2018 Utah Motorsports Campus - World Challenge

The 2018 Pirelli World Challenge season is the twenty-ninth consecutive year for the championship. There are six race weekends for the Touring Car categories. The title chase kicks-off in March at Circuit of the Americas. This event is followed by races at Virginia International Raceway, Lime Rock Park and the Portland International Raceway. The penultimate rounds are held at the Utah Motorsports Campus with the finale taking place at Watkins Glen International on the Labour Day weekend.

As in the previous year, there were three Touring groups; however, there were some significant changes. With dwindling entries in the Touring Car B class, series organizers decided it would not be included in the 2018 championship and was replaced by a new category, TCR.

Touring Car (TC) – This class is for smaller sedans and sports cars which are allowed some performance modifications. These front or rear-wheel-drive vehicles may be powered by turbocharged or normally aspirated engines. Examples of cars competing in this category include: Honda Civic Type R, Nissan 370Z, BMW235iR and Genesis Coupe.
Touring Car A (TCA) – Some of the cars competing in this class are the same as those found in Touring Car. What sets them apart is the minimum amount of modifications that can be made – most changes are to improve the safety of the vehicles. Using turbocharged or normally aspirated powerplants, these cars produce between 160 and 185-horsepower.
Touring Car Race (TCR) – This is an international class which was first introduced in 2014 to address the expense of competing in the World Touring Car Championship. These production-based cars are powered by 2.0-liter turbocharged engines which produce approximately 300-horsepower. Examples of vehicles competing in this category include: Audi RS 3 LMS, Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, Honda Civic Type-R TCR, Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR and Hyundai I30 N TCR.

Rounds nine and ten of the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge TCA/TCR season were conducted at the Utah Motorsports Campus. Nineteen drivers were scheduled to compete in the two forty-minute races around the fourteen-turn 3.048-mile ‘Outer Course’. The event was titled, The Grand Prix of Utah.

The start of round nine for the TCR and TCA Pirelli World Challenge classes at the Utah Motorsports Campus. Eleven TCR entries are the first to receive the Starter’s flag. Winning the drag race to corner one is the Hyundai I30 N TCR driven by the pole-sitter, Michael Lewis. Behind Lewis is his teammate and the third fastest qualifier, Mark Wilkins. The Honda Civic Type-R TCR of front row starter, Ryan Eversley trails the pair.

It was a productive weekend for the Bryan Herta Autosport driver, Mike Lewis. Lewis topped the timesheets in the Friday morning practice session and when it really counted – in qualifying. He led the weekend’s first race flag-to-flag. Sunday’s contest produced the same results, Lewis led every lap on the way to his fourth win of the season. More importantly, he is within seven points of the championship leader, Ryan Eversley.

Never far behind Michael Lewis was his teammate in the No. 99 Hyundai I30 N TCR, Mark Wilkins. Wilkins was second quickest in the opening practice session and was gridded third for the start of Saturday’s race. At the beginning of round nine, he jumped into second place and finished 2.613-seconds behind the race winner. In a repeat performance, Wilkins grabbed another runner-up result.

Another driver having a dominant weekend was TCA competitor, Tom O’Gorman. O’Gorman started round nine on the outside of the front row and during the race was challenged by the Subaru BRZ of Eric Powell. Eventually, he broke away from Powell and grabbed the victory by a margin of 13.91-seconds. On Sunday, O’Gorman scored another win. More importantly, he is one point shy of clinching the title.

The TCR class podium for round nine of the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge series. To the left is the runner-up, Mark Wilkins from Herta Autosport. And, on the right competing in the RealTime Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR is the third-place finisher and point’s leader, Ryan Eversley. In the center, is the victor, Michael Lewis who closed the points gap on Eversley to just seven markers with only two events remaining in the season.

Race one at the Grand Prix of Utah for the TCA/TCR classes. Second fastest TCA qualifier, Tom O’Gorman driving the No. 94 TOMO Racing Honda Civic Si shot into the lead. Following O’Gorman are the TechSport Racing Subarus of the pole-sitter, Eric Powell, Jeff Sexton and P.J. Groenke and the Mazda MX-5 Cup of Jenny Gannett.

It appeared that the only TCA competitor to be a threat to Tom O’Gorman was Eric Powell driving the TechSport Racing prepared Subaru BRZ tS. Entering the Utah Motorsports Campus rounds, Powell was second in the standings with victories at COTA, VIR and Lime Rock. Powell qualified on the pole for round nine but could not match O’Gorman’s pace and settled for second. The following day, he did not complete a lap.

Moisey Uretsky drove the No. 55 Mazda MX-5 Cup prepared by Murillo Racing. Uretsky’s performances appeared to be improving with each event he entered. In round seven at Portland, he earned his first TCA podium. Uretsky started Saturday’s race fifteenth overall and finished fourth in class. In round ten, he scored his second rostrum of the season with a third in TCA.

The TCR point’s leader, Ryan Eversley wasn’t a factor in Friday’s practice sessions – only third and fifth quickest. In qualifying, the driver of the No. 43 RealTime Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR was second fastest. Unfortunately, Eversley could not hold-off the third-place starter, Mark Wilkins in round nine and grabbed the final spot on the class podium. Again on Sunday, he was outpaced by the Herta Autosport drivers.

TechSport Racing’s Jeff Sexton was coming of a ‘hot streak’ – he won rounds seven and eight at Portland International Raceway. In the weekend’s first event, Sexton was gridded fourteen overall and third in TCA. During the race, he was able to maintain his position and earned his fifth podium of the season. On Sunday, Sexton went one better and captured a runner-up finish in class.

The 2018 Touring Car A podium for round ten at the Utah Motorsports Campus. On the top step is Tom O’Gorman – this was O’Gorman’s fifth class win of the season. Taking the runner-up spot is TechSport Racing’s, Jeff Sexton who was victorious in the previous rounds at Portland. The final position on the rostrum belonged to Mazda MX-5 Cup driver, Moisey Uretsky who matched his best performance of the season.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	TCR	Michael Lewis	Bryan Herta Autosport / Hyundai I30 N TCR	20
2	3	TCR	Mark Wilkins	Bryan Herta Autosport / Hyundai I30 N TCR	20
3	2	TCR	Ryan Eversley	RealTime Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	20
4	7	TCR	Matt Fassnacht	Murillo Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	20
5	6	TCR	Michael Hurczyn	FCP Euro by HRD / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
6	8	TCR	Jarett Andretti	Copeland Motorsports / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
7	11	TCR	Nate Vincent	FCP Euro by HRD / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
8	5	TCR	JT Coupal	Compass Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	20
9	9	TCR	Anthony Geraci	Heinlein Racing Development / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	20
10	4	TCR	Mason Filippi	RealTime Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	20
11	10	TCR	Dwight Merriman	Heinlein Racing Development / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
1	2	TCA	Tom O'Gorman	RealTime Racing / Honda Civic Si	19
2	1	TCA	Eric Powell	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	19
3	3	TCA	Jeff Sexton	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	19
4	4	TCA	Moisey Uretsky	Murillo Racing / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	18
5	6	TCA	Breton Williams	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	18
6	5	TCA	Spencer Patterson	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	18
7	7	TCA	P.J. Groenke	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	18
8	8	TCA	Jenny Gannett	Ian Lacy Racing / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	18

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	TCR	Michael Lewis	Bryan Herta Autosport / Hyundai I30 N TCR	20
2	2	TCR	Mark Wilkins	Bryan Herta Autosport / Hyundai I30 N TCR	20
3	3	TCR	Ryan Eversley	RealTime Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	20
4	4	TCR	Matt Fassnacht	Murillo Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	20
5	7	TCR	Michael Hurczyn	FCP Euro by HRD / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
6	6	TCR	Mason Filippi	RealTime Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	20
7	5	TCR	Jarett Andretti	Copeland Motorsports / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
8	8	TCR	JT Coupal	Compass Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	20
9	11	TCR	Dwight Merriman	Heinlein Racing Development / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	20
NC	10	TCR	Nate Vincent	FCP Euro by HRD / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	1
NC	9	TCR	Anthony Geraci	Heinlein Racing Development / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	1
1	1	TCA	Tom O'Gorman	RealTime Racing / Honda Civic Si	19
2	4	TCA	Jeff Sexton	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	19
3	3	TCA	Moisey Uretsky	Murillo Racing / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	19
4	7	TCA	Jenny Gannett	Ian Lacy Racing / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	19
5	8	TCA	P.J. Groenke	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	16
6	6	TCA	Spencer Patterson	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	14
NC	5	TCA	Breton Williams	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	8
NC	2	TCA	Eric Powell	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	0

Copyright Notice:

All content (photographs and text) appearing on this website are the exclusive property of © www.zoompics.com and are protected under International copyright laws. The subject matter on this website may not be reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated.