- Lambros Charges from 13th to Top Five
- Toyota Cuts Into Championship Deficit
- Race 1 Provisional Results
Following a difficult weekend at Sebring that yielded zero championship points, Braydon Arthur and JMF Motorsports responded in the best way possible on Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Starting from pole position, Arthur controlled Race 1 from the front to claim an important victory and begin clawing back valuable points in the TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing championship battle.
The race began cleanly, with championship leader Andre Castro in the No. 77 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO and teammate Justin Gravett in the No. 8 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO running side-by-side into Turn 1, though both maintained their positions behind the pole-sitting No. 4 JMF Motorsports Toyota GR Corolla TC of Arthur.
Further back, Mike Lamarra in the No. 73 Precision Racing LA Acura Integra Type-S DE5 experienced gearbox issues on the formation lap, dropping to the rear of the field before the green flag even waved.
The opening laps featured an impressive charge from Dean Lambros in the No. 7 Skip Barber Racing Acura Integra Type-S DE5, who sliced through the field after starting thirteenth. Lambros quickly found himself pressuring Eric Kunz in the No. 33 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO, eventually making the pass and climbing all the way to fifth position within the first few laps.
At the front, Arthur focused on rebuilding momentum in the championship standings. Entering the weekend, Castro held a 30-point advantage after Arthur’s scoreless Sebring outing, a dramatic swing from the 20-point lead Arthur held prior to the Florida rounds. Arthur steadily built a gap of more than a second over Castro, while Gravett and Jeff Ricca in the No. 78 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO remained close behind in third and fourth.
A spirited midfield battle developed between JMF Motorsports teammates Jesse Dorkin in the No. 3 Toyota GR Corolla TC and James Klimas in the No. 2 Toyota GR Corolla TC. The pair traded positions over multiple laps, with Klimas completing a move before the chicane only to surrender the spot back to Dorkin moments later. Lamarra, despite his earlier issues, joined the battle looking for an opening before his race came to an end with smoke pouring out of his machine.
The race’s defining incident occurred when Kunz suffered a front-left suspension failure, sending the Hyundai into the tire barriers. The impact brought out the first full-course yellow of the 2026 TC America season.
The caution period ultimately brought the race to a close behind the safety car, securing Arthur’s first victory since COTA. Castro crossed the line second, still continuing to extend his overall points lead, while Gravett completed the podium for another strong result for Ricca Autosport.
“It’s really rewarding,” said Arthur after the race. “Coming off Sebring, we weren’t disappointed, but we were definitely on the back foot because of everything that happened. That’s how race weekends go sometimes. The only thing you can do is prepare for the next one and come out swinging like we did. Pole position and the win today, we’re really happy and we’ll try to do it again tomorrow.”
Let’s Get Racing
The TC America powered by Skip Barber field will return to the track for Race 2 on Saturday morning, June 13th at 9:20 AM ET.
If you can’t make it to Road Atlanta, 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 #GTRoadAtlanta.