2019 Sonoma Raceway - 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 vehicles 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.

Sonoma Raceway hosted rounds five and six for the TC America Touring Car category. Drivers would compete in two 40-minutes around the twelve-turn, 2.52-mile road course.

The start of round five at Sonoma Raceway and twelve Touring Car drivers head up the hill to corner two. Leading the field is the point’s leader and pole-sitter, Johan Schwartz driving the Rooster Hall Racing prepared BMW M240iR. Chasing Schwartz is his teammate, Steve Streimer in the No. 81 BMW M240iR. And, immediately behind Streimer are the BMWs of Shaun Webster and Robert Nimkoff.

Steve Streimer is always quick but that has not been reflected in his results this season. At Sonoma Raceway, Streimer was just 0.478-seconds slower than the pole-sitter, Johan Schwartz. In the weekend’s first contest, he chased Schwartz for 40-minutes and finished in the runner position. Schwartz’s BMW failed tech inspection and Streimer was awarded his first win of 2019. On Sunday, he started second but finished third.

Second in the point standing’s entering Sonoma was, Toby Grahovec. With backing from Classic BMW, Grahovec had a string of runner-up finishes along with a DNF at Virginia International Raceway. In both of the weekend’s contests, he added to his list of second place results. But, more importantly, Grahovec closed the championship point’s gap and was now just ten-markers behind the leader, Johan Schwartz.

Round six of the TC America – Touring Car championship saw another first-time winner. Cameron Evans driving a BimmerWorld Racing prepared BMW M240iR led flag-to-flap and was victorious by a margin of just 0.173-seconds. To date, his best result was a fourth at Virginia International Raceway and it wasn’t an easy win as Evans held off the 2016 class champion, Toby Grahovec. The previous day, he started six and finished fifth.

The series point’s leader, Johan Schwartz topped the timesheets in both practice sessions and qualifying – this was his second pole of the season. Schwartz, who had three victories in 2019, immediately took control in round five and went flag-to-flag for the win. However, a technical infraction was discovered in the post-race inspection, which resulted in a disqualification. On Sunday, he started at the rear of the grid and finished fifth.

The Sonoma Raceway weekend was the inaugural TC America event for HARD Motorsport as well as their driver, Shaun Webster. Webster is a west coast competitor who has enjoyed a lot of success in NASA’s Norcal division. In his debut, he qualified fifth fastest – 0.651-seconds behind the pole-sitter, Johan Schwartz and finished sixth. The following day an incident on lap-12 in corner two caused Webster’s BMW to roll.

Auto Technic Racing’s Robert Nimkoff’s best results to date were a pair of fifth-place finishes - round one at COTA and race four at VIR. For Saturday’s contest at Sonoma, Nimkoff was third fastest in qualifying but was in fourth place at the checkered flag. However, with the post-race disqualification of the winner, Johan Schwartz, he inherited the last spot on the podium. The following day, Nimkoff started fourth and finished sixth.

The 2019 round six Touring Car podium at Sonoma Raceway. On the right for his fifth runner-up finish, this season is the 2016 class champion, Toby Grahovec. The final spot on the rostrum is occupied by Saturday’s race winner, Steve Streimer from Rooster Hall Racing. In the center and capturing his first Touring Car victory is BimmerWorld’s, Cameron Evans.

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	2	TC	Steve Streimer	Rooster Hall Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	21
2	4	TC	Toby Grahovec	Classic BMW / BMW M240iR Cup	21
3	3	TC	Robert Nimkoff	AutoTechnic Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	21
4	7	TC	Tom Capizzi	AutoTechnic Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	21
5	6	TC	Cameron Evans	BimmerWorld Racing / BMW M240iR Cup	21
6	5	TC	Shaun Webster	Hard Motorsport / BMW M235iR Cup	21
7	8	TC	Richard Zulman	Rooster Hall Racing / BMW M240iR Cup	21
8	9	TC	Chandler Hull	BimmerWorld Racing / BMW M240iR Cup	21
9	11	TC	Moisey Uretsky	Murillo Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	21
10	12	TC	Greg Nitzkowski	DRS / BMW M235iR Cup	21
DSQ	1	TC	Johan Schwartz	Rooster Hall Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	21
NC	13	TC	Mark Brummond	TechSport Racing / Nissan 370Z	14

FINISH	START	CLASS	DRIVER	TEAM / CAR	LAPS
1	1	TC	Cameron Evans	BimmerWorld Racing / BMW M240iR Cup	19
2	3	TC	Toby Grahovec	Classic BMW / BMW M240iR Cup	19
3	2	TC	Steve Streimer	Rooster Hall Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	19
4	7	TC	Chandler Hull	BimmerWorld Racing / BMW M240iR Cup	19
5	12	TC	Johan Schwartz	Rooster Hall Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	19
6	4	TC	Robert Nimkoff	AutoTechnic Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	19
7	9	TC	Moisey Uretsky	Murillo Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	19
8	11	TC	Mark Brummond	TechSport Racing / Nissan 370Z	19
9	8	TC	Richard Zulman	Rooster Hall Racing / BMW M240iR Cup	19
10	6	TC	Tom Capizzi	AutoTechnic Racing / BMW M235iR Cup	19
11	10	TC	Greg Nitzkowski	DRS / BMW M235iR Cup	19
NC	5	TC	Shaun Webster	Hard Motorsport / BMW M235iR Cup	12

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.