Barber wins TA2 at Thunderhill after nearly two-decade absence

Tim Barber in the No. 33 DIG Motorsports Ford Mustang competed in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli for the first time since 2005, scoring a win in the Western Championship’s season-opener at Thunderhill Raceway Park. Barber earned the pole award earlier in the day before leading every lap in the competitive CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series.

Starting from the first position, Barber got out to a clean start, but it wasn’t long until he faced competition from Michael LaPaglia in the No. 31 Papini’s Garage/F.A.S.T. Auto Ford Mustang. After starting third, LaPaglia worked his way up to the second spot for the lap-eight restart following a full-course yellow. From there, the two ran nose-to-tail, with less than a tenth of a second separating them at times, but LaPaglia was unable to make the pass for the lead.

Behind them, Troy Ermish in the No. 38 Ermish Racing Ford Mustang battled Bobby Hodges in the No. 54 NATC Ford Mustang and Ken Sutherland in the No. 68 Kallberg Racing/Wyatt Fire Chevrolet Camaro. The three drivers were never far apart, swapping positions, and by lap 14, Barry Boes in the No. 32 Accio Data/TRB Autosport Mustang got in on the action. While Ermish slipped to sixth, Hodges, Sutherland and Boes continued to duke it out. Sutherland made his way into the third position by lap 17, with Hodges, Boes and Ermish close in his wake. Unfortunately, following a restart on lap 21, Hodges spun in Turn 3. While the tightly-packed field was able to avoid contact with Hodges, he dropped out of the top 15, leaving Boes and Ermish to fight for the fourth position. Ultimately, Ermish took over fourth on lap 22, and Boes maintained fifth until the checkered flag waved on lap 29. Barber took the victory, while LaPaglia and Sutherland rounded out the podium.

“Michael [LaPaglia] kept me honest the whole time,” said Barber. “I felt like we were a little bit better, and the yellows really saved me. On the restarts, I was able to gap a little bit, and then he would slowly gather me back in. I realized after the second yellow that I was just struggling, locking up the rear brakes. The brake bias was walking itself to the back. I finally looked at the bias number and I could see the bar on my foot pedal. So, I started winding that back, and it wasn’t as big of a problem, but Michael was right there. It was a tight race.”

Barber’s only previous win was a National Championship GTA-class victory in the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton in July of 2005. This is his second win in only seven total Trans Am starts.

The XGT class had an unusual start to the race, with only one of five competitors taking a lap during qualifying due to windy and wet track conditions in the morning. In his Trans Am debut, Rick Wright in the No. 45 AR Motorsports Audi R8 LMS GT3 had a fast car out of the gate, qualifying fourth overall while his XGT competitors started at the very back of the pack. With 2022 TA2 champion Thomas Merrill coaching him, Wright held the lead until lap 11 when he spun off the track, dropping down to the 17th position.

Michelle Nagai in the No. 72 Nagai Racing/Berkeley Jet Drive Camaro took over the class lead from the 11th position, climbing her way up through the field to finish sixth overall. Nagai had been followed closely her car builder, Chris Evans in the No. 92 Central Welding Supply Ford Mustang, but the 2022 SGT champion had a mechanical issue that took him out of the race on lap 17. Evans joined teammate Rob Gordon (No. 79 Chris Evans Race Cars Ford Mustang), who went off course on lap two, in the garage, with the two finishing fourth and fifth in class, respectively. Wright was able to recover from his early issues, working his way up to second in class, and was followed across the finish line by Tim Rankin in the No. 5 TCR IT Solutions Ford Mustang.