ALTON, Va. – Tyler Maxson collected his fourth-straight TC America TCR class victory on Saturday at Virginia Int’l Raceway.
Victor Gonzalez Jr. led the field to the green flag, but it was Maxson that made the most noise and moved around Scott Smithson for second. Later on the opening lap Maxson got past Gonzalez for the lead and never looked back, taking his fourth-straight win to open the season.
“We’ve had a great start to the season, going four for four, so we’re excited,” said Maxson. “It’s difficult to pass here at VIR, especially through traffic, but we made it work and got the win.”
The TC field saw race one winner Johan Schwartz leading the way with the BimmerWorld duo of Chandler Hull and James Clay second and third. Toby Grahovec would stalk in fourth.
Back in TCA, Tyler Gonzalez led the class with race one winner Tomas Mejia close behind. Mejia’s teammate, Mark Pombo, ran third.
With less than 20 minutes to go, Pombo got a run on his teammate and overtook Mejia for second, and closed to just .352 seconds behind Gonzalez for the class lead.
With 12 minutes on the clock, Pombo kept his momentum going and got past Mejia at turn three just before a full course caution was called for an incident where Hull, who was running second in the TC division, crashed into the tires at The Snake.
Clay would inherit second position in class with Grahovec moving up to third.
The race would finish under caution with Maxson taking his fourth straight win in TCR with Gonzalez second and Smithson in third.
Schwartz take his second consecutive TC class victory with Clay in second and Grahovec in third.
“VIR is such a fun track that allows us to run on the outside of the corners, especially at turns one and two,” said Schwartz. “I was able to get to the lead and was then able to manage the gap and save the tires. The Hard Motorsport crew has given me a great car, but I think there’s still a little improvement we can make for tomorrow! I want to give the crew a huge thanks.”
The TCA win would go to Pombo with Tyler Gonzalez in second and Mejia taking the final podium position.