Jeff Ricca (No. 78 GenRacer Hyundai Genesis Coupe) scored a dominant win in Saturday morning’s SRO TC America TC Series Round 13 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Johan Schwartz (No. 80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M240iR Cup), the polewinner and 2019 TC Driver’s Champion, finished second, while Chandler Hull (No. 94 Copart / BimmerWorld Racing BMW M240iR Cup) finished third.
Polewinner Schwartz led the 11-car field to the green but Ricca timed the green perfectly and nosed ahead through the first turn. Schwartz slotted into second, while Hull mmoved from his fourth-on-the-grid start up into third. Toby Grahovec (No. 26 Classic BMW BMW M240iR Cup) gained two positions on the start slotting into fourth on the first lap.
By the second lap, Ricca had built a .402 second gap on Schwartz, while Grahovec closed on Hull looking for a way through and into third. Ricca continued to build his lead over Schwartz by lap 4 setting the fastest race lap.
Through laps 5 to 13, Ricca continued to build his lead and gapped Schwartz by three seconds. Behind them Hull defended effectively and held off Grahovec in the battle for third.
On Lap 19, Grahovec and Hull went side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4 but the driver of the No. 94 machine was able to defend. Behind them, Auto Technic Racing’s Tom Capizzi piloting the No. 52 machine and Copart / BimmerWorld Racing’s Cameron Evans in the No. 82 BMW M240iR Cup, joined in, creating a four-way battle for third.
There were no more changes of position. Ricca took the checkered to claim his second win of the season.
“We came in early this morning and made some changes for the track conditions — and it paid off,” said Ricca. “My team put an awesome effort into keeping the tires on the car, and I just did what I needed to do to manage them. We had a nice gap so I let off a bit so we could get through the race and claim first place. Love it!”
TC America competitors now get ready for the final race of the 2019 season, Sunday, Oct. 20 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race is scheduled to go green at 10:10 am PDT. Follow the action via live stream at www.tcamerica.us/watch-live.
The series is closing out its 2019 season in Las Vegas at a weekend sponsored by R.U.N – the First Live Action Thriller produced by Cirque du Soleil.
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