WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – TC championship leader Johan Schwartz scored his sixth win of the season Sunday at Watkins Glen Int’l, part of the TC America weekend presented by CrowdStrike.
Schwartz’s teammate Steve Streimer finished second, while Saturday’s winner Paul Terry crossed the line in third.
Pole sitter Schwartz, in the No. 80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M240iR Cup, led the field to the green to begin the 20-lap, 40-minute contest. Behind him teammate Streimer got a great jump and pushed into second from his third-on-the-grid starting position, while Jeff Ricca slotted back into third. Rearden Racing’s Terry slotted into fourth.
While Schwartz and Streimer settled in up front by lap two, action behind them was fierce as Cameron Evans charged up to pass Terry for fourth through turn one and then Ricca leading up to the bus stop complex. Lap three saw Terry execute a pass by Ricca through turn one. Terry then passed Evans later in the lap to move into third.
By lap 12, Schwartz and Streimer had pulled away from the pack, while Ricca closed on Terry for third and by lap 15 Ricca slid by Terry leading into the bus stop complex. Ricca then set his sights on closing in on the leaders while fending off any challenges from Terry.
On the white flag lap Terry closed on Ricca and through turn 10 executed a clean pass for third. At the line, Schwartz won over Streimer by .246 seconds, Terry crossed 3.3 seconds behind in third. Classic BMW driver Jacob Ruud and Evans rounded out the top five. Ricca ended the day in sixth.
“It was quite an interesting race being at the front in the beginning,” said Schwartz. “We (Streimer) were working together to pull away and then Steve started racing me at the end. I was a little between big picture racing and taking the win but I also knew he wasn’t going to push the issue too hard so obviously we’re in the championship hunt and points are the most important thing right now, so it’s good to have 25 (points for the win) but if I would’ve gotten 18 (for second place), that would’ve been okay too.”