TC America powered by Skip Barber is ready for their second race of the weekend here at Circuit of the Americas just outside of Austin, Texas. Three classes, TCX, TC, and TCA, readying for the second of a pair of 40-minute sprint races. Let's do it. This will be fun to watch as always as we join Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth and Amanda Busick reporting from the pit lane. Chris Walsh has been on a roll, staying undefeated in TCX. We will have serious contenders in all three classes as the temperatures climb to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and triple digits for track temperatures. Chris Walsh on the pole in the #104 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M2 CS (Cup). We will also be having a good look at the Acura's and how they fare. Acura had transmission woes in race one yesterday with smoke spewing out of Celso Neto's car.
We will be having a Captain Cook at TC and TCA. Jeff Ricca is on a mission and wants to win because he scored nil points last year after committing to Hyundai's efforts at the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Jeff Ricca is dominat in the TC class, but we are also watching Joey Jordan and the Mazda 3 working on different parts of the car at FTG Racing. Good to see Alan Grossberg in the Mini after his savage wreck in a Lamborghini in the GT America race, we just saw. Just shy of three and a half miles around with 20 corners here at Circuit of the Americas. Lots of racing room for the touring cars.
The field is in alignment with three distinct starts. Safety Car lights off with Mike Stillwagon, the safety car driver. Mike LaMarra will not start this race. Green flag. Away we go! Chris Walsh gets a push from Celso Neto and brake lockup over the bump for Chris Walsh and he controls it well, thank goodness! Cristian Perocarpi flings the Mini past Jeff Ricca who has barely any room over the sausage curbs and Joey Jordan is already up to second. Poor old Jeff Ricca is on the back foot with Ruben Iglesias and Sally McNulty following.
An awesome start by Celso Neto, glued to the decklid of Chris Walsh. Lucas Catania seems to have great pace, too. Walsh is undefeated on the season along with Gresham Wagner in Toyota GR Cup. Definite tire rub and smoke from one of the BMW's. Walsh, Neto, Catania, the top three, as Joey Jordan has the Mazda 3 ahead in the TC class, car #71. He has made his move on Cristian Perocarpi and P.J. Groenke and Alex Garcia battle for the lead in the TC class. We have a car spun in turn 20. Oh dear. There is a TCX car off the pace.
Celso Neto has grabbed the lead in TCX over Chris Walsh. Neto getting feisty. Celso Neto, Chris Walsh, and Lucas Catania. Hopefully the transmission issues for the Acura Integra do not crop up today. Yesterday, the car nearly looked like it was on fire. P.J. Groenke in the Mini and Alex Garcia, in the Honda Civi, battling in the TCA class. There is a stopped BMW down there on the road and I think it may be Nick Roberts, but I am not sure. Jordan, Perocarpi, Ricca, the top three with Igelsias and McNulty next up. Ricca makes a move on Perocarpi and makes it stick.
The Mazda 3 showed promise at Sonoma and at Sebring until they had shock issues. Perocarpi off the road and he might be in for a time penalty when the race ends here this morning. Sally McNulty is running well as Celso Neto leads Chris Walsh in TCX by 2.3 seconds. Joey Jordan, Jeff Ricca, Cristian Perocarpi, and Ruben Iglesias Jr. in a battle for honors in the TC class. I think Ricca and the Hyundai is slowing down, again. He has 20 points of a lead but might lose all of that. Something is wrong with Jeff Ricca's Hyundai.
Sally McNulty is next to make a run at her team boss. Ricca has speed down the backstretch, but I wonder if he has transmission woes, intermittently. I agree with our mate Calvin Fish in the commentary box. That car is not running at top speed. Ricca is not keeping pace with Ruben Iglesias who has a battle with Cristian Perocarpi. Meanwhile, Ricca is off the pace, again. He has fire in the belly again. The car is stalling intermittently and has no power. The heat might be triggering the failsafe modes and thresholds in the systems. Ricca has been sporadically losing power and finding it again.
Maybe Ricca is finding a neutral or there is an electrical issue. Half an hour of racing to go. Jordan, Perocarpi, Iglesias. Mazda, Mini, Hyundai. P.J. Groenke had an untroubled race yesterday and now the Honda of Alex Garcia is right on his boot lid. Maddy Lemke and Alan Grossberg are languishing behind this scrap. Alex Garcia just graduated from college a couple weeks ago. He is part of the Skip Barber Racing School team in TCA and in Toyota GR Cup. Having another car and driver to race with is very satisfying. It is all down to the stopwatch, the lap times. Alex Garcia has the measure of the Mini but needs to try and find away to pass. All the sectors here at Circuit of the Americas are totally different.
2:23.786 was the former CrowdStrike Fastest Lap set by Celso Neto and Lucas Catania lowers it to a 2:23.730. Jeff Ricca is stopped on the road, again. We are not quite to halfway and Ricca does a Control, Alt, Delete. Very strange. Ricca is now languishing, with Scott Thomson moving up a place in the second Mini by dint of Ricca's troubles. Chris Walsh's BMW is coming alive setting his personal best first sector time. He is in the rubbered in line of the track compared to Neto. Neto feeling the heat and here comes Lucas Catania who is sick and tired of not winning these races.
Neto fighting with all he has and his lead has evaporated. Walsh looking to keep his undefeated streak alive. Jeff Ricca into the pit lane with the hood up. Walsh looking to go the long way around the Acura of Neto. Strategize an opportunity to go inside of the BMW. Neto is giving it everything and I mean everything. Celso Neto is the youngest ever podium finisher in Brazilian Touring Cars. He won a TC class race last year and finished third in the TC points in 2023. Yikes! Neto went off on the curb and the tail sliding all over the place.
Walsh late under braking on the rubbered in line. Catania side by side with Walsh. Not enough room. He has to give it up. But he needs to begin pushing and stealing places. A Front Wheel Drive Acura vs. a Rear-Wheel-DriveJ BMW. Two BMW's. The Front Wheel Drive means that the car turns and brakes through the front drive. The Pirelli tires on the front, screaming for mercy! Jeff Ricca has pulled off the road, again with another stop/start situation. He needs to get to halfway to score points, in two minutes.
Neto now has breathing room heading down the backstretch. Ricca crawling at slow speed. The silver lining is that Igelsias and McNulty in the team cars are running well. The points situation could be very tight headed to the next race at Virginia International Raceway. Details will follow when we finish this race. In the meantime, Joey Jordan is being monstered by Ruben Iglesias. Yesterday, the Mazda team lost performance in the second half of the race and worked out overnight software tweaks. Chris Walsh passes Celso Neto after Neto runs wide, overdriving the car through turn one.
Walsh pounces and wants to set sail. Lucas Catania is going to get stymied by the struggling Acura of Neto and Walsh can make good his escape and whistle off into the distance. Maybe the Mazda is struggling with heat as the ambient temperature is climbing, still. Chris Walsh is whistling off into the distance and Lucas Catania must get past Celso Neto who is a fighter. The Brazilian will not just leave the door open. Catania is super consistent but is fed up with being second I am sure. He won here last year at COTA in 2023.
Joey Jordan is still having similar issues he had last year. If Ricca does not score points and Ruben Iglesias wins, he can gain an advantage before the next race weekend at Virginia International Raceway. Joey Jordan is having power issues with the Mazda now, like pulling a parachute on the back of the car. After a shift, Jordan had no power. They did a hardship lap this morning and worked through the software last night. The car handles well but it runs out of steam halfway down the straightaway. The throwback livery of Mazda sports car racing from decades gone by is a nice touch.
Meanwhile, in TCA, P.J. Groenke has his hands full with Alex Garcia and he maybe missed a shift or lost power. The Mini still uses an H pattern gearbox. Chris Walsh leads, and Celso Neto in the Acura Integra has decent pace, but he is falling away from Walsh. Lucas Catania resets CrowdStrike Fastest Lap at 2:23.730. He has run down Celso Neto but cannot solve Neto's riddle yet. The Skip Barber Acura team had to replace a gearbox last night before race two this morning.
Tony Callas from Carrus Callas Racing and Chris Walsh have announced their presence, and this is his most challenging race we have seen him compete in all year so far. Joey Jordan continues hanging tough, keeping pressure on Ruben Iglesias. Joey Jordan's car is now out of it's funk. I think the handling is working out well. Cristian Perocarpi in the Mini in TC is running third and now, P.J. Groenke in TCA is also finding pace with his Mini, reeling in Alex Garcia. This is fun for Groenke to fight with Garcia for the W. Garcia is well aware he is vulnerable.
Groenke has the momentum. Garcia knows he's vulnerable. Groenke giving the rookie all he can handle. Funny how Garcia is not really taking the line they teach you in racing school. Funny as in ironic, not humorous. P.J. Groenke does a lot with a little, with many small sponsorships on his Mini, in real grassroots motorsports style. Lucas Catania still trying to solve the puzzle, Wheel of Fortune style, against Celso Neto. Groenke to the inside, locking up with the front end washing away! The tires were doing too much.
Groenke and Garcia are both feisty and both want the victory, bad. Eight minutes and change left on the board and the sand is running through the hourglass. Scott Thomson in his first year of professional motor racing. He is helping local charities at each racetrack. Meals on Wheels in Sebring and the St. Louise House here in Austin. Go to, https://saintlouisehouse.org/, an organization helping women and their children moving from homelessness to healthy, independent lives. Celso Neto picks the middle of the road and now, Lucas Catania has passed him. Neto wants to get him back. Not this time.
The Acura Integra is still a new platform but with each passing weekend the team gets more and more comfortable with the car. Lucas Catania still has the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap of the race. Catania judging things well and now, we might have another car slowing down, Kris Valdez, possibly. The TCX leader is working his way through the TCA lead battle in class. P.J. Groenke might have a chance here, someplace. Two laps remaining. Race two of the weekend for TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School, and race six of the season.
Garcia has been given his last track limits warning by Race Control. Will the stewards make the call? Keep it in bounds on the track. A car is off to drivers' right. Maybe that is Scott Thomson. Hard to tell. Garcia and Groenke still squabbling for the TCA lead. The ebb and flow of two different race cars and how they match on this track at COTA, the different gear ratios and so on. Some are in between gears and some have their sweet spot through fast turns. White flag this time by. One lap to go. Groenke has a run on Garcia, squeezing the Canadian to the inside. Groenke to the outside up the hill cannot quite make the move.
Garcia and Groenke for the class lead. Groenke cannot pass through the esses and Garcia almost loses it! Yikes! Keep the heat on, force Garcia into a mistake. Garcia slams the door in Groenke's face. They are nose to tail down the backstretch. Last lap. Time is up. Alex Garcia seeking his second win in only three starts and hear comes Groenke! Groenke side by side with Garcia into the stadium section! Turn 15 is an opportunity. What will he do? Groenke uses all the road. Chris Walsh, perfect in 2024, winning again followed by Lucas Catania and Celso Neto.
In TCA, on the road, Alex Garcia will win the race after a 40-minute slugfest! In the TC class, Ruben Iglesias wants a second win and should get it. Jordan and Perocarpi second and third. GenRacer team boss Jeff Ricca had a difficult day. Smoke out of the car for Iglesias Jr. but he will hang on for another win ahead of Joey Jordan and Mazda, and Cristian Perocarpi in the Mini for LAP Motorsports. Wow. What a race! What a race!
Cue the dance music for the results.
Overall/TCX: #104 Chris Walsh Carrus Callas Racing BMW M2 CS (Cup)
TC: #77 Ruben Iglesias Jr. Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N Cup
TCA: #14 Alex Garcia Skip Barber Racing Honda Civic SI FE1
Half a dozen wins in a row for Chris Walsh! Next up, after a summer break, in mid-July we will see TC America racing at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia.
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