America's Gleason wins TCR International touring race at Singapore GP

There was only one American entered in the TCR International Series race Saturday night at the Singapore Grand Prix, but when it was over rookie Kevin Gleason was on the top step of the podium (ABOVE). Gleason's second victory this season in the international touring car series that includes support races at Formula 1 events had "The Star-Spangled Banner" playing in honor of the Johnstown, Pa. native. (Watch video highlights below).

Gleason started third in the 22-car field in the 10-lap/25-minute race at the 3.147-mile Marina Bay street circuit, which was the series' first street race and also its first race at night.

Driving the #24 Honda Civic TCR fielded by WestCoast Racing, Gleason moved into second at the start, but then had to fight off the advances of Pepe Oriola and Gianni Morbidelli on lap two. Their battle allowed polesitter Stefano Comini to get a healthy lead.

When Comini's SEAT Leon faltered for an instant on lap eight due to an electrical problem with the gearbox, Gleason seized his opportunity and passed Comini, the series point leader, on the frontstretch. Comini's car was up to full power before the pair entered Turn 1 but Gleason held him off there, and then didn't let him by on any of the other 22 turns in the remaining two laps either to earn the hard-fought victory.

Gleason's margin of victory over Comini was 0.819 seconds. Ex-F1 driver Morbidelli, one of Gleason's teammates, finished third and set the fastest lap of the race with a 2:26.693 on lap four, although Gleason ran a 2:26.749 on lap six.

"It was a tough race and a nice second win for me," Gleason said. "I had a good start, but I had a lot of pressure from Oriola and Gianni in the early laps. Then my pace improved in the middle portion of the race, and when Stefano lifted because of a problem, I took the lead. In the closing laps though, when his car was OK, I was under great pressure again. It was definitely a tough race, not only because of the competition but also due to the heat and night conditions, but there my experience in long-distance races helped."

Gleason started eighth and finished fifth in a similar race on Sunday. Gleason had a big battle with Lorenzo Veglia in that event, but Gleason surged ahead on the next-to-last lap to secure another top-five finish.

Gleason, who also won at Austria back in May, is fifth in the point standings out of 37 drivers with two events remaining. The next round is Oct. 24-25 at Buriram, Thailand, while the season finale is Nov. 20-22 in Macau, China.