WTR ProAm Win Streak Continues; 89X and Forty7 Break Through in Am and LB Cup
By Tony DiZinno
IMSA NewsWire
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Will Bamber and Hampus Ericsson engaged in a hard-fought, back-and-forth battle to start Friday’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America first race at Road America. But their teammates Darius Trinka and Nick Persing finished the job, as a combination of potentially treacherous weather and traffic ahead of them made for a fun yet frantic finish.
Ultimately, Trinka held off Persing to ensure the No. 33 XONINE Racing, Lamborghini Chicago, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 won its second race of the season in Pro and overall to help move Bamber closer to the Pro championship lead.
Bamber led from pole early, although Ericsson completed a pass for the lead on the sixth lap. However, slightly quicker pit work helped position the No. 33 car back ahead of Ericsson and Persing’s No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing Huracán once the pit cycle completed.
Though Persing closed several tenths, he came up short by just 0.774 of a second as a light rain began to fall in the waning moments of the 50-minute race.
The championship-leading Elias De La Torre finished third in his No. 29 TR3 Racing Huracán he shared with Dennis Lind. Unofficially, Bamber is just three points behind De La Torre with Friday’s result.
“Will did the hard work, and I just had to get in the car and bring it home,” Trinka laughed, downplaying his finish.
Bamber hailed Trinka’s defense: “He was the one who had to bring it home under pressure! He never put a foot wrong. It was a tough race but an amazing race for all the men and women of this team.”
In ProAm, the Danny Formal and Graham Doyle juggernaut rolled on. The pair captured their seventh straight victory to open the campaign in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán. Formal qualified on pole with Doyle bringing the car home to win by 11.293 seconds.
“A tough day out there with the degradation and the late rain at the end,” Doyle said. “But as always, Wayne Taylor Racing gave us an awesome car and Danny got us out front early and kept us there.”
The No. 81 RAFA Racing entry of Ian Porter and Chloe Chambers scored their second podium of the year in second with the No. 63 TR3 entry of Mateo Siderman and Martin Fuentes completing the podium in third.
Armed with a fast car on the start, Johan Schwartz moved his No. 89 89x Motorsports, Lamborghini Sarasota, Huracán from second on the Am grid past polesitter Paul Whiting in his No. 74 SP Motorsports entry to the lead on the opening lap.
Once he turned over to Mike Fitzpatrick, the pair never looked back en route to a popular and – for Fitzpatrick – emotional first win of the year. Fitzpatrick noted he’d won a Formula USA race nearly 30 years ago at the track with his infant daughter present, and now was able to repeat the feat for his first Super Trofeo win.
“We’ve been close; we had a great start and the pace was good right off the bat,” Schwartz said. “So happy there weren’t full-course cautions to build a lead. Mike brought it home.”
Precision Performance Motorsports teammates David Staab and Cooper Broll completed the podium, with Am championship leader Staab banking his seventh podium in as many races.
In LB Cup, Christopher Tasca scored his first win on the road in his No. 95 Forty7 Motorsports, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán. Tasca inherited the Race Two win at Watkins Glen following a post-race time penalty assessed to Rocky T. Bolduc, but this was an authoritative win from the pole in a freshly liveried car.
“We’ve got a ‘Grave Digger’ livery now for my son,” Tasca said. “We had ‘Lightning McQueen’ the first few rounds, but now we’re monster trucks. The new livery gave us some new energy. It’s my second full-time season and first (proper) win. Rocky and I have a great friendship; he’s a great competitor and great friend. He wanted to give me that trophy on a technicality, but I told him I wanted one on the road.”
Philippe Touchette recovered well from a post-qualifying technical infraction that sent him to the back of the field to score his sixth podium in seven races aboard his No. 11 TB Autosports Huracán. Clay Wilson completed the podium for the first time since Round 1 at Sebring in his No. 37 TR3 entry.
Saturday’s second race of the weekend is at 5 p.m. CT and local time (6 p.m. ET). The race streams via Peacock, IMSA’s YouTube channel and Lamborghini’s YouTube channel.