- Jacob Ruud, BWM, scores his fifth win of the year in TCX class
- Kevin Boehm gives CrowdStrike and Skip Barber Racing the TC win
- Gresham Wagner leads Subaru 1-2 in TCA
- Provisional Results
Watkins Glen, New York - Watkins Glen International was covered with clouds overhead, yet not a single drop mixed into the TC America powered by Skip Barber party on track. With humidity in the air, Jacob Ruud claimed his fifth win of the season, but eyes were turned towards the intense battle between Colin Garrett and Lucas Catania, who didn’t give each other any breathing space for the entire race.
TCX
Jacob Ruud (#1 Fast Track Racing BMW M2 CS (Cup)) dominated the race, taking the lead in the first few laps at the expense of yesterday's race winner, Colin Garrett (#44 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M2 CS (Cup)). Ruud pulled a significant gap and could not be caught by the runner-up behind, taking the win in front of his family, friends, and students from the RIT Formula SAE team. Ruud recently graduated from RIT.
“It was a long race,” said Ruud, driver of the #1 Fast Track Racing BMW. “There were a lot of laps and corners to pass people on. I saw those guys fighting in front of me and saw an opportunity happen and just went for it, and I was able to make it stick.”
After a somewhat uneventful start, the most spectacular battle of the race was for second place, as Lucas Catania (#26 Rigid Speed BMW M2 CS (Cup)) and Garrett battled it out for the entirety of the 40-minute event. They were never separated by more than half a second, crossing the finish line with a gap of 0.323 in favor of Catania. Garrett, who set the fastest lap, rounded off the podium.
TC
Leading from the start, Clay Williams (#60 JCW Team MINI) saw his lead melt away towards the end of the race, to the benefit of Kevin Boehm (#9 CrowdStrike Racing with Skip Barber Honda Civic Type-R), who took the lead with only five minutes to go. Boehm went on to eventually take the TC class victory.
During the first few laps, while Williams had initially managed to accumulate a two-second lead over the rest of the field, a lot of action was taking place between six drivers battling for second place.
This pack was then reduced, with Matthew Ibrahim (#6 DRS & Garagistic BMW M240iR) being the victim of a spin.
The Sunday podium trio was the same as Saturday, but in a different order. Kevin Boehm won the race, closely followed by Nicholas Barbato (#88 Genracer / Ricca Autosport Hyundai Veloster N TC) in his best ever performance. Race 1 winner Clay Williams (Clay Williams in his #60 JCW Team MINI Pro TC) claimed the final spot on the podium.
Mat Pombo (#37 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type-R) and Ken Fukuda (#42 Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type-R) rounded off the Top 5.
“You don’t go into many races thinking that you don’t have a chance to win, but today I honestly was just trying to get to the podium and I was going to be really happy if we could just do that,” said Boehm on pit lane. “Sometimes the race just goes your way, little moments at a time. It was a lot of just being in the right place at the right time, but we just had a really great car to put us in a position to get lucky. I can’t thank the Skip Barber Racing Team enough for a great car all weekend. I’m so happy to get CrowdStrike and AWS on the top step again today.”
TCA
Gresham Wagner (#21 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ) claimed another victory in the TCA class. After getting a perfect start, Wagner remained in the lead for the entire race and stayed out of trouble. This was Wagner's fourth win of the year and he has now won one race at each of the four tracks contested.
“It was just about getting back on track,” stated Wagner. “We had a couple of bad races; we could have won VIR and should have been on the podium yesterday. It’s great to finally get a good result again, thanks to TechSport's hard work, K1 Race Gear and my crew chief. We just have to keep doing what we do. I’m glad to get a win again.”
Wagner won ahead of teammate Devin Anderson (#22 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ), completing an impressive one-two finish for the TechSport racing team. The podium was completed by Carter Fartuch (#16 Skip Barber Racing Honda Civic Si). He was just 0.478 seconds ahead of Mika Lamarra (#77 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si). The Top 5 was completed by Sally McNulty (#780 VGRT Racing Team Honda Civic Si), who bounced back strongly after a rough day on Saturday. This was the third top-five finish by McNulty this season.
The next race weekend for TC America is August 19-21 at Road America.