- Eric Powell maintains TC championship lead despite qualifying crash
- Kevin Boehm second in Saturday’s TC race
- Carter Fartuch earns two top-five results in TCA event
HPD Honda Civic Si and Type R racers continued their quests for SRO Motorsports Touring Car championships as the series contested its penultimate weekend of the 2021 season Saturday and Sunday at Sebring International Raceway.
The iconic Sebring circuit caused more than its share of trials and tribulations in the TC class, starting with an issue for points leader Eric Powell in Friday qualifying. While Civic Type-R driver Kevin Boehm rolled to the pole on Friday, Powell had a crash in Turn 10 that sidelined his own Type R for the weekend.
After sitting out Saturday’s event and losing 25 points of his series lead to rival Austen Smith, Powell borrowed Mike Ogren’s Type R for Sunday’s race and carried it to third place. The effort allowed Powell to maintain the top spot in the championship, as he will unofficially take a 29.5-point advantage into the season-closing weekend October 16-17 in Indianapolis.
Starting from the pole, Boehm led early in Saturday’s race, then settled for a second-place finish that allowed him to close on Powell’s title advantage. But Saturday would be as close as he would get to the TC championship lead on this weekend, as an off-course excursion while defending his lead on Sunday led to a broken damper and a scoreless early retirement.
In TCA, which features the Honda Civic Si, Carter Fartuch started the weekend holding second in the season championship but had to be content with a pair of fifth-place finishes in his Honda Civic Si to lead Honda fortunes in the class.
Mario Biundo had one of his best weekends of the season after finishing sixth and seventh in the weekend’s races while Sally McNulty took home a pair of eighth-place finishes. Chris Harrison finished ninth in both starts while Jose Blanco finished 10th on Sunday. In TC, Mike LaMarra took his LA Honda World Type R to a sixth-place finish on Saturday and placed seventh in Sunday’s nightcap.
HPD has two ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring.
Social media content and video links from this weekend’s SRO Touring Car America races at Sebring are available on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).
Next:
The Honda Civic Type R and Civic Si Touring Car teams will close the season October 16-17, with another double-header race weekend on the road course at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
TC America presented by Skip Barber Racing School Sebring Saturday Race Results
- 2nd TC - #9 Kevin Boehm, DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R
- 6th TC - #37 Mike LaMarra, LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R
- NC TC - #28 Mike Ogren, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
- DNS TC - #92 Eric Powell, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
TCA America presented by Skip Barber Racing School Sebring Saturday Race Results
- 5th TCA - #16 Carter Fartuch, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
- 6th TCA - #77 Mario Biundo LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si
- 8th TCA - #780 Sally McNulty, Team Sally Racing Honda Civic Si
- 9th TCA - #2 Colin Harrison, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
- NC TCA - #99 Jose Blanco, VGMC Racing Honda Civic Si
TC America presented by Skip Barber Racing School Sebring Sunday Race Results
- 3rd TC – #28 Eric Powell, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
- 7th TC – #37 Mike LaMarra, LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R
- NC TC – #9 Kevin Boehm, DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R
TCA America presented by Skip Barber Racing School Sebring Sunday Race Results
- 5th TCA - #16 Carter Fartuch, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
- 7th TCA - #77 Mario Biundo LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si
- 8th TCA - #780 Sally McNulty, Team Sally Racing Honda Civic Si
- 9th TCA - #2 Colin Harrison, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
- 10th TCA - #99 Jose Blanco, VGMC Racing Honda Civic Si
# # #
