Holton leads TC Round 11 winners

Paul Holton drove his No. 71 C360R Audi RS3 LMS sedan to a wire-to-wire victory Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the Touring Car Round 11 40-minute race as part of the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Monterey.

The 21-year-old racer Holton scored his third win of the 2017 campaign and extended his point lead to 14 with the series finale set for Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. PDT.

In the TCA division, Eric Powell drove his No. 23 TechSport Racing Scion FR-S to the win, while Canadian P.J. Groenke captured the TCB category Saturday in the No. 24 TechSport Racing Chevrolet Sonic.

Holton jumped to the lead immediately at the drop of the green flag Saturday morning from his pole position and never really looked back. He led by nearly seven seconds at lap 19 in the 25-lap feature.

"I lucked out on the start and the guys behind me looked like they were side-by-side for the first three or four corners and I got a big gap there," said Holton. "I hate to use the term 'the car was on rails' so I won't, but the car was absolutely amazing. I was starting to burn off the front tires a little towards the end. You know that the Mazdas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca are going to be really strong since it is their track after all. I can't thank Pfaff Automotive enough for this because we wouldn't be here if not for getting us into the car and bringing it to us, and everyone else. It will be fantastic to be able to bring home a championship."

Taking second and third Saturday were four-time 2017 race winner Greg Liefooghe in the No. 20 Stephen Cameron Racing BMW M235iR and five-time TC series champion Pierre Kleinubing in the No. 26 Classic BMW M235iR. Kleinubing made his first 2017 start Saturday and 143rd start of his PWC career.

Mark Drennan in the No. 54 Hooverspeed Mazda MX-5 and Nick Wittmer, in the No. 91 ST Racing BMW M235iR crossed the finish line in second and third place Saturday in the TC event. However, both drivers were disqualified for a technical infraction following the 40-minute race.

Recording the fourth- and fifth-place finishes were Tony Rivera in the No. 34 Brass Monkey Racing Nissan 370Z and reigning TC champion Toby Grahovec in the No. 1 Classic BMW BMW M235iR.

Powell posted an 8.516-second win in TCA in the Saturday morning 40-minute event over three-time 2017 race winner Kenny Murillo, in the No. 33 Murillo Racing Mazda Global MX-5 Cup car and Tom O'Gorman of Mason, Ohio in the No. 94 Shea Racing Honda Civic Si.

"The others were definitely able to put some pressure on me so it was just about hitting my marks in the first stage of the race and not giving those guys the opportunity," said Powell. "I had to be defensive. They kept me honest and I had to work for it, and that's good. The real difference is that the TechSport car is so well-balanced and we take care of it so well. I'm not abusing any one corner on the car and the tires just stay ultra-consistent throughout the entire race distance where you can see the other guys just have tire degradation throughout the race."

Placing fourth and fifth in Saturday's TCA Round 11 was Jeff Sexton in the No. 89 Winding Road Team Mazda Global MX-5 Cup car and current TCA point leader Matthew Fassnacht in the No. 74 S.A.C. Racing Mazda Global MX-5 Cup car. Unofficially, Fassnacht leads the TCA points by 16 entering Saturday's season finale (Round 12).

Groenke, the veteran racer, scored his second TCB win of the 2017 trail in a wild battle with Jake Pipal and pole winner Canaan O'Connell. The win for Groenke now has him tied with Pipal at 243 points for the TCB point lead entering the 2:15 p.m. PDT finale.

Second went to Pipal in the No. 6 Jake Pipal Racing Honda Fit, who led a majority of the 24-lap race. Third was O'Connell in the No. 24 TechSport Racing Chevrolet Sonic.

"That was some of the most intense racing that I've ever experienced," said Groenke. "I know it's an intense battle for the championship and me, Jake (Pipal) and Canaan (O'Connell) are all gunning for it. Those guys took off a little bit and I sat back, watching what they were doing. It looked like they might hit each other at some point so I was just biding my time, waiting for the right time to make a move and just worked out perfectly. Round 12 is where we let it all hang out and put it all on the line."

Round 12 races start with TCA/TCB at 2:15 p.m. PDT followed by TC at 4 p.m. PDT. Both races will be streamed live for free at World-Challenge.com and MotorTrendOnDemand.com.