Leifooghe, Murillo, O’Connell score PWC TC wins Saturday at COTA

Greg Liefooghe held off veteran Nick Wittmer in a wild Touring Car Round 9 40-minute sprint race Saturday at the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Texas at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

Kenny Murillo and Canaan O'Connell won the TCA and TCB class races, respectively.

• Results

Liefooghe, driving the No. 20 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M235iR, started from the pole and had to fight off Wittmer throughout the 15-lap TC event to win the Touring Car Round 9 by 1.537 seconds at the checkered flag.

Wittmer actually led a portion of the TC event before Liefooghe was able to regain the lead for the remainder of the race.

"It was a huge battle," said Liefooghe. "I think Nick's car was better than ours at the start of the race. Then our car came in and we were a little bit stronger at the end. Even though there are a lot of passing zones here, the cars perform really close together so it's difficult. It was great racing with them, it's super clean. We came out on top but we know they're going to come out strong tomorrow."

Third in Saturday's Touring Car division was Anthony Magagnoli in the Austin-based No. 80 Winding Road Team TFB BMW M235iR followed by defending TC series champion Toby Grahovec in the No. 1 Classic BMW BMW M235iR and Matt Travis in the No. 26 Classic BMW BMW M235iR.

The Hard Charger award in Saturday's TC division went to Anthony Geraci in the No. 69 S.A.C. Racing Audi RS3 LMS Club Sport, while veteran Gino Carini won the Best Start of the race in the No. 2 Classic BMW BMW M235iR.

Murillo, a Utah winner in TCA last month in the No. 33 Murillo Racing Mazda Global MX-5 Cup car, competed in a spirited race with Matthew Fassnacht in the No. 33 S.A.C. Racing Mazda MX-5 and reigning TCA champion Elivan Goulart in the No. 70 S.A.C. Racing Mazda Global MX-5 Cup car.

"The restart was kind of tough on me, since I kind of blew it," said Murillo. "But, I just kept my head down to scout out what everyone else was doing and scan for any weaknesses. It was kind of a challenge to get around Elivan (Goulart). It's a little tough when you have ten cars behind you and you're not sure if that's going to help you out. But I got a little lucky that I was on the last lap so they were fighting for second and third. Now I'll be ready to try again tomorrow."

Rounding out the top-five in TCA were local racer Jeff Sexton of Austin in the No. 89 Winding Road Team TFB Mazda Global MX-5 Cup and Tom O'Gorman of Mason, Ohio in the No. 94 Shea Racing Honda Civic Si.

The win for O'Connell was the fourth of the year in TCB in the No. 24 TechSport Racing Chevrolet Sonic, as the son of four-time GT champion Johnny O'Connell moved closer the TCB point lead entering Sunday's Touring Car Round 10 race set for 2:35 p.m. CT.

Utah winner P.J. Groenke was second Saturday in TCB with the No. 25 TechSport Racing Chevrolet Sonic, while third went to Ted Sahley in the No. 02 Believeland Motorsport Mazda 2.

"It was interesting that (the race) ended up being between P.J. (Groenke) and myself and he is a phenomenal teammate on and off the track," said O'Connell. "I knew that I couldn't afford to make any mistakes because he was glued to my bumper the whole race. I don't do a lot of mirror-driving. At the Bondurant racing school, we do a lot of lead/follow where students follow the lead driver. The Circuit of The Americas has been a track that I've really wanted to race on since it was created and to be able to do that and the first time take home a victory I'll never forget this moment."

Touring Car classes next take to the track at 2:35 p.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 3rd. All races from the GP of Texas at COTA will be live-streamed for free at World-Challenge.com and MotorTrendOnDemand.com.