the class title. Bucknum scored only 18 points for finishing second in a photo finish.
The gap is 13 points, 266-253. One position change will flip the script. 22 minutes left on the board, so, two minutes to halfway. Spencer's father, Jeff Bucknum made a couple Indianapolis 500 starts and grandfather, Ronnie ran three. Schmied has passed Aust and now Jackson Lee wants a bite of the cherry as well. Here comes Jackson Lee and he barely keeps it together and Maddie Aust has to wait. Great racing from the open wheel racer, in his second touring car or tin top race. He ran partial seasons in the Road To Indy, in Formula 2000. Working lapped traffic as well.
Jackson Lee has run a lot of open wheel races and done a lot of testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The whole family works hard, and we know his father, Kevin Lee, as a race broadcaster. Maddie Aust is scrapping with Jackson Lee but cleanly and fairly. Jackson Lee has not had much time in a touring car but he is acclimating well. Whoops! Aust spins and so does Lee. Lee is fine. Aust is moving again and now Adam Gleason makes a pass with the Days of Thunder liveried car. The 1990 movie about NASCAR racing. Incident between Ricca and Perocarpi under review by the stewards. Before the start, Perocarpi jinks to the left. That was bold.
He was trying to move to the middle and as they accelerate, he tags Ricca and Ricca locks horns with him. The stewards continue to examine it. Ricca in third, seven seconds behind Clay Williams who has the clear advantage. Celso Neto leading the motor race, a consistent podium finisher, looking for a victory, for the Brazilian. This is a special race to win at. Meantime, the title deciding battle here between Bucknum and Anderson is on. Less than 17 minutes remaining. So we are in the second half of the race. Will Lambros went for it the other day and that one was a photo finish in race one on Friday.
Team owner and Devi Anderson's mom, Debbi Anderson, she is a bundle of nerves for all of her drivers. They want perfection in order to have success. The Subaru is stronger in warmer conditions. The Honda is stronger in the cold. But she has faith in her son, her driver as well. Devin Anderson is going for it indeed and this is the battle we've watched all year. 15 minutes to go. Spencer Bucknum has Ryan Eversley coaching him, a veteran driver himself. Dai Yoshihara has built a six and a half second gap in TCX.
Anderson tries poking to the inside in turn 13. No pressure for Yoshihara from Colin Garrett. Garrett has no pressure either, already the 2023 champion in TCX. A tight squeeze into turn one ajd Anderson on the isnie in the grass. Anderson pokes his nose out and is side by side. They lean on each other. The bodywork flies just like we saw at Sebring two weeks ago. Will Lambros lurking in third place. Bucknum embraces the argy bargy. He survives that salvo from Anderson. What does Devin Anderson have left in the locker? Just over 12 minutes remaining.
Colin Garrett makes a pass on this battle. Kenny Schmied passes Will Lambros and lines up the top two in TCX, with Yoshihara and Garrett. Spencer Bucknum's right side mirror is cattywampus. The right- hand mirror is vital in a few of these corners. The concertina is there. Spread out, close up. Spread out, close up. Devin Anderson is a driver, and part of the family business, as they also have a Nissan Z GT4 program, and he is the truck driver for the team to transport the cars. Ten minutes to go. The Perocarpi and Ricca shemozzle will be reviewed after the race by the stewards. Williams has a gap over Ricca with Celso Neto leading TC.
Will Lambros has closed back in on this battle as Jackson Lee passes Adam Gleason back, two Hoosiers fighting at their home track. Lambros has a run on Anderson. Out of class cars in here as well. Jackson Lee maybe not aware of the title fighters here in the other division. Devin Anderson cannot afford to let Bucknum escape and Adam Gleason is right on Jackson Lee's six. Bucknum not vulnerable to Anderson just yet. Eight minutes to go. Drivers embrace this hammer and tongs moments. One bold move by Anderson can turn the title on it's head.
Celso Neto having a career race, redemption for him after catching traffic in race one yesterday morning. Clay Williams, TC champion-elect if he can hold on. Williams had a transmission issue two laps from the end of race one yesterday morning. Ricca's rally back has stalled in third place. Ricca is digging deep, fired up after the argy bargy he had on lap one. But any way you slice it, this new GenRacer produced Hyundai model has been amazing and they came out of the gate at Sonoma back in April and blitzed everyone. Sally McNulty, Kris Valdez, and Jeremiah Burton all in their own battle for fourth,fifth, and sixth in the TC class.
Anderson right on Bucknum's six! Chris DeFreitas is in a TCX car but has less pace than the other TCX runners. He has been able to clear these two. Anderson wants a run off turn 13 and 14. Maddie Aust now seventh after her off-course excursion. Time is of the essence. Can Anderson anser Bucknum's riddle? Dai Yoshihara scores fastest lap at 1;34.969 as Anderson is pushing with two wheels off the road. He has to send it, now. How badly do you want it? Both drivers have spent their lives dreaming of this moment. Who will be the 2023 TCA champion?
Anderson rolls speed. Bucknum slams the door in his face. Anderson loses ground. He is still going for it. This could be another photo finish. Deb Anderson, team boss, and mom, looking on. Two minutes left on the clock. Bucknum washes out wide and has more roll in the front end. TechSport have done so well. Gresham Wagner was a champion for them a year ago and he has moved on to other racing ventures. Spencer Bucknum drifts wide. White flag. One lap left. Anderson closing on Bucknum with a lap to go in the season.
Bucknum is ready for the fight. Back into the infield. Anderson, you know he will send it. One last chance. White flag. Last lap. Spencer Bucknum and Devin Anderson going for it. Lambros not a factor. Bucknum runs wide. He has Anderson right on his six! Here's the best passing zone at the end of Hulman Boulevard. Dai Yoshihara will win his second race of the year. Yoshihara sweeps TCX! Devin Anderson fighting for the title has lost ground. Bucknum pulls the gap. It wasn't enough. Three corners to go. Spencer Bucknum with a loose mirror and loose bodywork. But he is going to make it. Bucknum wins Indianapolis and wins the TCA championship for L.A. Honda World!
In TC, Celso Neto is a race winner and Clay Williams is the champ! Yoshihara missed his braking point but survived it.
Overall/TCX: #99 Dai Yoshihara VGRT Honda Civic Type R TCX
TC: #7 Celso Neto Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R 2017
TCA: #5 Spencer Bucknum L.A. Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si FE1
Champions:
TCX: #99 Dai Yoshihara VGRT Honda Civic Type R TCX
TC: #60 Clayton Williams Mini JCW Team Mini JCW Pro TC
TCA: #5 Spencer Bucknum L.A. Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si FE1
The 2023 touring car season is in the bag. We'll see you next year everyone. Bye bye.
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