SONOMA, Calif. – Tyler Maxson continued his streak in TC America TCR competition on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway by notching his seventh-straight victory in the division.
Maxson, in the No. 74 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster N TCR, jumped out into the lead at the start over Roy Block.
The TC class saw championship leader Johan Schwartz and James Clay both jump the pole-sitting No. 23 TechSport Racing Nissan 370Z of Joseph Federl, who fell to third.
Mark Pombo led the TCA field, with Tomas Mejia and Tyler Gonzalez tussling for second. Gonzalez would overtake Mejia on lap two with the three TCA leaders running nose to tail.
Nine minutes into the race, Federal found his pace and moved past Clay for second in the TC class with a daring move on the inside of turn seven. Bryson Lew and Toby Grahovec would run in fourth and fifth, but close up on the leaders.
As the race reached the halfway point, Maxson had built a 7.3 second lead in TCR and would never look back, claiming his seventh win in seven races.
“The Copeland Motorsports guys have had this Hyundai hooked so far! Seven for seven, man that’s something.The team has had a lot of long nights getting this car where it is today, but that’s paying off,” said Maxson.
With just less than 17 minutes on the clock Clay would pounce on Federl, who was facing a mechanical issue, at turn one and grab second position in TC. Lew and Grahovec would follow Clay through as Federl would fall through the grid. Schwartz would take advantage of the clean air and build his class lead to more than three seconds. Schwartz would go on to claim his third win on the season followed by Clay, Lew, and Grahovec.
“We made a few changes last night and I could get the power down a little sooner today, so that’s what really made the race for me today! The Hard Motorsports crew is awesome, I can’t thank them enough. I can’t wait for Road America coming up next,” said Schwartz.
With 13 minutes on the clock Roy Block would face a mechanical issue in his Alfa Romeo TCR machine, handing the second overall position to Victor Gonzalez Jr. in class, with the Honda driver nine seconds behind Maxson for the overall lead.
As the clock ticked past the 10 minute mark, TCA championship leader Tomas Mejia would slip past Gonzalez for second in class as Kevin Boehm and the No. 9 Boehm Racing Honda Civic Si would close on the Hyundai as the two would fight for third in class.
Pombo would easily claim the TCA victory, his second of the season, followed by Mejia, Gonzalez and Bohem.
“I really just needed to not kill my tires early in the race, but luckily the guys behind me were battling, so I was able to get clean air and just drive this awesome MINI,” said Pombo.