ALTON, Va. – Gar Robinson emerged with the VIR Muscle Car Challenge victory in the Trans-Am Series TA2 class Saturday at Virginia Int’l Raceway.
Robinson’s teammate Shane Lewis finished second to give the Robinson Racing team a one-two sweep atop the podium. The duo were joined on the podium by Kyle Marcelli, who captured his first top-three finish of the season .
Robinson began the race on pole in the No. 74 Pura Vida Tequila/ 74 Ranch Resort Chevrolet Camaro with Rafa Matos, in the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro, alongside. Robinson would lead the initial laps before being overtaken by Matos on the fifth lap, but would regain the lead after the No. 88 put four wheels off in turn 10 of the 18-turn course.
Robinson would hold the lead through an initial full course caution and following restart, leading the field when an additional full course caution came out with only 11 laps of the planned 31 remaining. Robinson seemed set to battle with Matos for the lead off the restart, the No. 88 having worked its way back up to second position, however Matos coasted to a stop under yellow the victim of an electrical failure.
With teammate Lewis alongside, Robinson led the field through the restart and the remainder of the race, securing his fourth win of the season and, more importantly, some vital points in his championship battle with Tony Buffomante and the No. 34 Bestline Superior Lubricants Ford Mustang.
“It’s great to get a one-two sweep for Robinson,” said Robinson. “I loved sharing the podium with Kyle Marcelli, he’s a good friend of ours. My crew put together a great car for me, we didn’t touch it all weekend to be honest. The best car we’ve had off the trailer all year. A great car equals great results. Of course I’m happy with the result and looking forward to the next three races. It’s going to a lot of fun, I can’t wait to see what happens at the end.”
Robinson insisted that the weekend’s approach was going to be one of caution, but everything seemed to come together for the victory. In addition, Robinson saw his points lead over Buffomante, the defending champ, bolstered to 41 after the No. 34 was brought back to paddock midway through the race with an undiagnosed issue. Buffomante would return to the course on the 21st lap to salvage as many points as possible and finished in 12th position.
“We’re starting to come to the end of the season,” said Robinson. “I know we have to play it safe for the remaining three races, but I also came into this race knowing we had to play it safe as well. The mentality was if Matos got around me I wasn’t really going to challenge him—as long as I was in front of Tony (Buffomante), nothing else mattered. We were going to take what was given to us, but the results worked! Still, that’s the mentality going to take forward as well, everything will be low risk.”
Lewis second place finish was his seventh podium finish of the season, as he and the No. 72 currently sit third in the points.
Marcelli, making his third Trans-Am appearance of the season, began the race in fifth position, but consistently climbed — at one point overtaking Lewis for second only to have it reclaimed a lap later. The podium finish easily stands as his best of the season, his previous mark an 11th place finish in Detroit.
Doug Peterson, a previous TA class champion and driver of the No. 87 3-Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro, finished fourth a TA2 class career best, while Joe Stevens, owner of Stevens-Miller Racing and driver of the No. 11 Speedlogix Dodge Challenger, completed the TA2 top five.
Source : speedsport.com
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