It is time now for the second and final TC America race of the weekend here in SRO competition at Sonoma Raceway in the northern California wine country. We are back for another bite of the cherry in race two on a circuit featuring almost 15 stories of elevation change. 18 cars and drivers are set to go racing again as we join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the commentary box and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. Chris Walsh was the overall and TCX class winner from yesterday. Walsh on pole with Lucas Catania on the outside of the front row. It was some good racing yesterday. That is for sure. This will be a battle royal once again. Lucas Catania won a major race last year at Circuit of the Americas. Don't forget the five Acura Integra's in the field. Can they give the BMW's a run for their money?
In TCA, or TC... eh, with the Canadian's like P.J. Groenke and Maddy Lemke. Cristian Perocarpi did not start race one yesterday. He will start from the back taking the fight to Jeff Ricca in the TC class. Chris Walsh is running a full season campaign in TC America in 2024. Perocarpi in the silver Mini at the tail end of the field. The car is an unknown quantity after powertrain trouble yesterday. The engines are fired, and the cars roll off on their formation laps. There is so much elevation change here, at 160 feet or 15 stories. Joey Jordan and the Mazda might finally be sorted out and can indeed be competitive. They ran in podium contention for the whole race yesterday.
Some patching done to the new pavement here at Sonoma, overnight, in turns 9 and 9A. There is epoxy down there. The GTA race from earlier went over fine. We weren't sure the races would happen a couple days back. But we are. Jeff Ricca won the TC class yesterday. Joey Jordan and Mazda went through fuel starvation at the end of the race yesterday. P.J. Groenke and Maddy Lemke are the two TCA entries in the field right at the back. These are slightly modified showroom stock race cars in the TC America division. What can the Acura's do against the BMW's? The Acura teams do not have the long-range speed.
They are very invested in the Integra platform. OK. Time for a start. Green flag and away we go! To the lead, Chris Walsh, Lucas Catania, and Mario Biundo has spun one of the Acura's! Yikes! Green flag for the TC cars. A clean start in TC and TCA starting together up the hill. Jeff Ricca leading up the hill while Cristian Perocarpi passes Sally McNulty for fourth place. Jeff Ricca dominated race one yesterday. Chris Walsh is running well indeed, thank you. Celso Neto a late addition to the TCX field for this weekend. He is moving in on Lucas Catania and Mike LaMarra in another Acura is motoring ahead focusing on Celso Neto, the Brazilian.
Catania wriggles a bit and now has the Acura Integra all over him. The Integra is front wheel drive while the BMW is rear wheel drive. It was not uncommon to see fastest laps coming in at the end of the race. The car gets ligther burning through the fuel load. Walsh still in the race lead. Celso Neto, former Brazilian stock car racer, is going for it. Cooper Broll and Joseph Catania, along with Aaron Kaplan, all three of them are moving forward quickly. Aaron Kaplan debuted last year at his home track at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Kaplan is being coached by endurance racing veteran Marc Miller. Cristian Perocarpi is chasing down Joey Jordan.
Jeff Ricca though, he has the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap at 1:50.183, irrespective of class. Ricca is running extremely well. The car was debuted last year here at Sonoma, and was on rails back then and still is. He has passed Christopher DeFreitas at the back of the TCX field. Joey Jordan in his home race, son of Joe Jordan, the late, great who was part of SRO touring cars for many years. Things are tightening up as Catania drops Neto. Lucas Catania resets fastest lap and now, Chris Walsh is leading him. This is the TCX class. Walsh will be on defense. He is a former USA national team bobsledder and just uncorks the fastest lap of the motor race. Never mind. Catania sets it at 1:49.688.
Walsh being a bobsledder, will know speed. Many BMW M2 CS Cup cars have raced at the Nurburgring and they were so popular with track day enthusiasts, teams and drivers could not get a car. Catania on the power far earlier than Walsh through The Carousel. Wach the late turn in or you will overload the outside front tire. Mike LaMarra has passed by Celso Neto and poor old Neto is dropping like a stone. He is headed for the pit lane. Oh dear. Yesterday was his first TCX race. Cristian Perocarpi has been passed by Sally McNulty and now, they resume battles from years past. This is for TC competition. McNulty finished runner up yesterday.
Sally McNulty is a mechanic in an auto dealership in day-to-day life. Where do you find the torque curve and the middle gears are the best place to be, the sweet spot, because the low gear is too low, and the high gear is too tall. Cristian Perocarpi has enrolled in a university in Indiana in mechanical engineering. Drivers have done that over the years. Lucas Catania sometimes has the front-end wash away as he is watching Chris Walsh ahead. Lucas Catania has notched 20 podium finishes over the last two seasons, but just a single win.
Lucas Catania's dad Joseph Catania also had a podium last year after his son was penalized for something. That's a weird one. Joseph Catania is now chasing Cooper Broll, in TCX. Acura Integra vs. BMW M2 CS Racing. Celso Neto has been having shifting issues. Perocarpi closing on McNulty but is not close enough as Catania is looking to the inside of Chris Walsh through turn seven. Walsh has to give it up and Catania goes to the lead! Walsh is pushing too much for the front end to try and respond. This is a big-time scrap. Two drivers in identical equipment. We'll be halfway through the race very soon.
No worries about tire management with the new surface here at Sonoma. This is Carrus Callas Racing, and they are part of an organization helping veterans and Chris Walsh is still enlisted. He has two daughters as well. A great story, serving veterans with PTSD. 1:49.130 as Lucas Catania resets the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap, building the biggets lead all weekend in TCX at 6/10ths of a second. Cooper Broll drops a place to Celso Neto. Neto's shifting issues have resolved themselves. Into the second half of the race now. The Catania and Walsh battle is still hot and heavy and of course, free practice and testing were curtailed with the track surface issues that we have documented here at Sonoma.
Walsh on the counterattack and is reeling in Catania hand over fist. Walsh's car has more understeer in it somehow or other. Get back to power a tad later while using more steering input. Scott Thomson, making his series debut in a TC class Mini. He drove a similar car in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill over the winter months. Many professional entries have been a part of that race. There are some cool cars that race in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Cooper Broll is racing his home track here at Sonoma I believe. Broll ran in TCA and was part of the Skip Barber Racing School in Honda Civic's, Ford Mustang's, and Formula 4 cars.
Meanwhile, we continue watching the front of the field and the battle between Lucas Catania and Chris Walsh. I think Lucas Catania might have an extra turn of speed this morning. Jeff Ricca leads, ten seconds to the good over his teammate Ruben Iglesias Jr. Walsh has a head of steam on Catania. Walsh gets to his flank and makes his move for the lead! That was bizarre! Catania felt vulnerable under acceleration getting back to power. 12 minutes remaining and Walsh goes wide keeping his foot in it and Lucas Catania can't quite get there.
A car is on fire! Oh dear! Safety car deployed immediately! That is Jeff Ricca, on fire! Scary, scary business. Thank God he is OK. Full Course Yellow. He looked like he was holding his stomach, too. The fire extinguisher went off. Maybe he inhaled chemicals and could be a little queasy. Ricca will not go back-to-back. Ruben Iglesias leads Joey Jordan and Sally McNulty. Jeff Ricca out of the car under his own steam. Can Catania run down Walsh? I wonder if we will go back to green. Did Lucas Catania have a momentary technical issue?
Ruben Iglesias is now the leader in TC. Ricca might be feeling well again but smoke is billowing from under the bonnet. The medical staff will check him over and now thoughts are to make repairs and get ready for the next events of the championship at Sebring. If the race ended now, Joey Jordan and Sally McNulty might be tied for the points lead in TC. Just over six minutes of racing remaining. Cristian Perocarpi has dropped down the order while Kris Valdez has moved up, a major skateboarder in addition to being a racing driver.
One year he tried doing a different skateboard trick every single day of the year. Pretty incredible. He managed to pull it off. 365 different skateboard tricks. I wonder if I could do that. Nope. It is not pretty. I would fall down and hurt myself. So, I will stick to blogging about sports car racing. P.J. Groenke leads the TCA division. His win at Virginia International Raceway last year was pretty amazing, a former class champion in the old TCB class. We will have a lap and a half to go under yellow. We will not restart the race.
Amanda Busick has asked Rigid Speed if something went wrong. The team is unaware of anything going awry. Rigid Speed want this race to restart. They would like to move ahead of Walsh. Lucas Catania could go for it. Prep the tires, scrub them side to side. Don't pick up the marbles on the outside of the track. Ride the brake against the accelerator. Catania still has the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap of the race. We could go green yet, for a dash. Darn it. I don't think we are going to restart.
One more lap to go. Walsh, Catania, LaMarra, the top three. Checkered flag. Slow it down to avoid an extra lap. Chris Walsh is your winner, again. Celso Neto moves up to fourth. In the TC class, it is Ruben Iglesias Jr. winning over Joey Jordan and Sally McNulty and in TCA, P.J. Groenke goes back-to-back. Cue the dance music for the results.
Overall/TCX: #104 Chris Walsh Carras Calus Racing Team BMW M2 CS (Cup)
TC: #77 Ruben Iglesias Jr. Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TC1
TCA: #62 P.J. Groenke Mini JCW Team Mini JCW
So, that is a wrap for touring cars from Sonoma Raceway. Next up, the legendary concrete runaways of Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida, in early May. Looking forward to that race. Join us in the orange groves amid the Spanish moss of central Florida. It will be a good one. Bye for now.
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