2014 Mid-Ohio - World Challenge

The 2014 World Challenge season was the twenty-fifth consecutive year for the series. There were eleven race weekends – the series kicked-off in March at St. Petersburg, Florida and ended at Miller Motorsports Park in September.

Two new classes were introduced in 2014 – GTA and TCA. There were now three categories for Grand Touring and Touring cars:

Grand Touring (GT) – This is the series quickest group. Examples of vehicles racing in this class include: Porsche 911 GT3 R, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, McLaren 12C GT3, Cadillac CTS-V R, Lamborghini Gallardo FL2, Audi R8 and Ferrari 458 GT3.
Grand Touring Sportsman (GTA) – This class includes the same vehicles as GT. However, the drivers are not considered professionals. Competitors in this category are evaluated after each event and based on their performance may be elevated to the GT class.
Grand Touring Sport (GTS) – The cars in this category are similar to the GT vehicles but have more preparation restrictions. This class includes the Ford Mustang Boss 302, Chevrolet Camaro, Aston Martin GT4 and Porsche Cayman S.
Touring Car (TC) – This division is for smaller sedans and sports cars which are permitted some performance modifications. Examples of vehicles competing in this category include: Honda Accord, Kia Forte, Mazda MX-5 and Porsche Boxster.
Touring Car A (TCA) – Many of the cars competing in this category are the same as those found in Touring Car. What sets them apart are the minimum amount of modifications that can be made – most changes are to improve the safety of the vehicles.
Touring Car B (TCB) - The slowest of all the World Challenge categories is based on the Sports Car Club of America’s B-Spec class. Examples of vehicles competing in this group include: Chevrolet Sonic, Honda Fit, Mazda 2 and Mini Cooper.

During the 2014 season, the GT cars would compete in sixteen fifty-minute races. The Touring Cars had fourteen forty-minute events. Results from these races would determine Driver and Manufacturer Champions in the six classes.

The Mid-Ohio weekend hosted rounds nine and ten for the Touring Car classes. Twenty-six TC, TCA and TCB drivers competed on Mid-Ohio’s 2.258-mile thirteen-turn road course.

The Touring Car grid for round ten of the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge series. n the pole is the No. 94 Nissan Altima Coupe driven by Steven Doherty. Sharing the front row with Doherty is Michael DiMeo in a Compass 360 prepared Honda Civic Si. Starting third is Doherty’s teammate, Bryan Heitkotter in another Nissan Altima Coupe.

Gridded eighth in Touring Car B for round nine was the Mini Cooper of Tyler Palmer. Palmer wasted little time moving through the field and by lap-7 took the lead. He went on to win the race and earned the ‘Invisible Glass Clean Pass of the Race’ award. This was Palmer’s second victory of the season. On Saturday, he started second in class but finished fourth.

Nissan Academy driver, Steven Doherty didn’t make his first appearance in the series until mid-season at Road America. But his impact was felt immediately as he won in his maiden outing. In the weekend’s first event, Doherty started third and finished second – setting the fastest race lap in the process. On Saturday, he started from the pole and was 5.524-seconds behind the winner, Michael DiMeo at the checkered flag.

Mid-Ohio track instructor, Jason Wolfe put his knowledge of the course to good use. Wolfe was the slowest of the TCA entries but in the wet conditions during round nine moved up to second overall. At the finish, he was third overall and took the class victory. Wolfe’s driving display earned him the ‘Optima Batteries Best Start of the Race’ and ‘Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race’ awards. On Sunday, he captured the final spot on the class podium.

An accident at Road America prevented Brian Price from competing in rounds seven and eight. But Price’s performances before the incident, four wins in six starts, allowed him to maintain the TCB points lead entering Mid-Ohio. With his Honda Fit repaired, he was back on form. Price qualified second quickest in class but in the damp conditions dropped to ninth. On Saturday, he started eighth but finished in the runner-up position.

At Mid-Ohio, Touring Car point’s leader, Michael DiMeo added two more victories to his season total. In Friday’s race, DiMeo started on the pole in the No. 71 Honda Civic Si and led flag-to-flag – winning by a margin of 14.102-seconds. Round ten was more difficult as he swapped the lead several times with Adam Poland. On lap-24, Poland spun handing DiMeo his eighth win of 2014.

Although the slowest on the three Touring Car classes, TCB had the most entries – a field of thirteen cars started rounds nine and ten. On the pole for Saturday’s race was Chase Pelletier driving the No. 12 American Honda Honda Fit. Starting on the outside of the TCB front row is Friday’s winner, Tyler Palmer running the MINI USA Mini Cooper.

Despite only four entries in the TCA category, it was a very competitive race. Qualifying eleventh overall and first in class was Shea Holbrook driving the Radium/TRUE Car/Lucas Oil Honda Civic Si. Unfortunately for Holbrook, she finished fourth and last in the TCA group but she had the consolation of recording the quickest race lap. On Saturday, she redeemed herself by scoring her third victory of the season.

Mid-Ohio was the first race of the season for Canadian Chase Pelletier. Pelletier was gridded last for the weekend’s first event but moved through the field but finished fifth in TCB. He also recorded the fastest race lap which gave him the class pole for round ten. But Saturday’s race proved to be very challenging as four drivers exchanged the lead. On lap-12, Pelletier took first place for good and won by a margin of 5.481-seconds.

Ernie Francis Jr. missed the opening round at Barber Motorsport Park but had a string of podium finishes until the eighth event at Road America. Francis scored a win at CTMP and was looking for his second victory at Mid-Ohio. In Friday’s race, he started and finished second in TCA driving the No. 98 Mazda MX-5. Francis’ performance in round ten was similar – he was gridded third but took the runner-up position.

Also making his first appearance of the season was retired GM Engineer, John Heinricy. Heinricy started round nine fifteenth overall but first in TCB. The driver of No. 35 Chevrolet Sonic finished second – 10.419-seconds behind the class winner, Tyler Palmer. On Saturday, Heinricy was gridded fourth but moved into the class lead on lap-8. Four laps later he was passed by the eventual winner, Chase Pelletier. At the checkered flag, Heinricy was fifth.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	TC	Michael DiMeo	Honda Civic Si	20	-
2	TC	Steven Doherty	Nissan Altima Coupe	20	-
3	TC	Bryan Heitkotter	Nissan Altima Coupe	20	-
4	TC	Tony Rivera	Scion FRS Coupe	20	-
5	TC	Adam Poland	Mazda MX-5	20	-
6	TC	Ron Yarab	Honda Civic Si	20	-
7	TC	Brandon Peterson	Honda Civic Si	19	-
8	TC	Emilee Tominovich	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	19	-
9	TC	Kevin Anderson	Mazda RX-8	0	Mechanical

1	TCA	Jason Wolfe	Kia Forte Koup	20	-
2	TCA	Ernie Francis	Mazda MX-5	19	-
3	TCA	Jason Cherry	Mazda MX-5	19	-
4	TCA	Shea Holbrook	Honda Civic Si	19	-

1	TCB	Tyler Palmer	Mini Cooper	19	-
2	TCB	John Heinricy	Chevrolet Sonic	19	-
3	TCB	Glenn Nixon	Mini Cooper	19	-
4	TCB	P.J. Groenke	Honda Fit	19	-
5	TCB	Chase Pelletier	Honda Fit	19	-
6	TCB	Austin Snader	Fiat 500	19	-
7	TCB	Jason Fichter	Mini Cooper	18	-
8	TCB	Tom Noble	Mini Cooper	18	-
9	TCB	Brian Price	Honda Fit	18	-
10	TCB	Nathan Stacy	Ford Fiesta	18	-
11	TCB	Leo Parente	Fiat 500	18	-
12	TCB	Paul Holton	Honda Fit	17	-
13	TCB	Andrei Kisel	Mini Cooper	17	-

POS.	CLASS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	TC	Michael DiMeo	Honda Civic Si	25	-
2	TC	Steven Doherty	Nissan Altima Coupe	25	-
3	TC	Adam Poland	Mazda MX-5	25	-
4	TC	Kevin Anderson	Mazda RX-8	25	-
5	TC	Emilee Tominovich	Volkswagen Jetta GLI	25	-
6	TC	Brandon Peterson	Honda Civic Si	25	-
7	TC	Tony Rivera	Scion FRS Coupe	25	-
8	TC	Ron Yarab	Honda Civic Si	25	-
9	TC	Bryan Heitkotter	Nissan Altima Coupe	2	Mechanical

1	TCA	Shea Holbrook	Honda Civic Si	25	-
2	TCA	Ernie Francis	Mazda MX-5	25	-
3	TCA	Jason Cherry	Mazda MX-5	24	-
4	TCA	Jason Wolfe	Kia Forte Koup	24	-

1	TCB	Chase Pelletier	Honda Fit	23	-
2	TCB	Brian Price	Honda Fit	23	-
3	TCB	Nathan Stacy	Ford Fiesta	23	-
4	TCB	Tyler Palmer	Mini Cooper	22	-
5	TCB	John Heinricy	Chevrolet Sonic	22	-
6	TCB	Glenn Nixon	Mini Cooper	22	-
7	TCB	Paul Holton	Honda Fit	22	-
8	TCB	Andrei Kisel	Mini Cooper	22	-
9	TCB	P.J. Groenke	Honda Fit	22	-
10	TCB	Jason Fichter	Mini Cooper	22	-
11	TCB	Tom Noble	Mini Cooper	22	-
12	TCB	Dan Goodman	Fiat 500	22	-
13	TCB	Austin Snader	Fiat 500	4	Accident

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