CUPRA scores first IMSA win, as Honda takes the points lead
History was made in IMSA TCR class, with CUPRA becoming the latest manufacturer to add its name to the list of winners. Eric Powell and Tyler Gonzalez overcame an early setback to win at Indianapolis in the #99 Victor González Racing Team Leon VZ.
The victory was anything but easy. Powell had qualified the CUPRA on pole for the second time in a row, but he was penalized for incident responsibility 30 minutes into the race, dropping to the back of the 16-car field. The car was still in 13th place when Gonzalez took the wheel at the midpoint, but he methodically moved his way forward with help from penalties assessed other frontrunners.
Gonzalez was in fifth place for a restart with 35 minutes to go and ten minutes later, he roared past the #7 Precision Racing Audi RS 3 LMS of Ryan Eversley for a lead on his way to deliver the win for both VGRT drivers.
The TCR standings have taken on a new look with the final results. Karl Wittmer completed a last-lap pass to push the #93 Montreal Motorsports Honda Civic FL5 into third place behind the Audi of Eversley and Celso Neto. The move vaulted Wittmer and co-driver Louis-Philippe Montour into the points lead, ten ahead of the driver Wittmer overtook, Harry Gottsacker in the #98 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra.
The #76 BHA Hyundai had entered the event as the points leader but was classified 11th after being penalized twice late in the race, once for blocking and another for an incident. Co-drivers Preston Brown and Denis Dupont are now 100 points off the lead heading into the season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 10.
Race
- T. Gonzalez/E. Powell (Victor González Racing, CUPRA Leon VZ), 71 laps
- C. Neto/R. Eversley (Precision Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 6.998
- L.P. Montour/K. Wittmer (Montreal Motorsports, Honda Civic Type R FL5), 8.502
Championship points
- L.P. Montour/K. Wittmer, 2550 pts.; 2. H. Gottsacker, 2540; 3. D. Dupont/P. Brown, 2480
Picture: IMSA/Jake Galstad
