- First Series Win for Ricca Autosport’s Rosenberg
- Championship Battle Tightens Between Arthur and Castro
- Race 1 Provisional Results
Matan Rosenberg scored his maiden TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School victory in a dramatic opening race at Barber Motorsports Park, while the championship battle was turned on its head with just three races remaining.
Rosenberg inherited the lead late in the race and held on through a late full-course yellow to secure his first career victory in the No. 78 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO. Logan Anderson followed in second in the No. 25 Skip Barber Racing Acura Integra Type-S DE5, earning his first career TC America podium, while Shelby Mills completed the podium with a career-first third-place finish in the No. 18 Fawn Group MS by Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO.
The race began with a Ricca Autosport fight for the lead, as Justin Gravett in the No. 8 Hyundai battled teammate Andre Castro in the No. 77 for the top spot. Braydon Arthur, meanwhile, battled for third in the opening corner aboard the No. 4 JMF Motorsports Toyota GR Corolla TC before moving clear of the pack.
Rosenberg spent the opening stages keeping Arthur honest as he chased the final podium position, while also fending off Eric Kunz in the No. 33 Ricca Autosport Hyundai.
The race quickly took its toll on the field, however, with an issue for Aidan Shimbashi's No. 3 JMF Motorsports Toyota on the start forcing the car into retirement.
The complexion of the race changed dramatically at the halfway point when Castro encountered an issue that dropped the championship contender down to seventh. After briefly returning to the track, Castro was back on pit lane with apparent problems. Kunz also made a pit-lane visit after running fifth.
Those issues promoted Arthur into second and Rosenberg into third, with Anderson moving into fourth.
With 18 minutes remaining, the Ricca Autosport troubles continued when race leader Gravett encountered an issue, handing the lead to Arthur and putting the championship leader in position to score a major haul of points.
However, that advantage disappeared with just nine minutes remaining. Arthur ran wide and went into the gravel, with an apparent left-front issue bringing out a full-course yellow. The incident promoted Rosenberg into the lead, with Anderson moving to second and Mills into third.
The full course yellow remained until the checkered flag, allowing Rosenberg to secure his first TC America victory. Anderson and Mills joined him on the podium for their respective maiden top-three finishes.
The result also has major implications for the championship. Arthur finished ninth, while Castro finished eighth. Arthur's championship advantage in still intact but the margin sits at just 5 points, setting up a dramatic final three races of the season.
“The start didn't go as well as I was hoping,” said Matan Rosenberg. “Braydon had a strong start and I was just trying to stay in touch with him the whole race and keep a consistent pace. It was unfortunate to see teammates and other competitors drop out with mechanical issues, but I just tried to run my race as consistently as possible. I can't thank Hyundai and Jeff and the Ricca Autosport team for all the support this weekend. We had an unfortunate weekend at Road America, so to come back for this feels really amazing. It’s really a dream come true, looking forward to hopefully more.”
Let’s Get Racing
The TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School field will return to the track for Race 2 on Saturday morning, September 26th at 9:25 AM CT.
If you can’t make it to Barber, 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 #GTBHM.