Mark Wilkins takes his second win of 2018
Mark Wilkins, driving a Hyundai i30 N TCR, took his second victory of the season in Race 2 at the Virginia International Raceway, but after Wilkins failed to finish yesterday’s Race 1, today it was the turn of his Bryan Herta Autosport teammate Michael Lewis to record a DNF in a weekend of mixed fortunes for the team.
The forty-minute race was very much split into two halves, with most of the incidents occurring in the first twenty minutes. Lewis started from pole, with Wilkins making it an all-Hyundai front row of the grid. The winner of Race 1, Ryan Eversley in a Honda Civic Type R, was in third place behind the pair when he locked up his brakes going into Turn 3 on the opening lap and then made contact with another car which dropped him to thirteenth position. Eversley then began a fight back and had recovered to eighth place in just one lap, moving up to fifth on the next lap and then passed the Volkswagen Golf GTI of Mason Filippi for fourth place on Lap 4.
Lewis still led from Wilkins, with Jérimy Daniel third ahead of the charging Eversley, but Lewis’ challenge ended on Lap 9. Coming out of Turn 12, the Hyundai suddenly slowed and Lewis then headed for the pits where the team discovered a broken halfshaft – a similar problem to that which had ended Wilkins’ race the previous day.
Eversley had been steadily reeling in Daniel’s Audi and the inevitable happened on Lap 11, when Eversley passed Daniel for second position. The 13-second gap to Wilkins, plus the similar pace of the Hyundai and the Honda, meant that the lead was relatively safe.
Behind the podium scrap, Nate Vincent was involved in a bizarre incident on Lap 17 when, following an off-track excursion, the Volkswagen was hit by another car while regaining the track. The incident dropped Vincent to twelfth place and when Filippi pulled up on Lap 19, it meant Jarett Andretti moved up into ninth place and Dwight Merriman was elevated into tenth.
At the chequered flag, Wilkins’ winning margin was a little under eight seconds from Eversley, with Daniel completing the podium places. JT Coupal in another Audi was fourth, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Martin Jensen was fifth and Anthony Geraci (Audi RS3 LMS) was sixth. The remainder of the top ten places were filled by Michael Hurczyn (Volkswagen Golf GTI), Matt Fassnacht (Audi RS3 LMS), Jarett Andretti and Dwight Merriman.
The TCR category of the Pirelli World Challenge next moves onto Lime Rock Park in Connecticut on May 25th/26th.
