“Street Fight” Ended the Day Early for Drivers McClure, Hardee on the Temporary Street Circuit ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (October 24, 2020) – TPC Racing and driver Efrin Castro earned their fifth IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama win of the season on Saturday in a caution-filled race on the streets of St. Petersburg. Castro started the No. 65 Fine Fare Supermarkets/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup on the class pole and held the lead through the start and two additional restarts to keep the victory. Only ten laps were run fully under green flag conditions during the 45-minute timed race, which included one stoppage for red flag – though the clock continued to run. The race ultimately ended under yellow after 24 official laps, 12 fully under caution. Unfortunately for TPC Racing, the final caution period was caused by TPC Racing driver Vernon McClure’s No. 10 Main Street Homes/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3. McClure started on the Platinum Cup Masters pole, but lost a handful of positions when he ran wide in Turn One on the second restart. Trying to regain the final Platinum Cup Masters podium position as the clock counted down, McClure spun and came to a stop in the tires. Unable to refire, the final full course caution came out and McClure’s day ended early. His second-quickest lap in qualifying remains enough to start race two from the pole, however.  Dan Hardee’s No. 69 Vbar Live/Student Wireless/Apple Rush/Hardee Family Foundation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup was an unfortunate victim of the first lap, first turn incident even though he was not directly involved. Debris punctured his radiator, ending his day after just two laps. TPC Racing and the IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA field have one more shot at the downtown, 1.8-mile street circuit. The weekend’s second 45-minute race is scheduled for mid-day Sunday at 12:35 p.m. ET, streamed live on IMSA.tv. Harris Levitas, Director of Motorsports Operations: “This turned out to be a great day for TPC Racing, especially for Efrin. He did a great job on the restarts and his marks each time. Vernon had some struggles but got to lead the Masters class and will get another shot at it on Sunday, again from pole. He hasn’t been in a car since VIR the first week of September, and I fully expect him to be fresher tomorrow. Dan just got caught out in some bad luck, and that happens on these street courses. He was already making up positions, so tomorrow should be a great day for him. All in all, our cars are in one piece, and others aren’t so lucky. We’ll be ready for another big day on Sunday.” Efrin Castro, Driver, No. 65 Porsche 911 GT3 (Gold Cup): “I’m just very happy for the win. I’m glad we finished the race. There was a lot of carnage out there, a lot of incidents. We were very focused for this race, we felt really good at this track, and we proved it. The team made some changes in the setup for this race. The car was on rails. I felt like I could battle with the guys at the front.” Dan Hardee, Driver, No. 69 Porsche 911 GT3 (Platinum Cup Masters): “I got a really good start. I was on the outside of Turn One and passed a couple of cars. The minute we got to Turn Three, I happened to notice a car had gone into the wall backwards. There was debris everywhere with no chance to actually avoid it. The next lap, my temperature went up to where it was critical. Somehow a spring ended up in my radiator and ended our day. On the good side, no real damage to the radiator and we’ll try to get on the podium tomorrow.” About TPC Racing: TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sportscars. TPC Racing specializes in R&D and sales of high-performance modifications for Porsche sports cars and race cars, offering a wide range of vehicle upgrades. Best known for a line of forced induction solutions for the Porsche 911, Cayman and Boxster, a long-time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled TPC Racing to become experts in Porsche service, tuning, and racing. In 2000, TPC Racing began entering races under its own banner, scoring an SGS-class Championship in 2004 in the Grand-American Rolex Series and was a class winner in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona, and captured the 2013 and 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup Championships. More information can be found at www.TPCRacing.com. |
