The TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School championship kicked off the on-track action at Road America bright and early Thursday morning, with the first practice session getting underway as the sun shined bright over the Wisconsin hills. The 25-minute run gave teams and drivers their first chance to shake down their cars ahead of the two sprint endeavors to come.
Jeff Ricca wasted no time putting his stamp on the session, jumping to the top of the timesheets early and holding firm in the No. 78 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO. Behind him, Jonathan Neudorf and Antonio Constantino slotted into second and third in their respective No. 4 and No. 3 JMF Motorsports Toyota GR Corolla TC machines, getting close to matching Ricca’s pace in the opening minutes.
Series newcomer Justin Gravett impressed from the outset in his No. 74 Ricca Autosport entry, showing competitive speed on debut.
The action briefly paused with a red flag just past the 10-minute mark, leaving roughly 15 minutes on the clock. Once the green flag returned with just under 10 minutes remaining, the field charged back into action. Gravett capitalized on the restart to climb to fourth, with teammate Eric Kunz moving into third in the No. 77 Hyundai, and Constantino ultimately rounding out the top five.
The strong early showing from Ricca, the consistency from Neudorf and Constantino, and the breakout pace from Gravett set the tone for what promises to be an exciting weekend of TC America competition at America’s National Park of Speed.
Let’s Get Racing
The TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School field will return to the track for Practice 2 Thursday, August 14th at 11:35 AM CT.
If you can’t make it to Road America, be sure to tune-in to SRO’s free live streams all weekend long on YouTube (GTWorld) and Twitch (SROMotorsports) and follow all the action through our social media channels and the event hashtag #GTRoadAmerica.