2019 Sonoma Raceway - Touring Car America

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 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 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 Sonoma Raceway, TCR and TCA drivers would compete for class titles in the 2019 TC America championship. Teams would participate in two 40-minute races around the twelve-turn, 2.52-mile road course.

Saturday afternoon at Sonoma Raceway and nine TCR competitors head into corner two for the first lap of round seven. The Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster N TCR of the pole-sitter, Mason Filippi leads the field. Following Filippi and running ‘nose to tail’ are the FCP Euro teammates, Michael Hurczyn and Nate Vincent – both driving Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. Beside Hurczyn is the third fastest qualifier, Harry Cheung in a Honda.

Victor Gonzalez, Jr. made his series debut at Virginia International Raceway where he scored a second and third place in the TCR category. Despite qualifying fifth for Saturday’s contest, Gonzalez would take advantage of incidents during the race and move up the order. On the last lap, he took the lead in the final hairpin for his first series victory. The following day, the No. 99 VGMC Honda Civic Type-R started fifth and finished second.

Tyler Maxson, second in the TCA championship standings, was the quickest in both practice sessions driving the No. 74 Mazda MX-5 Cup. Maxson had two runner-up finishes in 2019 but was yet to score a victory – that would change at Sonoma. In qualifying for round five, he topped the class timesheets. During race one, Maxson lost the lead but took it back before the checker. He started second in Sunday’s contest but finished first.

Former IMSA Street Tuner competitor, Mark Pombo started the 2019 season strong with a pair of second place finishes at Circuit of the Americas. Since then his racing luck had been all bad – leaving him fifth in the title chase. Pombo started second in race one at Sonoma and led seven laps before finishing in the runner-up spot. On Sunday, he started on the TCA pole but lost first place on the opening lap and finished second.

The start of round five for the Touring Car A category at Sonoma Raceway. Leading the field up the hill into corner two is the pole-sitter, Tyler Maxson driving the Copeland Motorsports prepared Mazda MX-5 Cup. Immediately behind Maxson is the MINI JCW Team MINI Cooper JCW of second place starter, Mark Pombo. Trailing Pombo are the TechSport Racing teammates, Nick Wittmer and Robert Crocker.

The No. 12 Copeland Motorsports prepared Hyundai Veloster N TCR was piloted by Mason Filippi. Filippi was quickest in both practice sessions and as expected started on the pole. It appeared that he would dominate round seven but Michael Hurczyn caught and passed him on lap-13. Then, Filippi had contact Nate Vincent which damaged the car and left him with a fifth-place finish. On Sunday, he redeemed himself with a victory.

The TCR championship leader Michael Hurczyn in the No. 71 FCP Euro VW Golf GTI started Saturday’s race in the second position. Hurczyn trailed the pole-sitter, Mason Filippi, until lap-13 when he grabbed the lead. Unable to hold off Victor Gonzalez, Hurczyn finished second. In the weekend’s final event, he would capture the final spot on the podium but more critical, he retained the lead in the title chase.

Former Ferrari Challenge series competitor, James Walker, Jr. made his TC America debut in the opening rounds at COTA. Driving the Risi Competizione prepared Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR, Walker had his best result to date at St Pete where he finished second. Walker started the weekend’s first race in sixth place but was able to take advantage of the incidents during the contest and finished third. On Sunday, he was fifth.

X-Factor Racing was back with a fleet of five TCA class Honda Civic Si. As was the case at Virginia International Raceway, Chris Haldeman was quickest of the bunch. In qualifying at Sonoma, Haldeman was seventh fastest in class but at the checkered flag, he was third place. Haldeman’s performance in round five earned him the third starting position in Sunday’s contest. After forty minutes of racing, he held on to the third position.

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	5	TCR	Victor Gonzalez	VGMC Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	22
2	2	TCR	Michael Hurczyn	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	22
3	6	TCR	James Walker	Risi Competizione / Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	22
4	4	TCR	Nate Vincent	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	22
5	1	TCR	Mason Filippi	Copeland Motorsports / Hyundai Veloster N TCR	22
6	8	TCR Cup	Bryan Putt	ROWE Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	22
7	9	TCR Cup	Christian Cole	McCann Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	22
8	7	TCR Cup	Stephen Vajda	EXR Team by Premat / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	22
8	3	TCR Cup	Harry Cheung	LAP Motorsports / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	22
10	10	TCA	Tyler Maxson	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	21
11	13	TCA	Mark Pombo	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	21
12	11	TCA	Chris Haldeman	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	21
13	17	TCA	Nate Norenberg	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	21
14	22	TCA	Jose DaSilva	Ives Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	21
15	14	TCA	Cole Ciraulo	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	21
16	16	TCA	Taylor Hagler	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	20
17	19	TCA	Stephen Jeu	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	20
18	20	TCA	Ben Bettenhausen	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	20
19	21	TCA	Sally McNulty	#TEAMSALLY / Honda Civic Si	20
20	25	TCA	Jenny Gannett	Ian Lacy Racing / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	20
21	12	TCA	Nick Wittmer	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	20
22	24	TCA	Dinah Weisberg	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	20
23	23	TCA	Damon Surzyshyn	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	17
NC	18	TCA	P.J. Groenke	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	13
NC	15	TCA	Robert Crocker	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	0

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	TCR	Mason Filippi	Copeland Motorsports / Hyundai Veloster N TCR	19
2	5	TCR	Victor Gonzalez	VGMC Racing / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	19
3	3	TCR	Michael Hurczyn	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	19
4	2	TCR	Nate Vincent	FCP Euro / Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR	19
5	6	TCR	James Walker	Risi Competizione / Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	19
6	7	TCR Cup	Bryan Putt	ROWE Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	19
7	8	TCR Cup	Stephen Vajda	EXR Team by Premat / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	19
8	9	TCR Cup	Christian Cole	McCann Racing / Audi Sport RS3 LMS	19
9	11	TCA	Tyler Maxson	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	19
10	10	TCA	Mark Pombo	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	19
11	12	TCA	Chris Haldeman	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	19
12	4	TCR Cup	Harry Cheung	LAP Motorsports / Honda Civic Type-R TCR	19
13	23	TCA	Nick Wittmer	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	19
14	13	TCA	Taylor Hagler	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	19
15	14	TCA	Nate Norenberg	MINI JCW Team / MINI Cooper	19
16	16	TCA	Cole Ciraulo	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	19
17	20	TCA	Jenny Gannett	Ian Lacy Racing / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	19
18	18	TCA	Sally McNulty	#TEAMSALLY / Honda Civic Si	19
19	17	TCA	Jose DaSilva	Ives Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	18
20	24	TCA	P.J. Groenke	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	18
21	21	TCA	Dinah Weisberg	Copeland Motorsports / Mazda Global Mx5 Cup	18
NC	15	TCA	Ben Bettenhausen	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	10
NC	22	TCA	Damon Surzyshyn	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	9
NC	25	TCA	Robert Crocker	TechSport Racing / Subaru BRZ tS	4
NC	19	TCA	Stephen Jeu	X-Factor Racing / Honda Civic Si	0

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