Ruud/BMW Takes Win In Red Flag-Shortened Race 1 from VIR

Ruud/BMW Takes Win In Red Flag-Shortened Race 1 from VIR
  • Smith, BMW Claim TC Victory
  • Bacon, Hyundai Win TCA
  • PROVISIONAL RACE 1 RESULTS - PDF Link

Alton, Virginia - TCX Championship leader Jacob Ruud brought the TC America field to the green flag for Round 5 of the 2021 season under sunny and hot Virginia skies. Ruud was quickly able to pull a 2 second gap on Steve Streimer’s #30 Hard Motorsports BMW M2 CS Cup machine after lap 1 of the 40 minute contest and never look back, taking his fifth victory of the season in a red-flag shortened event.

Austen Smith would keep his #51 Auto Technic BMW M240iR in the lead of the TC field as the green flag flew but in TCA it was Caleb Bacon who would jump from third to first to grab the class lead in the #18 Forbush Performance Hyundai Veloster Turbo. 

At the halfway point of the race the first full course caution would be called as the #88 Genracer Hyundai of Kurt Walsheim would lose a tire through the esses and come to a stop near Oak Tree, bunching the field together for a final sprint to the finish.

The race would get back to green with 10 minutes remaining, but would instantly go back to yellow, then red, for a major incident involving the #60 MINI JCW Team Mini Cooper of Mark Pombo at the start-finish line.

The race would be called with Jacob Ruud taking the win in TCX, Steve Streimer second and the #104 AOA Racing BMW of Chris Walsh third. Olivia Askew and the #3 BMW would finish fourth with Samantha Tan and the #438 BMW fifth.

The TC win would go to Austen Smith in the #51 Auto Technic Racing BMW followed by teammate Tom Capizzi in the #52 and Eric Powell in the #92 Honda. The #21 TechSport Racing Nissan of Rob Hines would come home fourth with the #23 Nissan of Joseph Federl fifth. 

Caleb Bacon would be named the TCA-class winner with Michael Carter in the #22 TechSport Racing Toyota coming home second and Luke Rumberg and the #33 Forbush Performance Hyundai rounding out the top three. PJ Groenke and the #25 TechSport Toyota would finish fourth and the #16 Honda of Carter Fartuch fifth.

Round 6 of the 2021 TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing Schools season will take place tomorrow at 3:35pm ET streaming live on the GT World YouTube channel and at SiriusXM Channel 392 and WebApp channel 992.