Yahoo Autos Aust takes second consecutive TC America win at VIR
Maddie Aust and Clayton Williams swept their respective classes in TC America powered by Skip Barber, while PJ Groenke earned his first win of the 2023 season in the TCA Class Sunday at Virginia International Raceway.
TCX Class
Pole sitter Lucas Catania, Colin Garrett and race one winner Aust resumed their battles from a day ago.
Early in the race, Aust, in her No. 09 Fast Track Racing BMW M2 CS, moved to lead. Passing Catania and Garrett as Garrett maneuvered his No. 44 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M2 CS around the No. 26 Rigid Speed Company BMW M2 CS of Catania.
Catania would come back to best Garrett and take over second place. He set his sights on overtaking Aust. Garrett eventually rejoined the battle and the boys had a bit of back and forth for second place. Aust pushed forward hoping to build a gap. There was never more than a second between the three.
On the final lap traffic changed the look of the top three. Aust and Garrett passed lapped traffic while Catania lost out. Aust and Garrett took off for a battle of their own. Garrett was never far off Aust’s bumper but smooth racing gave Aust the edge to keep her lead. She won the battle and the race with Garrett taking second and Catania third.
TC Class
Pole sitter Jeff Ricca in the No. 78 Genracer Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra looked to dominate race two, a sweet redemption after Saturday’s mechanical issue. Race two turned into a sour déjà vu, though. Ricca came into the pitlane with just under 30 minutes remaining and was unable to continue.
Williams in the No. 60 MINI JCW Team Mini JCW Pro inherited the lead. A win for Williams gave him a weekend sweep and four wins in a row. Celso Neto has been ever steady over the weekend, keeping his nose clean to take second in Sunday’s race — a one-position improvement over his third-place finish Saturday.
It took Sally McNulty in the No. 780 Genracer Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra five years to earn her first TC America podium finish but when it rains, it pours. Her savvy driving and execution in traffic allowed her to take home third place for her second career podium.
TCA Class
Devin Anderson in the No. 22 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ slowly reeled in and overtook PJ Groenke in the No. 62 MINI JCW Team Mini JCW. He seemed to have another win in the bag when he spun on his own allowing Groenke and third-place Spencer Bucknum past him.
Bucknum in the No. 5 LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si was on a mission of redemption after a spin in race one ended his race early. Anderson’s TechSport teammate Shaoyi Che in the No. 23 TechSport Racing Subaru BRZ capitalized on his woes moving into third place. Che recovered nicely from his own off-course excursion that took place on the open laps of the race. Off track and on podium, Che celebrated his race one podium finish by proposing to his long-time girlfriend.
Anderson spent the last 10 minutes of the race turning the 3s gap to Che into a pass. He would come back and overtake Che just in time to take the third step of the podium before also taking the checkered flag. Canadian Groenke went on to win the race with a 12s gap back to second place Bucknum.
Up Next
All eyes turn to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the CrowdStrike 24 hours of Spa, taking place from June 29th to July 2nd. The TC America powered by Skip Barber series will be back in action at Road America August 18-20.
