Dane Cameron, Toby Grahovec Take BMW to 3rd and 4th
LAKEVILLE, Conn. – Elivan Goulart held off a charging Paul Holton for the better part of a thrilling 40-minute Touring Car round to score his first TC Class win at the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Lime Rock Park.
Goulart, a local driver from Shelton, Connecticut, was a late entry for the weekend in the KRUGSPEED Lotus Exige, and is also racing in the TCA class, where he is the defending Champion.
Goulart prevailed from his third starting spot, leading every lap in his Lotus in the 32-car field. It wasn’t an easy victory, however, as he spent the better part of the race being hounded for the lead and took the checkered flag by just 0.395 seconds.
Goulart first had to hold off Dane Cameron on an early-race restart, as the two went side-by-side for the opening four corners. Cameron had already moved up quickly, from fourth to second on the opening race laps.
A little later, it was Holton, the pole winner, and his C360R Audi RS 3 LMS Club Sport that had made his way into second with an aggressive pass on the inside of Cameron coming down the treacherous downhill at Lime Rock
It didn’t take long for Holton to track down Goulart as he caught him by the 12-minute mark of the race.
From there, Holton was rarely less than a tenth of a second off the Lotus as the laps ticked away. Goulart expertly managed one late-race restart and held on for the win on Friday afternoon in a dry race following morning and mid-day rain.
Cameron’s Turner Motorsports BMW would complete the podium behind Goulart and Holton, improving from fourth on the grid.
“I have been looking for the opportunity to run in the TC class but we didn’t have the funding for the full season,” said Goulart. “But when I heard they were splitting up the TC and the TCA, I was able to race both cars this weekend. I won the SCCA Runoffs with Krugspeed in 2013 and they had a car for me to race this weekend. This opportunity came about late but I was anxious to race the Lotus again. I think Lime Rock is a perfect track for this car. It is light and nimble. I knew Paul’s Audi was right on me. His car was about twice as big at the Lotus. I love Lime Rock and it is always fun to win here.”
“I knew that Elivan was going to get the jump on me at the start,” said Holton, a TC winner at VIRginia International Raceway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. “I tried to put the pressure on him late in the event. I tried inside and flashing the lights too. But he didn’t make a mistake. It’s tough to pass here and he drove a great race. I thought I had a shot at him coming down the downhill, but the Lotus really comes off the corner well. It was a fun race for us.”
Toby Grahovec, in the Classic BMW BMW M235iR, finished fourth ahead of the Winding Road Team TFB BMW of Mason Filippi, who completed the top five. Grahovec got past Filippi late in the race, with a gutsy pass around the outside in turns 1 and 2 (Big Bend).
John Weisberg and Tony Rivera followed in positions sixth and seventh, respectively.
Behind the lead battle, the attention was on the fight for fourth in the closing stages, as Grahovec, Filippi, Weisberg and Rivera put on a show for the fans at Lime Rock Park. Less than 1.5 seconds covered the four cars at the checkered at the end of the 37-lap race.
TC competitors close out their weekend at the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix of Lime Rock with a second race, scheduled for Saturday at 11:10 a.m. EDT. All results are provisional until posted Final.
Results from Friday’s Touring Car Rd.5 40-minute sprint car race Lime Rock Park. All results are provisional until posted Final.
Pos,PIC,Class,Name,Hometown,Car,Laps,Status,Race Time,Gap
1,1, TC,Elivan GOULART,Shelton, CT,Lotus Exige,37,Running,40:15.730,
2,2, TC,Paul HOLTON,Orlando, FL,Audi RS 3 LMS Clubsport,37,Running,40:16.126,0.395
3,3, TC,Dane CAMERON,,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:21.397,5.666
4,4, TC,Toby GRAHOVEC,Celina, TX,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:25.234,9.504
5,5, TC,Mason FILIPPI,Alamo, CA,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:25.556,9.825
6,6, TC,John WEISBERG,Webster, NY,Mazda MX-5,37,Running,40:26.201,10.471
7,7, TC,Tony RIVERA,Oceanside, CA,Nissan 370Z,37,Running,40:26.742,11.012
8,8, TC,Nick WITTMER,Montreal, Quebec,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:28.121,12.391
9,9, TC,Anthony MAGAGNOLI,Dexter, MI,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:29.253,13.523
10,10, TC,Randy POBST,Belgaum, India,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:29.490,13.759
11,11, TC,Robert NIMKOFF,Newton, CT,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:33.001,17.271
12,12, TC,Jason COUPAL,Rochester, NY,Audi RS 3 LMS Clubsport,37,Running,40:33.417,17.687
13,13, TC,Anthony GERACI,Glen Cove, NY,Audi RS3 LMS Clubsport,37,Running,40:33.709,17.978
14,14, TC,Jeff RICCA,Milford, CT,Genesis Coupe,37,Running,40:37.585,21.855
15,15, TC,Will TURNER,,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:38.230,22.500
16,16, TC,Shea HOLBROOK,Fulshear, TX,Honda Accord,37,Running,40:44.478,28.748
17,17, TC,Dennis HANRATTY JR,Mechanicsburg, PA,Lotus Exige,37,Running,40:45.263,29.532
18,18, TC,Justin RAPHAEL,Franklin Lakes, NJ,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:46.360,30.629
19,19, TC,Aristotle BALOGH,Palo Alto, CA,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:47.004,31.273
20,20, TC,Rodrigo SALES,Sonoma, CA,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:49.642,33.911
21,21, TC,Henry SCHMITT,San Francisco, CA,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:56.506,40.776
22,22, TC,Joshua FORAN,,Honda Accord,37,Running,40:56.792,41.061
23,23, TC,Jayson CLUNIE,Milwaukee, WI,BMW M235iR,37,Running,40:57.177,41.447
24,24, TC,Randy HALE,Haddam, CT,Mazda MX-5,36,Running,40:48.816,1 LAP
25,25, TC,Samantha TAN,Gormley, ON,BMW M235iR,34,Running,40:58.358,3 LAPS
26,26, TC,Jacob RUUD,,BMW M235iR,33,Running,40:19.353,4 LAPS
27,27, TC,Karl WITTMER,Montreal, Quebec,Honda Accord,31,Not Running,34:49.132,6 LAPS
28,28, TC,Cody ELLSWORTH,Jupiter, FL,Porsche Cayman,26,Not Running,33:25.734,11 LAPS
29,29, TC,Patrick GALLAGHER,,Mazda MX-5,15,Not Running,16:38.232,22 LAPS
30,30, TC,Chris OHMACHT,Franklin Lakes, NJ,BMW M235iR,9,Not Running,11:20.877,28 LAPS
31,31, TC,Stefan SAJIC,Belgrade, Serbia,BMW M235iR,7,Not Running,9:43.056,30 LAPS
32,32, TC,Greg LIEFOOGHE,San Francisco, CA,BMW M235iR,3,Not Running,15:37.996,34 LAPS
Source : world-challenge.com
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