2019 Road America - World Challenge

2019 was the thirtieth consecutive year for the World Challenge series. All Touring Car classes would now compete in the TC America championship.

As in the previous year, there were three Touring groups:

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, BMW M235iR, BMW M240iR 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 power plants, these cars produce between 160 and 185-horsepower.
Touring Car Race (TCR) – This is an international class that 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 Veloster N TCR. This category has been split into two groups – TCR and TCR Cup. The Cup division was added for gentleman and amateur drivers and cars equipped with a DSG transmission. TCR is for FIA rated Gold, Silver and Bronze drivers.

The TCR and TCA title chases kick off in March at Circuit of the Americas followed a week later by an event at St. Petersburg, Florida. The teams will not participate until late April at Virginia International Raceway. This will be followed by the west coast swing when race weekends will take place at Sonoma Raceway and Portland International Raceway. On the Labour Day weekend, drivers will compete at Watkins Glen International. The penultimate round will be held mid-September at Road America and the finale will take place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.

TC competitors also begin their season at Circuit of the Americas but do not compete again until late April at Virginia International Raceway. The remainder of the schedule is the same as the TCR and TCA classes. Teams will travel to California and Oregon for races at Sonoma Raceway and Portland International Raceway. Then it is back to the east coast for a weekend at Watkins Glen International. The penultimate events will be at Road America with the championships concluding at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

At Road America, TCR and TCA drivers would compete in the penultimate race weekend. Teams would participate in two 40-minute races around the fourteen-turn 4.048-mile road course.

Heavy rain on Sunday led to safety concerns which caused series officials to use two pace laps and a single file start. Following the Acura NSX pace car is the overall and TCR pole-sitter, Michael Hurczyn, in the No. 71 Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. Behind Hurczyn is the Honda Civic TCR of Victor Gonzalez and Hurczyn’s teammate, Nate Vincent. A total of twenty-drivers started race-two with only one competitor failing to finish.

Nate Vincent is currently trailing his teammate, Michael Hurczyn, in the TCR title chase. Vincent closed the points gap with his second victory of the season at Road America. On Sunday, the driver of the No. 72 FCP Euro sponsored Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR finished second which was ahead of Hurczyn. Vincent has closed Hurczyn’s championship lead to within forty-markers with just two races remaining in the 2019 season.

TCA title contender, Mark Pombo, was joined by his brother, Matt, at Road America. Matt drove the No. 61 MINI Cooper JCW. He was familiar with the car and track as last year he competed in IMSA’s Continental Sportcar Challenge. Matt’s experience showed as he started twelfth in class on Sunday and moved through the field. On the final lap in the last corner, he made a pass on the race leader, Nick Wittmer, for the win.

Mazda driver, Tyler Maxton, grabbed the TCA championship lead at Watkins Glen International with a pair of third-place finishes. But at Road America, Maxton was about to experience a weekend similar to the one that the previous points leader, Nick Wittmer had at Watkins Glen. He was only able to score nine-points after finishes of sixth and eleventh place in class. Maxton dropped to second place in the standings.

On Sunday at Road America, Puerto Rican competitor, Victor Gonzalez won his second race of the season – his first was at Sonoma Raceway. Driving the VGMC Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR, he started second. On lap-2, the race leader, Michael Hurczyn, went wide in turn one and Gonzalez grabbed first place and maintained the position to the checkered flag. The previous day, he qualified second and finished third.

In Saturday’s event, Chris Haldeman driving the X-Factor Racing Honda Civic Si qualified on the class pole. A demon start saw him rocket to fourth overall but he was soon passed by the quicker TCR competitors. Haldeman traded the top spot with Matt Pombo, Mark Pombo and Nick Wittmer before grabbing a last-lap victory. In race two, he started seventh in TCA and earned the final position on the podium.

Tomas Mejia didn’t join the series until rounds nine and ten at Watkins Glen, but he made his presence felt immediately with a third and fifth-place finish. It should have been of no surprise as the youngster has competed in the NASA Spec Miata Class and EXR Series. On Saturday, at Road America, Mejia earned another third-place result. He started race two on the pole but could not maintain the pace of the leaders.

Entering Watkins Glen International, Nick Wittmer was the TCA championship leader. But he only managed to score six-points that weekend and lost the lead to Tyler Maxton. At Road America, Wittmer and the TechSport Racing team were back on form. In race one, Wittmer started fourth and took a turn in the top spot before finishing second. On Sunday, it was another runner-up finish, but he regained the points lead.

Michael Hurczyn was driving the No. 71 Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR with backing from FCP Euro leads the championship standings. In qualifying for the first race at Road America, Hurczyn was fourth fastest and finished in the runner-up position. The following day, he was gridded on the pole but an error on lap-2 allowed the eventual winner, Victor Gonzalez, to take the lead. Hurczyn maintained the position to the checkered flag.

Nick Wittmer entered the weekend at Sonoma with nearly twice as many points as his nearest rival, Tyler Maxson (100 to 51-points). In both practice sessions, Wittmer trailed Maxson but in qualifying, he fell to third fastest. From here, the event went downhill. After sweeping the races at COTA and VIR, Wittmer had transmission problems in Saturday’s contest and finished twelfth. In round six, he was fourth but still leading the championship.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	3	TCR	Nate Vincent	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	15
2	4	TCR	Michael Hurczyn	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	15
3	2	TCR	Victor Gonzalez	VGMC Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	15
4	5	TCR	James Walker	Risi Competizione / Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	15
5	7	TCR Cup	Christian Cole	McCann Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	15
6	1	TCR	Michael McCann Jr	McCann Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	15
7	8	TCA	Chris Haldeman	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
8	11	TCA	Nick Wittmer	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	15
9	15	TCA	Tomas Mejia	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	15
10	18	TCA	Taylor Hagler	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
02	19	TCA	Stephen Jeu	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
74	17	TCA	Tyler Maxson	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	15
25	13	TCA	Cole Ciraulo	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
59	9	TCA	Mark Pombo	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	15
70	14	TCA	Dean Copeland	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	14
44	16	TCA	P.J. Groenke	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	14
22	20	TCA	Damon Surzyshyn	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	13
NC	6	TCR Cup	Bryan Putt	ROWE Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	9
NC	10	TCA	Mat Pombo	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	8
NC	12	TCA	Nate Norenberg	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	6

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	2	TCR	Victor Gonzalez	VGMC Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	15
2	1	TCR	Michael Hurczyn	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	15
3	3	TCR	Nate Vincent	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	15
4	4	TCR	James Walker	Risi Competizione / Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	15
5	7	TCR Cup	Bryan Putt	ROWE Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	15
6	19	TCA	Mat Pombo	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	15
7	9	TCA	Nick Wittmer	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	15
8	14	TCA	Chris Haldeman	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
9	6	TCR Cup	Christian Cole	McCann Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	15
10	13	TCA	Taylor Hagler	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
02	11	TCA	Stephen Jeu	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	15
60	12	TCA	Nate Norenberg	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	14
3	13	TCR	Michael McCann Jr	McCann Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	14
44	14	TCA	P.J. Groenke	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	14
59	15	TCA	Mark Pombo	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	14
62	16	TCA	Tomas Mejia	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	14
25	17	TCA	Cole Ciraulo	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	14
74	18	TCA	Tyler Maxson	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	14
22	19	TCA	Damon Surzyshyn	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	13
NC	11	TCA	Dean Copeland	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	5

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