PORTLAND, Ore. – Toby Grahovec posted the fastest time in Friday morning’s first TC class practice session for the TC America series at Portland International Raceway, part of the 59th Annual Rose Cup Races presented by Fastlife.TV. The 30-minute session was held under beautiful, partly cloudy 66-degree Fahrenheit conditions.
Early in the session, Johan Schwartz, the championship points leader coming into the weekend, topped the charts in his #80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M240iR Cup with a 1:23.154, followed by Rearden Racing’s Paul Terry in the #33 Nissan 370z (1:23.670) and Grahovec, in the #26 Classic BMW BMW M240iR Cup with a 1:23.705. Grahovec enters the weekend only 10 points behind Schwartz in the standings.
With just under 11 minutes remaining in the session Schwartz improved his time to a 1:22.853, while Auto Technic Racing’s Robert Nimkoff (#20 BMW M240iR Cup), slotted into second with a 1:23.449.
Then with under two minutes remaining, Grahovec jumped to the top with a 1:22.674, while Schwartz posted a 1:22.806 for second and Peter Atwater in the #66 NULITE BMW M240iR Cup Atwater third with a 1:23.140.
At the checkered the top three times held. Of note, Portland native Steve Streimer in the #81 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M240iR Cup posted the fourth fastest time of the session with a 1:23.141.
Results are provisional until posted final. On-track action continues Friday at the 12-turn 1.945-mile road course with the second TC practice session of the weekend at 12 noon PDT. The first TC race of the weekend is scheduled to go green Saturday, July 13 at 10:25 am PDT. All races will be streamed live on TCAmerica.us. CBS Sports Network coverage for TC America races at Portland airs July 24 starting at 7 pm EDT. Check your local listings for additional broadcast time and channel information.