Like the nine rounds that preceded it, the tenth round of the Reedy Touring Car Race of Champions had a little bit of everything - spectacular wrecks, a fresh face out front, incredible racing, and notable title implications. With time running out to improve one’s points before the finish, several drivers pushed the envelope - and in at least one case, the envelope broke.
With no one lined up to the outside of him on row one, Ty Tessmann had a strong start from the pole position and looked poised for his best race of the weekend. Rick Hohwart and Steven Weiss tucked in behind. Just before the 1:00 mark, Weiss crashed on the left side of the track and set off a chain reaction, which allowed Freddy Sudhoff into third. At 2:05, Tessmann checked up exiting the kink and Hohwart had nowhere to go - the crash put Sudhoff to the lead with Andy Moore second and Meen Vejrak. Two laps later, Moore and Meen touched in the kink with Moore dropping to fourth, moving Meen to second and Tessmann slipped back into third. At 3:15, Tessmann hit the curb in the carousel, allowing Moore back to third. Meen chased down Sudhoff in the closing laps but came up just 112-thousandths short, with Moore another three seconds back.
“Finally, it all came together,” said Sudhoff after his first win of the weekend. “I think starting from tenth wasn’t all that bad, because everything fought with each other. I just found my way to the front. I saw that they were crashing so I just drove by.” Having tried a different setup to make his HB Pro 5 easier to drive, the German said it was an improvement over what he had been running this week. “In the end it was super close with Meen,” he said, “I just tried to make no mistakes for the last five laps. It’s my first time here. I had no expectations before the race, but it was really nice to get a win. It’s a really enjoyable event, a lot of fun.
In the most uneventful race of the weekend, Ronald Völker jumped into the lead from pole and the driver who started outside of him on the first row, Mike Haynes, went wide enough in the first corner to let Marc Rheinard and Naoki Akiyama slip by. Völker absolutely disappeared, turning in the fastest time of the week and winning by nearly 6.7 seconds. Akiyama was another 10.2 seconds further adrift.
Völker said, “Finally, I was on the TQ spot. After a clean first lap I felt the car was pretty good and tried to give it a full five minutes. Even on old tires, the track condition was better than the two days before. I didn’t really pull away in the beginning, but after 8-10 laps (Marc) either lost traction or steering and I was able to pull away further. It was a must-win no matter who started behind me, but since the car was well-balanced I just tried to put in a full run and go for the fastest time - the tiebreaker probably won’t be necessary, but I went for it because I was comfortable with the car.
Rheinard wasn’t quite as happy with the handling of his TRF419, perhaps feeling the effects of a crash in the previous round that upset the balance. “I wanted to challenge him,” he said, “and I tried to push, but decided to settle for second instead of making a mistake.
From the outside of the first row, Nicholas Lee dove past EJ Evans in the first corner to take the lead and JJ Wang followed, moving into second. Viktor Wilck tried a similar move on Evans on the second lap, but the two touched and Evans suffered from a body tuck that knocked him to last. Just :50 into the race, title contender Christopher Krapp crashed hard in the kink and was knocked out of the race. At 2:35, Wilck hit Wang in the sweeper and had to wait, which allowed Akio Sobue to second, and Wilck took the third spot immediately. At 3:15, Wilck crashed on the back straightaway and JJ Wang slipped by for third. Lee held on for the win by 27-hundredths of a second over Sobue with Wang another 4.4 seconds back.
“It was very good. I just tried to keep it safe without making mistakes - I needed the points,” said Lee of his first win. “I made no changes to the car today - it was really good on the first day, but just average yesterday,” he said.
“I went a little ‘off-road’ this time,” said Krapp, whose spirits remained high although his title hopes are all but gone. “I was in an easy fourth position but maybe cruised a little too much - not sure if it was a lack of focus. I will just try to keep it on the wheels from here.” Crashing in the kink for just the second time this week, the car remained in one piece but the tape holding the battery to the chassis broke, so the LiPo pack fell out of the car. The German driver joked, “that’s normally an easy corner for me - I guess I needed more pressure.” Krapp was still looking forward to a good result, saying, “I think the chance to win is over, but third is wide open.”
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