Emich VWs 1-2 in Opening Mid-Ohio Touring Car Practice

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LEXINGTON, Ohio – Fred Emich (Touring Car), Ernie Francis Jr. (Touring Car A) and Chase Pelletier (Touring Car B-Spec) were fastest in this morning’s opening 30-minute practice session for the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge Presented by StopTech, Rounds 9 and 10 of the Pirelli World Challenge TC, TCA and TCB seasons.Emich, of Denver, Col., set a best time of 1:36.059 in the No. 30 Emich Volkswagen Volkswagen Jetta GTI. However, he had an incident at the end of the session at Turn 1, which caused a red flag that ended the session two minutes early.

Emich’s teammate, Emilee Tominovich of Laurel, Md., was second in the No. 19 Chesapeake Electrical Systems, Inc./Charter Financial Group Volkswagen Jetta GLI (1:37.211) with Round 7 polesitter Bryan Heitkotter, of Fresno, Calf., third in the No. 93 Nissan/GT Academy/Skullcandy Nissan Altima Coupe (1:37.477).

Francis Jr., of Dania, Fla., led the TCA field at a 1:39.592 in the No. 98 Breathless Performance Mazda MX-5. Second was points leader and local driver Jason Wolfe, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in the No. 36 Wolfe Trucking Kia Forte Koup (1:39.751) and third was Jason Cherry, of Gambrills, Md., in the No. 13 Autism Society of America/Avpro/Purposeful Architecture Mazda MX-5 (1:41.472).

Pelletier, of Brampton, Ontario, led his first practice session of the year in the Garrett Racing/Drive4Diabetes entry, the No. 12 ADA/Lilly Diabetes/American Honda Honda Fit, at 1:47.996.

Second was Tyler Palmer, of San Diego, Calif., in the No. 37 MINI USA/Mobil 1/Flying L Racing/ThePainter’sFriend.com/Discount Tire Mini Cooper (1:48.562) and third was Glenn Nixon, of Mission, B.C., in the No. 58 Racing.ca/LaptopScreen.com/Nixon Prosports Mini Cooper (1:48.605).

Of note, Leo Parente, of New York, NY in the No. 00 FIAT USA/Pirelli Tire/SRT Motorsports FIAT 500 clocked in a practice lap of 1:52.018. Parente, along with Dan Goodman, are racing to support and benefit the Maxton’s Fight Foundation this weekend. 

The next session for TC, TCA and TCB is its qualifying, which runs from 11 to 11:30 a.m.