Conwright and Rumburg claim their first TCR victory in Virginia

Jaden Conwright and Luke Rumburg scored their first win in the TCR class of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at the wheel of their RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate Audi RS 3 LMS, with Conwright carving past a pair of Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N cars in the waning stages of the race.

All TCR title contenders experienced their share of troubles. Early in the race, the #76 BHA Hyundai of Preston Brown served a drive-through for an incident with Sam Baker’s Audi, which forced Brown and his co-driver Denis Dupont into a need to recover. The Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 of Louis-Philippe Montour and Karl Wittmer fell back following a drive-through for an incident with a GS car. Finally, the points leader Harry Gottsacker who was running second in the #98 BHA Hyundai he shared with Mason Filippi, went off 13 minutes before the end after making contact with Cownright.

After a final safety car period, Cownright overtook Mark Wilikins’ #33 BHA Hyundai for the lead with only ten minutes to go. Behind the leading pair, Wittmer overtook Ryan Eversley’s Audi for third, but during the last lap he lost the position to Eddie Gou who shared the CUPRA Leon VZ with his father Eduardo, claiming the first IMSA podium for the Spanish brand.

Another CUPRA, the #99 driven by Eric Powell for Victor González Racing Team had led the race for the first 40 minutes before it was eliminated in a collision with a pair of GS cars.

Brown and Dupont finished seventh and retook the lead in the standings, twenty points clear of Gottsacker who was classified 11^th, while the fourth place of Montour and Wittmer meant that the Canadian pair closed their gap to the leader to 30 points.

Indianapolis’ iconic speedway will host the penultimate round of the series, a 4-hour race on 19/20 September.

Race

1. L. Rumburg/J. Cownright (RVA Graphics Motorsports, Audi RS 3 LMS), 55 laps
2. M. Wilkins/B. Morris (Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai Elantra N), 2.838
3. E. Gou/E. Gou (Gou Racing, CUPRA Leon VZ), 6.094

Championship points

1. D. Dupont/P. Brown 2280; 2. H. Gottsacker, 2260; 3. L.P. Montour/K. Wittmer, 2250

Picture: IMSA/Jake Galstad