Elkhart Lake, WI - Scott Smithson and the #17 DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR brought the field to the green flag with Tim Lewis Jr in the #55 KMW Motorsports w/ TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR jumping from fourth to second in class going into turn 1.
As the field approached turn 5, Olivia Askew in the #29 DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR would spin, then get collected by teammate CJ Moses in the #04 entry.
The TC grid would get through the havoc but as they entered turn 6, championship leader Johan Schwartz in the #31 Hard Motorsport BMW M240iR would go wide and drop three positions to eighth in class just before the safety car was called for the previously mentioned incident at turn 5.
As the field paced behind the safety car, Smithson would lead in TCR, Toby Grahovec in the #26 Classic BMW M240iR would lead TC, and Kevin Boehm and the #9 Boehm Racing Honda Civic Si would lead TCA.
The race would go back to green with 29 minutes remaining with Lewis Jr drag racing to the lead over Smithson, and Victor Gonzalez Jr in the #99 VGMC Honda Civic Type-R TCR getting past Tyler Maxson and the #74 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster N TCR for third overall. At the end of the lap, Maxson would pull his car to pitlane while facing a mechanical issue and retire, ending his streak of nine consecutive race wins on the season.
On the next lap Gonzalez Jr would sneak past Smithson for second in TCR, and try to chase down Lewis for the lead.
In TC, Race 1 winner James Clay and the #36 BimmerWorld BMW M240iR would power past Grahovec for the lead in TC with Bryson Lew in the #27 Classic BMW M240iR in third.
With 23 minutes on the clock, Gonzalez Jr would dive to the inside of Lewis Jr at turn 5, and nip the TCR and overall lead as the top three would run nose to tail.
TCA would see Boehm remain in front with Tomas Mejia in the #60 MINI JCW Team MINI Cooper in second and Jonathan Newcombe in the #178 VGMC Honda Civic Si third.
Both TCA championship leaders, Tyler Gonzalez and the #57 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster Turbo and Mark Pombo in the #63 MINI JCW Team MINI Cooper, would retire with mechanical issues.
With 17 minutes remaining, Smithson would get past Lewis Jr for second in TCR as the TC field also saw a change with Chandler Hull and the #94 BimmerWorld BMW M240iR passing Lew for third in class.
At the same time, Johan Schwartz would work his way back up to fifth in TC, then also get past Lew for fourth in class with a strong pass on the outside of turn 6.
In TCA PJ Groenke and the #25 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ tS would sneak past Newcombe for third in class and chase down Mejia in second.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, TCR leader Gonzalez Jr would get a puncture on the front left tire and be forced to pit with Smithson inheriting the lead, Lewis Jr getting second and CJ Moses recovering from the early-race incident to grab third. Gonzalez Jr would have the fastest lap of the race to start from the Race 3 pole.
Smithson would never look back and go on to take his first TC America TCR victory.
With 2 minutes remaining Groenke would go for a pass on Mejia for second in TCA, but run wide at turn 5, giving third place back to Newcombe and fourth place to Caleb Bacon and the #18 CB Motorsports Hyundai Veloster Turbo. Later in the lap Groenke would crash at Canada Corner and fall through the grid.
On the final lap the TC class battle raged on and would see Chandler Hull move past Grahovec for second, then attack his teammate, James Clay, for the lead. Clay would not flinch and go on to get his second-straight class win of the weekend. Schwartz would also get past Grahovec to complete the podium on a fantastic recovery drive after his early-race mistake.
Boehm would cruise to the TCA class win, ahead of Mejia and Newcombe.
TC America Race 3 will go green Sunday, August 30th at 9:30am CT streaming live at https://www.tcamerica.us/live.
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PROVISIONAL RESULTS RACE 2 - PDF Link