AUSTIN — Ernie Francis Jr. saw his opportunity late in Saturday’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race at Circuit of The Americas and never hesitated. He launched the No. 88 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 into the lead on a restart with 12 minutes remaining in the 50-minute race and went on to win in a result that shook up the Pro class standings.
With their third triumph of the season, Francis and co-driver Giano Taurino also leapt into the class lead after seven of 12 races.
A series-record 43 cars took the green flag for Saturday’s race on the 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course. Pole sitter Danny Formal turned the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán over to co-driver Ryan Norman in the top spot halfway through the race and Norman appeared headed to victory until a full-course caution flag waved with 20 minutes to go.
As he and Francis charged up the hill to Turn 1 on the restart eight minutes later, Norman protected the inside line but slid wide when braking into the hard left-hander. Francis dove the No. 88 Huracán inside of the No. 1 for the decisive move of the race.
A later caution set up a one-lap shootout to the checkered flag. Francis and Norman battled hard again through Turns 1-3 but Francis held onto the lead. Soon after, Norman and Kiko Porto (No. 4 Ansa Motorsports, Lamborghini Broward Huracán) both spun after making side-to-side contact in Turn 5 while battling for second place. It dropped the No. 1 to fourth place in the class finishing order, with the No. 4 winding up seventh. Elias De La Torre, in just his third race in the No. 29 Lamborghini Miami Huracán, finished second to his TR3 Racing teammates.
“I’m on top of the world after that one,” Francis said. “I was working hard out there. We had a great car all weekend, just didn’t have the qualifying we needed to, so we knew we had to make it happen in the race.”
On his pass for the lead, Francis said, “I had him go real far to the inside to try to defend, and he just went to the outside and outbraked himself. I was able to slide on the inside. On the restart for the last lap, I knew I didn’t want to make that same mistake so I didn’t go as far to the inside, kind of parked it in the center. He was able to get a run on me but going around the outside of Turn 2, I wasn’t going to let him have it. … The win was on the line, championship was on the line, had to do what we had to do.”
The results unofficially give Francis, Taurino and the No. 88 Huracán a nine-point lead over Porto, co-driver Nico Jamin and the No. 4, and a 13-point edge on Formal, Norman and the No. 1 heading into Sunday’s race. The No. 1 starts up front then as well.
“Incredible,” Taurino said of the points lead, “but the work’s not done yet.
Nate Stacy and Nick Persing finished third overall in the No. 8 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán to claim the ProAm class victory. They finished 2.116 seconds ahead of AJ Muss, Joel Miller and the No. 66 Forty7 Motorsports, Lamborghini Philadelphia Huracán. The No. 66 took the unofficial class points lead, three ahead of the No. 8.
“The car was really hooked up from the beginning,” Stacy said. “We had a lot of pace, we were able to just kind of maintain the tire life and really lean on the devices the car gives you – the ABS, traction control.
“We executed on the pit stop, Nick made a great pull out of there at the pit lane and did great job in the closing stint. He made a couple of ballsy passes but you can’t blame the guy for going racing. It was an awesome result and it worked out.”
In the Am class, Glenn McGee (No. 69 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán) held off points leader Dominic Starkweather (No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán) by 0.519 seconds for the class win. McGee and co-driver Anthony McIntosh drew within six points of Starkweather for the Am championship lead.
McGee, who finished in the No. 69, credited the start that co-driver McIntosh had as the key to the victory.
“He really did most of the work for this race, and I knew we were in a good position,” McGee said. “He did an amazing job and gave me the car in a great spot. We came out and the car was like crazy fast, the best it’s been all weekend.”
“The start was good,” McIntosh added. “I was just trying to stay out of trouble. This is a track that you can get in big trouble real fast. So, stay out of trouble, find a little pocket and just put the work in and keep it clean. That’s it.”
The LB Cup class saw a first-time winner Saturday, Rodrigo Vales in the No. 34 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami Huracán. Vales, driving solo for the first time this season after teaming with Rogelio Perusquia in the first six races of 2024, edged Rocky Bolduc (No. 99 Topp Racing, Lamborghini Boston Huracán) by a mere 0.201 seconds at the checkered flag.
“First win, it was amazing,” Vales said. “This is my first battle alone and I like it very much. I’m missing my co-driver; he’s probably going to be with us on the next race. But it was great. … I had a lot of fun. Really, happy, really happy, really happy.”