Celso Neto crossed the finish line first in the final TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School event of the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, but the champagne tasted a little sweeter for Chris Walsh as he clinched the TCX class championship. Jeff Ricca swept the weekend in the TC class, taking home the title in the process. In TCA, it was a great homecoming affair for Karl Hertel, who won race two.
TC
As soon as the green flag waved to commence race two, Cristian Perocarpi did not lose any time applying pressure on Ricca’s No. 76 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC for the class lead. However, Perocarpi began to lose ground as his No. 37 MINI JCW Team MINI JCW TC Pro experienced an apparent mechanical failure and was brought into pit lane for repairs.
Perocarpi’s machine then had to go behind the wall for further assessment, which brought major implications into play as Ricca’s points lead was suddenly dramatically extended.
As Perocarpi was unable to return to the track and earn partial points, Ricca was therefore far enough ahead in the standings to clinch the championship early, cruising to victory for the second time this weekend and spraying some extra special champagne.
Sally McNulty joined her teammate on the podium, scoring a second-place finish in her No. 780 Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N1 TC, while Scott Thomson earned his first top three result of the season with the No. 66 MINI JCW Team MINI JCW TC Pro.
“Ron (Zaras) had to fly home early, but if he were here, I’d be cheering him on,” Ricca said. “None of this would have been possible without his help. I can’t thank the team enough—everyone, from the guys in Korea to the ones in the U.S., and Hyundai. This weekend has been something special. It started off on a real low, but to come out with a high like this—I honestly didn’t expect it. This is amazing, and I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped us. Until next time!”
TCX
Neto started from pole position in the No. 22 Skip Barber Racing Acura Integra Type S ahead of Walsh in the No. 104 Carrus Callas Raceteam BMW M2 CS (Cup), who immediately began applying pressure on the race leader.
The gap between the two frontrunners remained essentially nonexistent lap after lap, but Neto was positioning himself perfectly throughout each corner in order to keep his advantage on track.
Walsh made a late overtake attempt for the lead with 13m remaining in the race, which gave way to an intense battle between him and Neto, as the Brazilian fought back to reclaim the position, running Walsh wide and briefly off-track in the process.
Despite finishing second, the Carrus Callas Raceteam driver was able to clinch the TCX championship title as the checkered flag dropped. Drama unfolded for Cooper Broll and Aaron Kaplan on the last lap as the two made contact, resulting in a puncture for the No. 19 Skip Barber Racing Acura Integra Type S a few corners away from the checkered flag. Although Kaplan was originally sent spinning, he was able to recover to third place, rounding off the podium in his No. 18 Kaplan Racing Systems BMW M2 CS.